Memories of a striking contest

Seamus Mallon remembers his father stamping on his cap at the end of the match and crying with frustration. It was September 27th 1953, Northern Ireland's future Deputy First Minister was at his first All-Ireland final and his county had just lost the match to Kerry by four points, 0-13 to 1-6.

His father's frustration would have centred on the one incident for which the match will always be remembered, Bill McCorry's 54th-minute penalty miss when Armagh trailed by two points, 1-5 to 0-10.

It was a memorable final, the first that Armagh had ever reached and it attracted a then record-crowd of 85,155. When the numbers entering through broken-down gates are taken into account, the unofficial estimates of over 92,000 top even the best official crowd ever to attend an All-Ireland, the 1961 meeting of Down and Offaly attended by 90,556.

McCorry's penalty was awarded when Kerry's goalkeeper John Foley was judged by Meath referee Peter McDermott (who was to accomplish the unique distinction of captaining the following year's All-Ireland winners) to have picked the ball up off the ground. His shot was left and wide and Kerry pulled away in the remaining minutes.

It had been a misfortunate afternoon for Armagh who also managed to get through three goalkeepers. Their competitive challenge had been built on Mal McEvoy's first-half goal which took a deflection into the net. But McCorry's penalty was the last realistic chance to win the match.

Armagh had already won an Ulster title three years previously, but had been runover by the great Mayo two-in-a-row team of 1950-51. In the year in question, they had defeated holders Cavan in the Ulster final. The previous November, Cavan's All-Ireland winning captain John Joe O'Reilly of Cornafean had died of pneumonia in the army hospital on the Curragh. The county hasn't won an All-Ireland since.

Armagh's defeat of Cavan, 1-6 to 0-5, took place in the newly-built west Belfast venue of Casement Park and was attended by a huge crowd of 30,000. Art O'Hagan's second-half goal was the critical score.

After 1950, it was only the county's second Ulster title since 1902 and it was to be the last before 1977, when Armagh were to reach a second All-Ireland final, but ran into the propellers of the 1970s Dublin team. Curiously for a county with only eight provincial titles, Armagh have played Roscommon in three of those eight All-Ireland semi-finals, beating them on both of the occasions they have reached the final.

In 1953, the match was tight with Roscommon losing by a point 0-7 to 0-8. Roscommon were the only provincial champions to have retained their title and that only after surviving the GAA's last big objection saga which involved Mayo appealing the Connacht final.

The All-Ireland final generated great excitement. The Sam Maguire was no stranger to Ulster given the exploits of the great Cavan teams of the 1930s, '40s and '50s but it was to be another seven years before Down would bring the championship across the border. Since the establishment of the Northern Ireland state, none of the six counties had reached an All-Ireland final so interest was high.

Kerry were without an All-Ireland since 1946. Since their first All-Ireland in 1903, 10 years was the longest the county had had to wait for another. After 1953, seven became the standard drought and cropped up again between 1962-69 - until the recent gap of 11 years, 1986-97, was closed.

The record attendance generated record receipts of £10,904. Even index-linked, this would be small by today's standards as the crowd projected by GAA secretary general Padraig O Caoimh - stated to be 83,500 and therefore lower than even the official attendance - was made up of only 13,500 seats and 70,000 terrace places.

The Irish Times reported on its front page the day after the final that many of the Armagh supporters "wore RAF and other British uniforms" and in a separate story underneath reported that five men had stopped a newspaper van in Loughlinstown, removed a number of English papers and "attempted to set them alight".

For the first time, the football final was broadcast to North Africa at the request of Irish missionaries. Micheal O hEithir's commentary was relayed by Radio Brazzaville.

KERRY - J Foley; J Murphy (capt.), E Rohe, D Murphy; C Kennelly, J Cronin, JM Plamer; S Murphy, D Hannifin; J Brosnan, JJ Sheehan, T Lyne; T Ashe, S Kelly, J Lyne. Sub: G O'Sullivan for Hannifin.

ARMAGH - E McMahon; E Morgan, J Bratten, J McKnight; F Kernan, P O'Neill, S Quinn (capt.); M O'Hanlon, M McEvoy; J Cunningham, B Seeley, B McCorry; P Campbell, A O'Hagan, G O'Neill. Subs: G Wlison for McMahon; G Murphy for Wilson; J O'Hare for Quinn.