1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Football match

1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Final

Event

1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Kerry	Dublin

2–12 (18)	2–8 (14)

Date

22 September 1985

Venue

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee

Paddy Kavanagh (Meath)^[1]

Attendance

69,389

← 1984

1986 →

The 1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 98th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

The final was contested by Dublin and Kerry. The teams would not meet in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final again until 2011.

Pre-match

On the morning of the game, Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer and his players featured in an advertisement for Bendix washing machines, with the line "Only Bendix could whitewash this lot".^[2]

Match

Summary

Kerry led by nine points at half-time and two Joe McNally goals in the second half was not enough to stop them.^[3]

Jack O'Shea picked the ball up with wonderful skill in front of referee Paddy Kavanagh, who proceeded to marvel at the Kerryman's abilities.^[1]

It was the fourth of five All-Ireland football titles won by Kerry in the 1980s.^[4]

Details

22 September 1985

Final

Kerry	2-12 – 2-8	Dublin
J O'Shea 1-3, T O'Dowd 1-1, M Sheehy 0-3, T Doyle 0-1, J Kennedy 0-1, P Spillane 0-2 D Moran 0-1.		J McNally 2-0, B Rock 0-3, T Conroy 0-2, J Kearns 0-2, T Carr 0-1.

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 69,289

Referee: P Kavanagh (Meath)

Kerry

Dublin

References

^ ^a ^b Potts, Seán. "Blue Wave begins". Decades of the Dubs: 2010–2014. The Herald. p. 3. ...Jack O'Shea picking the ball clean off the ground in front of the ref (Kavanagh, Meath) in the 1985 final).
^ "Dean caught between a Rock and a hard place over training sessions". RTÉ. 23 July 2020.
^ High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
^ "Kerry on honour roll". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Pre-1928

Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927
Finals	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927

Beginning of
Sam Maguire

Seasons	1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Finals	1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

80-minute
experiment

Seasons	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Finals	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974

Post-experiment

Seasons	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Finals	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Qualifiers and
quarter-finals era

Seasons	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Finals	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Associated competitions

Provincial Championships
Tailteann Cup
Tommy Murphy Cup (formerly)
Minor Championship (final formerly held on same day)

Statistics and awards

Dublin county football team matches

All-Ireland SFC Finals

Pre-1928	1891 1892 1894 1896 1897 1898 1899 1901 1902 1904 1906 1907 1908 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924
Post-Sam Maguire	1934 1955 1958 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1983 1984 1985 1992 1994 1995
Qualifiers and quarter-finals era	2011 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023

Other matches

Battle of Omagh (2006)
All-Ireland SFC semi-final v Donegal (2011)
Jim Gavin's only championship defeat as manager (2014)

Kerry county football team matches

All-Ireland
SFC Finals

Pre-1928	1892 1903 1904 1905 1909 1910 1913 1914 1915 1923 1924 1926 1927
Post- Sam Maguire	1929 1930 1931 1932 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1944 1946 1947 1953 1954 1955 1959 1960 1962 1964 1965 1968 1969 1970 1972 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 1997 2000
Qualifiers and quarter-finals era	2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2014 2015 2019 2022 2023