9th October 1988: A great day for Meath football
October 09, 2014
Liam Smith and Andy McEntee begin the celebrations at the end of the 1988 replay.
On this day 26 years ago Meath defeated Cork by a single point in the 1988 All Ireland SFC replay final at Croke Park.
It was the year of the chant "Cork are tragic Meath are magic". Meath came into the drawn game as All Ireland and National Football League champions. The Royals were having it all their own way in the opening half but the switch of Larry Tompkins from centre forward to midfield paid off. A heroic Meath fighback and a Brian Stafford late point saved the day and the replay was set. Final score Meath 0-12 Cork 1-9
The day of the replay got of to a great start with the Meath juniors comfortably beating London to claim the county's first All Ireland title in the grade since 1962.
The seniors recalled Terry Ferguson, Colm Coyle and Joe Cassells. Unlike the drawn game Meath were not going to be 'bullied'.
Gerry McEntee was sent off after only six minutes but typical of that team they dug in and a massive effort midway through the second half saw Meath forge ahead, 0-13 to 0-9. Cork did fightback but Meath held on to record a memorable 0-13 to 0-12 victory.
Robbie O'Malley was outstanding at corner back while Ferguson answered his critics with a gutsy tight marking game. Colm Coyle snuffed out the Barry Coffey threat while Martin O'Connell gave a man of the match performance. O'Rourke, Stafford and Flynn proved yet again that they were the best inner attack line in the business.
After the game Joe Cassells was presented with the Sam Maguire Cup by GAA President John Dowling.
The Meath Senior team was Michael McQuillan, Robbie O'Malley, Mick Lyons, Terry Ferguson, Colm Coyle, Liam Harnan, Martin O'Connell, Liam Hayes, Gerry McEntee, David Beggy, Joe Cassells, PJ Gillic, Colm O'Rourke, Brain Stafford, Bernard Flynn. Sub: Mattie McCabe
The Meath Junior team lined out as: Robbie O'Connell, Paddy McIntyre, Philip Fay, Declan Mullen, Declan Lynch, John McEnroe (captain), Leo McEnroe, Trevor Kane, John Cunningham, Packie Henry, Paul Curran, Jody Devine, Martin Kirk, Tom Mullen, Niall Rennick. Sub: Hugh Gilsenan.
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