2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

The 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 117th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

2004 All-Ireland Football Final

Event	2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Kerry Mayo 1-20 (23) 2-9 (15)
Date	26 September 2004
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	Pat McEnaney (Monaghan)
Attendance	79,749

Croke Park kitted out in the green and red of long-suffering Mayo fans at the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Mayo's losing streak in All-Ireland finals continued as they were hammered by Kerry.

Mayo were hoping to bridge a gap that stretched all the way back to their All-Ireland football title winning team of 1951.[1] They failed, though less miserably than in 2006. Mayo lost their fourth final in a row; in the end Kerry only won by eight points. Dara Ó Cinnéide was the winning captain, while manager Jack O'Connor won the title in his first season in charge.[2] The match was shown live in Ireland on RTÉ2 as part of The Sunday Game with match commentary from Ger Canning and Martin Carney.

Largely regarded as one of the most disappointing All-Ireland football finals for many years, Mayo's capitulation drove spectators from the stadium in their thousands with Kerry leading by 1-12 to 1-4 at half time.[2] Kerry racked up a total of 1-20, the highest team score in an All-Ireland football final since the time of 'Bomber' Liston and the 5-11 that decimated Dublin in 1978.[2] Mayo returned to the final two years later, to be torn apart by Kerry all over again in a final when Kerry surpassed the score they achieved in 2004.

In 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972.[3]

Kerry: 1 Diarmuid Murphy 2 Tom O'Sullivan 3 Michael McCarthy 4 Aidan O'Mahony 5 Tomás Ó Sé 6 Éamonn Fitzmaurice 7 Marc Ó Sé 8 Eoin Brosnan 9 William Kirby 10 Liam Hassett 11 Declan O'Sullivan 12 Paul Galvin 13 Colm Cooper 14 Dara Ó Cinnéide (Captain) 15 Johnny Crowley Substitutes: Seamus Moynihan Mike Frank Russell Ronan O'Connor Paddy Kelly Brendan Guiney Manager: Jack O'Connor

Mayo: 1 Peter Burke 2 Dermot Geraghty 3 David Heaney 4 Gary Ruane (Captain) 5 Peadar Gardiner 6 James Nallen 7 Pat Kelly 8 Ronan McGarrity 9 Fergal Kelly 10 James Gill 11 Ciarán McDonald 12 Alan Dillon 13 Conor Mortimer 14 Trevor Mortimer 15 Brian Maloney Substitutes: David Brady C. Moran Michael Conroy Andy Moran P. Navin Manager: John Maughan

References:[2]