2001 All-Ireland Football Championship final

Event	2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Galway Meath 0–17 0–08
Date	23 September 2001
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	Michael Collins (Cork)
Attendance	70,482
← 2000 2002 →

The 2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 114th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Galway defeated Meath.^[1] Neither side contested a final again until Galway's semi-final victory over Derry in 2022.^[2]

Each of the 32 traditional counties of Ireland is represented by a county side. Every county, except Kilkenny, participated in the 2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The "overseas county" of New York also participated, while London played no part in the competition due to the outbreak of Foot-and-mouth disease.^[3] Each county in Ireland is located in a province; for the purpose of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, London and New York are located in Connacht. The 2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship began with the four provincial championships – knock-out competitions between county sides in the same province. The four winners of these championships progressed automatically to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The sides which did not win a provincial championship entered the All-Ireland qualifiers to determine which other four teams would play in the quarter-finals. New York, however, only competed in the provincial championship.

The 2001 Championship was the first to feature the qualifying system,^[4] in which sides who had not won their provincial championship competed for the right to join the provincial winners in the "All-Ireland series". Galway, who had lost to Roscommon in the Connacht Championship semi-final, thus became the first side to contest an All-Ireland Final having not won their provincial championship.^[5]

Galway had previously contested the final on 21 occasions, winning 8 times (in 1925, 1934, 1938, 1956, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1998) and losing on 13 occasions, the most recent of which was the previous year.^[6] They were appearing in the final for the third time in four years.^[7] Meath had won the title 7 times (in 1949, 1954, 1967, 1987, 1988, 1996 and 1999) and lost on 8 occasions. Manager Seán Boylan had been in charge for 8 of Meath's previous final appearances, including replays.^[8]

The two counties had not played each other in the Championship since 1970, when Meath won by four points.^[9] In 1966, the sides contested the final.^[9]

Earlier in 2001, Galway lost the National Football League final against Mayo.^[10]

In previous years, Galway, having lost to Roscommon in the Connacht Championship semi-final, would have played no part in the All-Ireland series as they did not win their provincial championship. However, the introduction of the qualifier system this year gave them a second opportunity to reach the final. The county entered at the second qualifying round, against Wicklow,^[11] and with further victories against Armagh^[12] and Cork,^[13] joined Meath at the quarter-final stage.

Going into the final quarter of their semi-final against Derry, Galway were trailing by five points but ultimately won the game 1–14 (17 points) to 1–11 (14 points).^[7] Derry had named an unchanged line-up from their quarter-final against Tyrone,^[14] while Galway initially did not name anyone at right wing forward as they were waiting on fitness reports on Jarlath Fallon and Paul Clancy;^[15] Fallon went on to start the game.^[7] Galway were leading 0–05 – 0–4 when Enda Muldoon scored Derry's goal in the 26th minute.^[16] Matthew Clancy scored Galway's goal in the 66th minute.^[7]

Meath won the year's Leinster Championship, by virtue of victories against Westmeath,^[17] Kildare^[18] and Dublin,^[19] to seal their place in the All-Ireland quarter-final.^[20]

Meath were drawn against Westmeath in the quarter-final and Galway were scheduled to play Roscommon; both of these fixtures were repeats of matches played in the provincial championships.^[21] There was no repeat of Galway's earlier defeat as they triumphed 0–14 to 1–05 (8 points) in Castlebar.^[22] Westmeath, who had lost to Meath by a single point in the Leinster Championship,^[23] were leading Meath by 9 points on 20 minutes but the game eventually finished a 2–12 (18 points) – 3–09 (18 points) draw (Meath score given first).^[23] Despite having Hank Traynor sent off, Meath won the replay 2–10 (16 points) – 0–11.^[24]

Meath reached the final following a 2–14 (20 points) to 0–05 victory against the defending champions Kerry.^[25] Kerry, who started the game with all but 2 of the players who won the title the previous year,^[26] only managed to score a single point in the second half.^[25] Meath's line-up was unchanged from the previous round;^[27] only 2 players did not start the 1999 final.^[27] John McDermott scored Meath's first goal towards the end of the first half to give his side a 5-point lead at the break.^[25] The lead was extended to 11 points following 6 unanswered points at the beginning of the second half.^[25] John Cullinane scored Meath's second goal in the 66th minute;^[25] an earlier goal was disallowed for an infringement on the square ball rule.^[25] Kerry's Éamonn Fitzmaurice was sent off late in the game.^[25]

Meath were expected to win their eighth All-Ireland senior football title.^[28][29]

Referee Michael Collins had also officiated Galway's semi-final match.^[16]

Galway's hurlers contested the 2001 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final on 9 September, but lost to Tipperary.^[30] Dual player Alan Kerins, who played in the hurling final, was named as a substitute for the football final.^[31] The Galway and Tipperary managers complained about the condition of the Croke Park pitch following the hurling final;^[32] a few days later, Croke Park spokesman Danny Lynch stated every effort was being made to prepare the pitch for the football final.^[32] The new Hogan Stand of the stadium was under construction at the time.^[33]

The build-up to the final was overshadowed by the September 11 attacks.^[34] The atmosphere in Galway and Meath was more muted than it would normally be leading up to an All-Ireland final.^[34]

Galway won easily, their second title in four years. At full-time it was Galway 0-17 : 0-08 Meath.

In the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Final, held just before the senior game, Tyrone and Dublin drew 0–15 – 1–12.^[35]

Meath, who announced their starting line-up on their then recently launched website a couple of days before the final, started with the same 15 players who began the semi-final against Kerry.^[9] All but two of the side had started the final two years previously;^[9] Richie Kealey and Ray Magee replaced Paddy Reynolds and Enda McManus.^[9]

The first half lacked quality play.^[36] Both sides scored six points,^[37] but also amassed many wides.^[36] Galway's Donnellan sent two frees wide.^[36]

Meath's Ollie Murphy was substituted on 45 minutes after breaking a finger.^[38] Nigel Nestor was sent off following a second yellow card shortly afterwards,^[38] with Meath trailing by two points.^[39] In the 59th minute, with the score 0–13 – 0–08,^[37] Trevor Giles missed a penalty for Meath.^[38] Some commentators suggested John McDermott dived to win the penalty.^[40] Padraic Joyce scored ten points for Galway, nine of which came in the second half.^[40] Meath's full-forwards had little of the ball - they only amassed 2 wides during the game^[41] and only scored two points in the second half.^[36]

23 September 2001

Galway	0–17 – 0–08	Meath
P. Joyce (0-10) J. Bergin (0-02) P. Clancy (0-02) M. Donnellan (0-01) J. Fallon (0-01) D. Meehan (0-01)	Report	R. Magee (0-02) N. Crawford (0-01) J. Cullinane (0-01) T. Giles (0-01) E. Kelly (0-01) J. McDermott (0-01) O. Murphy (0-01)

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 70,482^[42]

Referee: Michael Collins (Cork)

Galway

Meath

Galway: 1 Alan Keane 2 Kieran Fitzgerald 3 Gary Fahey (Captain) 4 Richard Fahey 5 Declan Meehan 6 Tomás Mannion 7 Seán Óg De Paor 8 Kevin Walsh 9 Michael Donnellan 10 Paul Clancy 11 Jarlath Fallon 12 Joe Bergin  71' 13 Derek Savage 14 Pádraic Joyce 15 Tommy Joyce  71' Substitutes: Alan Kerins  71' Kieran Comer  71' Manager: John O'Mahony

Meath: 1 Cormac Sullivan 2 Mark O'Reilly 3 Darren Fay 4 Cormac Murphy  57' 5 Donal Curtis 6 Nigel Nestor  50'  7 Hank Traynor 8 Nigel Crawford 9 John McDermott 10 Evan Kelly 11 Trevor Giles (Captain) 12 Richie Kealy  50' 13 Ollie Murphy  45' 14 Graham Geraghty 15 Ray Magee  70' Substitutes: Paddy Reynolds  45' John Cullinane  50' Niall Kelly  57' Adrian Kenny  70' Manager: Seán Boylan

References: ^[42]

The Galway side returned to the county the day after the final.^[43] They made appearances in Ballinasloe, Tuam and Galway city, where a civic reception was held, to greet fans.^[43] The city's mayor, Donal Lyons, said Galway people across the world were proud when watching the side.^[43] More than 10,000 fans gathered in Tuam.^[43]

Tomas Mannion announced his retirement after the final.^[44]

^{Note 1} Galway score given first.
^{Note 2} Meath score given first.