Flashback: Dublin v Derry- 2014 National Football League Final

Fri, 29th March 2024

By Conor Martin

Dublin take on Derry in a repeat of the 2014 Allianz Football League Final this Sunday at Croke Park.

On that day, Jim Gavin’s Dublin side recorded an impressive 3-19 to 1-10 win over the Ulster county. The 15-point win would be the biggest winning margin in a league final since Kerry beat Derry by 20 points in 1961.

It would also be the first time Dublin would retain the league title and we would go on and win the 2015 and 2016 editions of the league before being dethroned by Kerry in 2017.

Despite the scoreline, it was Derry who would land the first punch in the final, when Cailean O'Boyle finished a well-worked Derry move.

Dublin would respond by throwing everything at Derry and they kicked nine points without a Derry response, with Eoghan O’Gara turning heads with his first-half performance. He was helped by the efforts of the Brogan brothers Bernard and Alan, as well as Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly.

By the time referee Cormac Reilly blew for half-time, Dublin had a sizeable lead of 0-13 to 1-3.

Bernard Brogan rifled in Dublin’s first goal of the game shortly after the game had restarted to put the Boys in Blue even further ahead. The St Oliver Plunkett/ ER forward would go on to be man of the match and finish with a scoring tally of 1-6.

Stephen Cluxton made an important save from Mark Lynch and Derry did pick up a few points to close the gap on Gavin’s men, but Kevin McManamon would score our second goal of the afternoon with 13 minutes left on the clock, before Connolly added a third with a well-taken finish, sidestepping his marker before burying the ball to the net.

After their league success, Dublin would win the Leinster Championship later in the year, with another dominant showing before losing out to eventual All-Ireland runners up Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Dublin: S Cluxton (0-01f); P McMahon, R O'Carroll, J Cooper (0-01); J McCarthy, N Devereux, K Nolan; MD Macauley, C O'Sullivan; P Flynn (0-03), P Andrews, D Connolly (1-02); A Brogan (0-02), E O'Gara (0-02), B Brogan (1-06, 3f)

Dublin Substitutes: K McManamon (1-00) for Andews (29), D Byrne for Nolan (45), M Fitzsimmons for O’Carroll (60), C Reddin (0-01) for O’Gara (60), D Nelson (0-01) for O’Sullivan (63), T Brady for A Brogan (66)

Derry: T Mallon; O Duffy, C McKaigue, D McBride; K Johnson (0-01), G O'Kane (0-02), A McAlynn; F Doherty (0-01), P Bradley; E Lynn, M Lynch (0-02), C McFaul; B Heron, E McGuckin (0-02), C O'Boyle (1-01)

Derry Substitutes: E Bradley (0-01f) for Heron (28), D Mullen for P Bradley (47), D Brown for Duffy (Black card 50), M Craig for Johnson (66), N Holly for Lynn (66)

Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath)