FLASHBACK: Kilmacud Crokes v Éire Óg Carlow- the 1998/99 Leinster Final trilogy

By Conor Martin 

Go-Ahead Dublin Senior Football champions Kilmacud Crokes travel to Carlow this weekend to take on Éire Óg in the AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Quarter-Final.

The fixture Kilmacud Crokes v Éire Óg is one that carries a lot of history, and those old enough to cast their memory back 25 years to the 1998 Leinster final will tell you it was a final for the ages as the two teams faced each other not once, not twice, but three times before the Carlow side eventually won the provincial championship despite being big underdogs against Kilmacud. 

To put the mammoth battle for the Leinster title into context, the first game was on 6^th December, the replay was held a week later, but the second replay stretched into the end of January 1999! 

St Conleth’s Park in Kildare was the venue for the first final, with typical Irish winter conditions making life difficult for the two finalists. Crokes added scores early on but grew complacent, as Éire Óg played their way into the game. 

The game's major talking point was the disputed wide that Ray Cosgrave hit. Those of a Kilamcud peruassion and Cosgrave himself were certain the ball and sailed over the bar. However, the umpires behind the goal signalled wide.

Éire Óg’s Willie Quinlan also suffered a bad injury that ruled him out of the first replay when he broke two ribs after a coming together. 

Mick O’Keefe and Peter Ward would top score for Crokes with (0-4) and (0-3), respectively. While a Jody Morrisey goal helped ensure the Carlow town club had another bite at the apple in the replay as it finished 1-6 to 0-9. 

The replay would go down as a stereotypical Championship match that was a physical affair, as both teams left it all out on the pitch. Those playing and in attendance will recall the condition of the pitch after a spell of heavy rain. 

The conditions played a part in Johnny Magee damaging the ligaments in his ankle after his foot got stuck in the mud while challenging for a high ball.

Cosgrove would score five points for the Dublin club, before Éire Óg captain Joe Murphy picked out Anthony ‘Muckle’ Keating, who would stick the ball over the bar to send the game to another replay on the stroke of the referee’s whistle. 

It finished seven points apiece at Tullamore’s O'Connor Park, and the teams would have to gear up to do battle for a third time.

Just like the first final, the second replay was held in Newbridge. Only on this occasion, Keating’s last leveller had given Eire Og the momentum to carry into the third and final chapter of the 1998 Leinster final.

The Carlow side came out the blocks quickest and racked up score after score, to leave Kilmacud in a daze as their gameplan to go and finally claim the Leinster title was left in disarray. 

Quinlan made an instant impact in his return from injury and won the ball, and Morrisey flicked the ball on in his direction before rattling the back of the net to the delight of his teammates and the sizeable travelling support from Carlow. 

Despite points from Robbie Brennan and O'Keefe, Quinlan's goal settled which county the Seán McCabe Cup would be heading to as Éire Óg came out on the right side of the 1-11 to 0-11 scoreline.

It would be Éire Óg’s fifth Leinster title of the 1990s, having previously won it in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996.

Kilamcud Crokes were left broken and bruised by the defeat, and in the years since the defeat to Éire Óg several players have spoken of the regrets they have of Crokes not taking their chances against the Carlow men.

The Stillorgan men would have to wait until 2005 to taste success in the Leinster Senior Football Championship Final. They ended the wait then, beating Sarsfields from Kildare 0-10 to 0-9. 

Rest assured with Brennan now in charge of Crokes, his players will be fully aware of the story of 1998 and have a chance to lay the ghosts from those encounters to bed.