Project Description

Players of the Faithful is the story of the 1982 Offaly team that famously ended Kerry’s bid to become the first county to win five All Ireland football titles in a row.

That day, Mick O’Dwyer’s great Kerry team ran out of the Croker tunnel with immortality within their grasp. All the while, the men from the Faithful County waited in the long grass. Over the course of a topsy-turvy 70 minutes, the outcome remained in the balance until the end. When it looked like Kerry had claimed the five-in-a-row, the most famous moment in GAA history changed the lives of everyone in a flash. Seamus Darby’s goal had instead delivered the greatest one-in-a-row in history.

The result of the 1982 All Ireland football final still resonates from Tullamore, where brothers Matt and Richie Connor watch the county club final, through Toomevara, where Seamus Darby runs his local bar, all the way across the pond, where Martin Furlong and Gerry Carroll have both settled in New York.

Their achievements have echoed around the GAA world and become legend. Now, these PLAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL reveal the story behind the legend.