Before 1962, filmed coverage of even the biggest hurling and football matches was restricted to a few moments of action captured by the good people of British Pathe. Their footage was accompanied by a plummy voiced Englishman on commentary, saying things like 'But then the gallant Tipperary men swept down the pitch, and from this move, a goal is scored.'
That all changed in the early '60s, and we got the full treatment - all sixty minutes of the game broadcast live with Micheal O'Hehir's voice blaring out in living rooms around in the country. The purists would cling to the belief that he was always better on the radio.
The establishment of RTE wasn't the trigger for every household in the country to troop out and buy a television set. In the west in particular, they were a luxury rather than the norm. Last year, a photo was produced of Mayo people watching Sky Sports through the window of a neighbour's house. A common enough sight in the 60s. The one house in the neighbourhood with a television set became a magnet for the locals. (Incidentally, this writer's father counts the 1966 All-Ireland final as his earliest sporting memory. On his 7th birthday, they went across to the neighbour's house in Ballinasloe to watch the final.)
Kerry beat Roscommon in the first televised football final in 1962, and then the Dubs pipped Galway in '63. For whatever reason, the All-Ireland winning Dublin team of 1963 have been ignored by documentary makers while the teams of the of the 50s and 70s have been continually celebrated.
And then, for three unforgettable years, Galway dominated the landscape and became the first great team of the television era. They won three successive All-Ireland titles between 1964-66 and became the most recognisable team in the history of the game up to that point. As Martin Breheny has pointed out, they were simply on TV more than anyone else.
At the time, they were regarded as one of the slickest and most stylish teams the game had ever seen. Even now, the purists retain a soft spot for Galway and are usual remarkably quick (often prematurely) to celebrate any sign of their revival. Their reputation for that 'sort of stuff' is built largely on the back of that team. Goalkeeper Johnny Geraghty made the interesting observation below that he suspects the IQ of that team was particularly high. For the era that was in it, a huge proportion of them were educated at third level.
On 25 September 1966, they demolished Meath to claim the three in a row. Strangely, they entered the game as underdogs and uncertain of themselves following an unconvincing semi-final win. Mattie McDonagh, the only westerner to win four All-Ireland football titles, blasted home the only goal scored in any of those All-Ireland wins.
Notable players include captain and corner back (and future Sunday Game pundit) Enda Colleran, full back Noel Tierney, classy wing-back Martin Newell, the Donnellan brothers, John and Pat, centre-forward McDonagh, free-taker Cyril Dunne, speedy wing forward Seamus Leydon and sharp-shooter corner forward Johnny Keenan.
Two teenagers were drafted in for the final installment of the three-in-a-row, and featured in the 1966 final against Meath.
Eighteen year old Jimmy Duggan, the Ciaran McDonald of the early '70s, was tossed into the midfield. In an era when many players horsed into the ball in an agricultural fashion, Duggan stroked the ball around elegantly. Like Mikey Sheehy, he just looks more modern than his contemporaries.
And corner forward Liam Sammon arrived into the team. After the final whistle in '66, he was held aloft at the end of the match while a fag dangled from his mouth. Sparking up a celebratory fag on the steps of the Hogan was de riguer in the 60s.
This duo anticipated they'd win plenty of All-Irelands. In fact, that was it. Both had seen the pinnacle before their 20th birthday and would not see it again. Both played through the early 70s when Galway ruled Connacht but lost three All-Ireland finals in four years. The fact that Galway's 60s era dominance was so fresh in the mind precluded too much Mayo-style angst from taking hold. "It was the beginning and the end in '66", laughed Jimmy Duggan in an interview later on.
It would be 32 years before Galway won again, by which time colour television had long arrived and RTE were screening live games all summer.
Only Kerry have done the three in a row since. The video captures their appeal nicely.
