Every Saturday, Off the Ball's "Reflections" series looks back at the big stories and glorious moments of a certain year.
1987 saw one of the most farcical scenes ever in GAA during a league match between Dublin and Cork. The match finished level after normal time but the Cork squad didn't emerge for extra time because they had a train to catch.
Meath won the Sam Maguire after beating Cork in the All-Ireland final. Colm O'Rourke spoke to Dave McIntyre: "Even though after '86, I thought we had a good chance, I was 30 years of age - just after turning 30 when we played the All-Ireland final.
"I was 12 years with Meath and in fact, coming home from the semi-final that year, I had Joe Cassell and Gerry McEntee in the car with me, and I remember we talked about it at the time that between the three of us we'd been playing for Meath for 40 years and...we figured we deserved to get one shot at it.
Meath's Colm O'Rourke and Teddy McCarthy of Cork. Image: ©INPHO/James Meehan
"We were comfortable winners over Derry (in the semi-final) and I remember I didn't play very well in the match so that's what I remember about it but Meath got an early lead and never seemed to be in any difficulty. I don't think it had any real bearing on the final.
Reflecting on the final itself, he said: "Cork started off at 100 miles-per-hour and they knocked us off our feet. The real turning point in the game wasn't my goal but it was a brilliant block-down that Mick Lyons made on Jimmy Kerrigan...who was about to pull the trigger for a goal."
O'Rourke went on to discuss how Meath went on to see the game out in what he described as probably the greatest display by a team he had ever played on.
Cyril Farrell, manager of the Galway hurling team, also spoke to Dave McIntyte about bringing Liam MacCarthy west for the third time.
He spoke about the difficulties on going straight into the All-Ireland semi-finals without having a competitive match for months.
Looking back at the final he said: "It was a hard physical game - no quarter asked or given. Nowadays you'd probably get red cards with the rule changes but like it was that kind of a game.
"For once, we took our chances against Kilkenny. We got it very hard to beat Kilkenny in them times and we still do. They had the midas touch over us. They were always very hard to beat, especially in the final," he added.
The full episode can be heard here:
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