[2] Kerry entered the match heavy favourites to complete an unprecedented five consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles, having won for the previous four years in a run stretching back to 1978.

[2] However, this time, a last-minute Séamus Darby goal — struck past the hapless Charlie Nelligan — deprived Kerry of their five-in-a-row dream.

[2] Kerry had a one-point lead in the second half when referee P. J. McGrath awarded a penalty against Offaly.

[6] Furlong met Sheehy's strike, a ball hit about four feet high, with the palm of his hand.

[2] Eugene McGee and his selectors opted to send Séamus Darby onto the field of play as a substitute, with instructions to stay forward and try for a goal.

[citation needed] Darby arrived onto the field as a replacement for John Guinan with seven minutes left to play.

[8] Tom Spillane ran along the Hogan Stand side of Croke Park only to lose the ball to Seán Lowry.

[12] The match received renewed attention in 2010 when the Kilkenny hurlers were aiming to complete their own five-in-a-row, also never realised.

[2] In 2018, Martin Breheny listed this as the greatest All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

[14][15] An episode of Laochra Gael focusing on Darby and titled "An Fear a Scóráil an Cúl" ("The Man Who Got the Goal") first aired on TG4 in 2019.

[17] The match again received great attention in 2019 as Dublin prepared for their own attempt at a five-in-a-row, having — in 2018 — become the first team since Kerry in 1981 to win four consecutive titles.

By coincidence, the golfer Shane Lowry — son of Brendan and nephew of Seán and Mick — won the 2019 Open Championship during that Championship season, doing so as the Munster and Ulster champions, Kerry and Donegal, played out an entertaining draw in Croke Park, a day after Dublin hammered Connacht champions Roscommon at the same venue.