Wexford 1915-1919:WHEN WE think of footballing giants, it's counties such as Kerry that spring to mind. In the 1910s, however, it was Wexford who were the unbeatable trail-blazers, claiming the Leinster crown on six successive seasons, beating Louth in the final three times, Dublin twice and Kildare on the other occasion.

And on the national stage, after two false starts in which they lost to Kerry in the 1913 and 1914 All-Ireland finals, the Leinster side claimed the following four All-Ireland deciders.

In the first, in 1915, they gained revenge by beating Kerry in front of 30,000 supporters thanks to goals by Gus Kennedy and Jim Byrne. The following season, a Fr Ned Wheeler-inspired team beat Mayo a few days before Christmas.

And, in 1917, Clare were the victims, though, in truth, Wexford were fortunate to edge past Dublin in the provincial championship.

The four-in-a-row was completed in July 1919 (the 1918 championship) with a one-point victory over Tipp, Jimmy Redmond claiming the match-winning score.

The following July, however, Wexford were trounced by Dublin, in Leinster (who were in turn defeated in the provincial decider by Kildare, who went on to claim their second All-Ireland crown).

Wexfords unbeaten run between 1915 and 1918 included 21 championship matches.

Wexford’s four-in-a-row . . .

1915 Final Wexford 2-4 Kerry 2-1

1916 Final Wexford 3-4 Mayo 1-2

1917 Final Wexford 0-9 Clare 0-5

1918 Final Wexford 0-5 Tipperary 0-4

and how they fell at the fifth . . .

1919 Leinster Semi-final Dublin 0-11 Wexford 1-1

Kerry 1929-1933

KERRY HAVE twice claimed a four-in-a-row, with the first run of successes coming eight decades ago, and beginning with beating Kildare by three points, 1-8 to 1-5, in the decider in front of 44,000 spectators in Croke Park in 1929.

Football in Kerry has been credited with helping heal the wounds left by the Civil War, and, in that season's triumph, Joe Barrett - an anti-treaty republican during the Civil War – captained Kerry to the All-Ireland title.

He was selected as captain again in 1931, when Kerry took the title home for the third year in succession, but gave the honour to Con Brosnan – a captain in the Free State Army during the Civil War.

In that 1929 final, Kerry defeated a Kildare team chasing a three-in- a-row, and in fact Kerry had beaten Kildare three years earlier in the 1926 decider when Bill Gorman scored a last-minute equalising goal for Kerry in the All-Ireland final, and Kerry won the replay.

Kerry would soon become familiar with the pain of conceding late, late goal in an All-Ireland final.

In 1933, on a seemingly unstoppable run to their fifth national crown in succession, Kerry ran into Cavan in the All-Ireland semi-final.

A Vincent McGovern goal with just two minutes left on the clock stopped the Munster side's march, and Cavan would go on to claim their very first title.

Kerry's four-in-a-row . . .

1929 Final Kerry 1-8 Kildare 1-5

1930 Final Kerry 3-11 Monaghan 0-2

1931 Final Kerry 1-11 Kildare 0-8

1932 Final Kerry 2-7 Mayo 2-4

and how they fell at the fifth . . .

1933 All-Ireland Semi-final Cavan 1-5 Kerry 0-5

Cork 1941-1945

UP until last year, the only hurling four-in-a-row had been achieved by Cork in the 1940s.

In 1998, Offaly claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup despite not being provincial champions. They were not the first to do so.

In 1941, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the midlands led to Tipperary and Kilkenny withdrawing from the hurling championship. Cork ended up hammering Dublin in the All-Ireland decider to claim surely the handiest title ever won on the field of play. Subsequently, however, the All-Ireland champions met Tipperary in the delayed Munster final. Tipperary prevailed, 5-4 to 2-5.

It was to tarnish Cork's four-in-a-row achievement.

The following season Cork - led by Christy Ring and Jack Lynch - again defeated Dublin in the decider, before ruthlessly taking Antrim apart in the decider of 1943. The following season, after being fortunate to squeeze past Galway in the semi-final, they met Dublin in the All-Ireland final for the third time in four seasons. Once again, the result was not in doubt long before the final whistle - securing the four-in-a-row for the Munster side.

Despite being level at half-time with the home team in Semple Stadium on July 1st, 1945, in the Munster semi-final, Cork were well beaten 2-13 to 3-2 by the finish.

Once again, a drive for five would come to a shuddering halt.

Cork's four-in-a-row . . .

1941 Cork 5-11 Dublin 0-6

1942 Cork 2-14 Dublin 3-4

1943 Cork 5-16 Antrim 0-4

1944 Cork 2-13 Dublin 1-2

and how they fell at the fifth . ..

1945 Munster Semi-final Tipperary 2-13 Cork 3-2

Kerry 1978-1982

OF COURSE, the most famous five-in-a-row attempt (before this year) was by the Kerry footballers in the early 1980s.

The streak began with an emphatic demolition of Dublin in the 1978 decider, a game which included a famous free-kick that chipped Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen into the net. To this day it brings joy (in Kerry) and anguish (in Dublin, of course) to football supporters.

And after All-Ireland final victories against the same opposition the following year and Roscommon in 1980, the defeat of Offaly the following September brought the four-in-a-row to Kerry for a second time by a team containing such talent as John O’Keeffe, Jack O’Shea, Pat Spillane, Eoin Liston and Mikey Sheehy.

The following season, the two counties lined up again in the decider, and it was left in the final moments of the game to Offaly substitute Séamus Darby to convert probably the most famous goal ever scored in the football championship.

Eugene McEldowney began his report on the front page of The Irish Times the following morning with: If you’d dropped £10 notes from an aeroplane you couldn’t have got a bigger reaction from the crowd, who invaded the pitch (what inconsiderate rogues the supporters were back then!) mobbed the players and held up the final proceedings for a good five minutes while Paddy Buggy waited patiently to present the cup.”

Another five-in-a-row attempt had been cruelly thwarted.

Kerry’s four-in-a-row . . .

1978 Final Kerry 5-11 Dublin 0-9

1979 Final Kerry 3-13 Dublin 1-8

1980 Final Kerry 1-9 Roscommon 1-6

1981 Final Kerry 1-12 Offaly 0-8

and how they fell at the fifth . . .

1982 Final Offaly 1-15 Kerry 0-17