On this day: 'A goal in the greatest freak of all time'

It has been shown and spoken about many times since that soggy September Sunday in 1978.

And today marks the 42nd anniversary of Mikey Sheehy's audacious free that had Paddy Cullen back-pedaling in the All-Ireland final. Cullen's attempts were in vain, as the Tralee maestro's curling effort eventually nestled in the back of the Dublin net.

As half-time neared, the Kingdom hit the front for the first time in the '78 decider. On the resumption, they would run riot, with Eoin Liston helping himself to a hat-trick of green flags. The winning margin was 17 points.

But back to that goal. Kerry forward Ger Power tried to get on the end of a long punt in from Jack O'Shea, but Paddy Cullen came out, sweeped up and passed to his corner-back Robbie Kelleher. However, referee Seamus Aldridge had blown his whistle, awarding a free in to Kerry.

To say that the awarding was dubious would be an understatement. A look back at the footage and it's hard to see where any foul occurred. Aldridge was not for turning, however, despite Cullen's remonstrations.

In a spirit of great charity, Robbie Kelleher handed the ball to Sheehy, who placed it on the ground, looked up and scored one of the memorable All-Ireland final goals.

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Cue Micheál O'Hehir in the RTÉ television commentary box: "A goal, in the greatest freak of all time". Maybe, O'Hehir was caught off guard by Sheehy's opportunism and the words came out. 

Was it such a freak goal?

Credit to Sheehy, perhaps the most stylish player of that era, for his