All-Ireland Senior Football Championship records and statistics

This page details the **All-Ireland Senior Football Championship records and statistics.** The article discusses information for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship from 1887 to the present.

## Most successful counties

The most successful team (1887 – present) is Kerry.

## Least successful counties

The following counties have never been represented in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final: Carlow, Fermanagh, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Sligo, Westmeath, Wicklow, and Longford.

Kilkenny do not compete anymore, having won three Leinster Senior Football Championships in the distant past. Nowadays, Kilkenny dominate the sport of hurling instead. Carlow also compete at the highest level of hurling and have won an All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship. Westmeath have enjoyed considerable success in hurling in recent years, winning a number of All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championships and Christy Ring Cups, and their Gaelic football team won the 2004 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final.

As for the other teams, Fermanagh came close in 2004 — by reaching an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final replay — having defeated 1999 All-Ireland winners Meath, 2002 Munster Champions Cork, a Donegal team that reached the 2003 All-Ireland semi-finals and an Armagh team fresh from appearances in two consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Finals. Wicklow senior Gaelic football team's most notable recent achievement was winning the 2012 NFL Division 4 final.

## By decade

The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles, is as follows:

* 1890s: 6 for Dublin (1891-92-94-97-98-99)
* 1900s: 5 for Dublin (1901-02-06-07-08)
* 1910s: 4 for Wexford (1915-16-17-18)
* 1920s: 3 each for Dublin (1921-22-23) and Kerry (1924-26-29)
* 1930s: 5 for Kerry (1930-31-32-37-39)
* 1940s: 3 for Kerry (1940-41-46)
* 1950s: 3 for Kerry (1953-55-59)
* 1960s: 3 each for Down (1960-61-68) and Galway (1964-65-66)
* 1970s: 4 for Kerry (1970-75-78-79)
* 1980s: 5 for Kerry (1980-81-84-85-86)
* 1990s: 2 each for Down (1991-94) and Meath (1996–99)
* 2000s: 5 for Kerry (2000-04-06-07-09)
* 2010s: 7 for Dublin (2011-13-15-16-17-18-19)
* 2020s: 1 each for Dublin (2020) and Tyrone (2021)

## By province

Most successful provinces
* Cavan and Down are the Ulster teams with the most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles.
* Dublin are the Leinster team with the most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles.
* Galway are the Connacht team with the most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles.
* Kerry are the Munster team with the most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles.

* **Total** = Appearances in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

Provinces with highest number of different winning counties
* The provinces providing the highest number of different winning counties are Leinster and Ulster, with six each: Dublin, Meath, Wexford, Kildare, Offaly and Louth in Leinster and Cavan, Down, Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh and Derry in Ulster.

Finals featuring two teams from the same province
* Only on three occasions has the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final been contested by two teams from the same province:
	+ Ulster: Tyrone vs Armagh (2003)
	+ Munster: Kerry vs Cork (2007)
	+ Munster: Kerry vs Cork (2009)

## Final records and statistics

### Success rates

100%
* One county currently have a 100% record in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.
	+ Limerick
		- Note: Limerick won the first ever All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final and its 100% success rate has only ever been threatened once - in 1896. It remained intact.

* Historic 100% success rates (when a team won their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final before losing a final at a later time) are:
	+ Tipperary (1889-1918)
	+ Dublin (1891-1896)
	+ Kildare (1905-1926)
	+ Roscommon (1943-1946)
	+ Down (1960-2010)
	+ Donegal (1992-2014)

0%
* On the opposite end of the scale, three counties have appeared in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final on one occasion. All three lost.
	+ Waterford (1898)
	+ Clare (1917)
	+ Monaghan (1930)

* Three counties have appeared in the final more than once, losing on each occasion:
	+ Laois (1889, 1936)
	+ Antrim (1911, 1912)
	+ London (1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1908)
		- Note: In each of London's four appearances in the Final, they have been the beneficiaries of byes to that stage. From the 1900 Championship to the 1903 Championship, the GAA ran the competition between teams based in Ireland first, with the winners of the 'Home Final' going on to play London in the 'Grand Final'. In 1908 London qualified for the Final by winning the Semi-Final

### Losing Counties

* Kerry, Cork, Galway and Dublin have lost the most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals.
	+ Kerry have lost 22 finals;
	+ Cork have lost 16 finals;
	+ Galway have lost 13 finals;
	+ Dublin have lost 13 finals.

### Biggest winning margins

* The five most one sided All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals and their margins of victory:
	+ **19 points** – 1911: Cork 6-06 – 1-02 Antrim
	+ **18 points** – 1936: Mayo 4-11 – 0-05 Laois
	+ **18 points** - 1930: Kerry 3-11 - 0-2 Monaghhan
	+ **17 points** – 1978: Kerry 5-11 – 0-09 Dublin
	+ **15 points** – 1930: Kerry 3-11 – 0-02 Monaghan
	+ **15 points** – 1889: Tipperary 3-06 – 0-00 Laois

### Longest gap between appearances

* Counties that waited more than two decades between appearances in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.
	+ **63 years**: Kildare (1935-1998)
	+ **47 years**: Laois (1889-1936)
	+ **44 years**: Meath (1895-1939)
	+ **38 years**: Louth (1912-1950)
	+ **38 years**: Mayo (1951-1989)
	+ **35 years**: Derry (1958-1993)
	+ **34 years**: Cork (1911-1945)
	+ **25 years**: Armagh (1977-2002)
	+ **24 years**: Armagh (1953-1977)
	+ **23 years**: Down (1968-1991)

### Disciplinary

In 1943, Joe Stafford of Cavan became the first player to be sent off in an all-Ireland senior football final. Many others have been sent off since then, including John Donnellan of Galway and brothers Derry O'Shea and John 'Thorny' O'Shea of Kerry in the 1965 final, Charlie Nelligan of Kerry in the 1978 final, Páidí Ó Sé of Kerry in the 1979 final, Brian Mullins, Kieran Duff, Ray Hazley of Dublin and Tomás Tierney of Galway in the 1983 final, Gerry McEntee of Meath in the 1988 final replay, Tony Davis of Cork in the 1993 final, Charlie Redmond of Dublin in the 1995 final, Liam McHale of Mayo and Colm Coyle of Meath in the 1996 final replay, Nigel Nestor of Meath in the 2001 final and Diarmuid Marsden of Armagh in the 2003 final.

Galway hold the record of losing a final to a team containing the least number of players, they were beaten by a Dublin team which had been reduced to just 12 players in the All Ireland Final of 1983.

### Fastest goal

Garry McMahon's goal after 35 seconds of the 1962 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final is the fastest in All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final history.

* Other early goals include:
	+ 1993 - Joe Kavanagh (5 minutes)
	+ 2004 - Alan Dillon (4 minutes)
	+ 2005 - Dara Ó Cinnéide (6 minutes)
	+ 2012 - Michael Murphy (3 minutes)
	+ 2014 - Paul Geaney (49 seconds)
	+ 1980 - John O'Connor (35 seconds)

## See also

* All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship records and statistics