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 from Leinster have won the title, while Cavan, Down, Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh and Derry are the successful Ulster sides. For Leinster's 12 counties, this represents a success rate of 50%, while Ulster's nine counties gives them a success rate of 67%. Four of Munster's six counties have won the title, giving an identical success rate to Ulster, while three of Connacht's five counties have been successful, a success rate of 60%.
Least successful counties
There are eight counties that have never been represented in a Senior All-Ireland Final. These are Carlow, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Sligo, Westmeath, Wicklow, Longford, and New York. Four of these counties have never competed in a semi-final: Waterford, Westmeath, Wicklow, and New York.
In the last few years, counties can be divided into four levels or tiers, based on results: Tier 1 counties are consistent participants in the latter stage of the All-Ireland. Tier 2 counties usually compete in the All-Ireland championship or the Tailteann Cup. Tier 3 counties are consistent participants in the Tailteann Cup. Tier 4 counties usually compete in the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship. There is a big gap between Tier 1, 2 and 3 counties and Tier 4 counties. Tier 4 counties also do not participate in the provincial championships.
132 teams have won the All-Ireland SFC unbeaten out of a possible 136.
Beaten sides
The introduction of the qualifier system in 2001 has resulted in 4 'back-door' All-Ireland champions:
Galway (2001) were beaten by Roscommon in the Connacht semi-finals.
Tyrone (2005) were beaten by Armagh in the Ulster final.
Kerry (2006) were beaten by Cork in the Munster final.
Cork (2010) were beaten by Kerry in the Munster semi-finals.
On a number of occasions a team was defeated twice but have remained in the knockout championship:
Tyrone (2018) were beaten by Monaghan and Dublin but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Mayo (2019) were beaten by Roscommon and Kerry but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Tyrone (2019) were beaten by Donegal and Dublin but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Cork (2023) were beaten by Clare and Kerry but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Armagh (2023) were beaten by Derry and Tyrone but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Tyrone (2023) were beaten by Monaghan and Galway but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Roscommon (2023) were beaten by Galway and Kildare but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Kildare (2023) were beaten by Dublin twice but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Donegal (2023) were beaten by Down and Derry but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Monaghan (2023) were beaten by Derry and Donegal but still qualified for the knockout stage.
Final success rate
Only 1 county have appeared in the final, being victorious on all occasions:
Limerick (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)
On the opposite end of the scale, six counties have appeared in the All-Ireland final, losing on each occasion:
London (1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1908). In each of London's first 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.
Consecutive participations
0, 000 (0000–0000)
00 have the record number of consecutive participations in the All-Ireland SFC, taking part in the 0 seasons.
Winning other trophies
Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning the All-Ireland, their provincial championship and the National Football League all in the same season.
Note: The 1887, 2008 and 2010 finals featured two teams that had not won their provincial championship that year (There were no provincial championships in 1887).
All-Ireland final pairings
Pairing
Meeting
First
Last meeting
Dublin v Kerry
15
1892
2023
Galway v Kerry
8
1938
2022
Cork v Dublin
6
1891
1907
Dublin v Galway
6
1922
1983
Cork v Meath
5
1967
1999
Dublin v Mayo
5
1921
2020
Kerry v Kildare
5
1905
1931
Kerry v Mayo
4
1932
2006
Kerry v Offaly
4
1969
1982
Kerry v Roscommon
4
1944
1980
Dublin v London
3
1901
1908
Kerry v Meath
3
1939
1970
Kerry v Tyrone
3
1986
2008
Kerry v Wexford
3
1913
1915
Armagh v Kerry
2
1953
2002
Cavan v Galway
2
1925
1933
Cavan v Kerry
2
1937
1947
Cavan v Kildare
2
1928
1935
Cavan v Meath
2
1949
1952
Cork v Galway
2
1956
1973
Cork v Kerry
2
2007
2009
Cork v Wexford
2
1890
1893
Down v Kerry
2
1960
1968
Dublin v Tyrone
2
1995
2018
Galway v Kildare
2
1919
1998
Galway v Meath
2
1966
2001
Kerry v Louth
2
1909
1910
Mayo v Meath
2
1951
1996
Antrim v Cork
1
1911
Antrim v Louth
1
1912
Armagh v Dublin
1
1977
Armagh v Galway
1
2024
Armagh v Tyrone
1
2003
Cavan v Cork
1
1945
Cavan v Mayo
1
1948
Cavan v Roscommon
1
1943
Clare v Wexford
1
1917
Cork v Derry
1
1993
Cork v Down
1
2010
Cork v Louth
1
1957
Cork v Mayo
1
1989
Derry v Dublin
1
1958
Donegal v Dublin
1
1992
Donegal v Kerry
1
2014
Donegal v Mayo
1
2012
Down v Dublin
1
1994
Down v Meath
1
1991
Down v Offaly
1
1961
Dublin v Limerick
1
1896
Dublin v Tipperary
1
1920
Dublin v Waterford
1
1898
Galway v Offaly
1
1971
Kerry v London
1
1903
Kerry v Monaghan
1
1930
Laois v Mayo
1
1936
Laois v Tipperary
1
1889
Limerick v Louth
1
1887
London v Tipperary
1
1900
Louth v Mayo
1
1950
Mayo v Wexford
1
1916
Mayo v Tyrone
1
2021
Meath v Tipperary
1
1895
Tipperary v Wexford
1
1918
Longest undefeated run
45 games - Dublin (2015–2021): The record for the longest unbeaten run stands at 45 games held by Dublin. It began with a 4–25 to 0–10 win against Longford in their opening game of the 2015 championship and finished with a 0–20 to 1–09 win against Kildare in the Leinster final of the 2021 championship. The 45-game unbeaten streak ended with a 0–17 to 0–14 loss after extra-time to Mayo in the 2021 All-Ireland semi-final.
Galway holds the record of losing a final to a team containing the fewest players, they were beaten by a Dublin team which had been reduced to just 12 players in the All-Ireland Final of 1983.
Prior to 2001, counties played in separate provincial championships, with only four provincial champions coming together in the All-Ireland semi-finals, and it is difficult to directly compare results across counties. Since 2001, beaten teams from the provincial championships play together in the All-Ireland qualifier series.
However, it must be remembered that counties from the smaller provinces (Connacht with seven county teams and Munster with six) have a slight advantage over those from the larger provinces (Leinster with eleven county teams and Ulster with nine) — they may receive a bye to the provincial semi-final and thus enter the second round of the qualifiers without winning a game, while counties from the larger provinces have to defeat one or even two opponents to reach the provincial semi-final.
The old single knockout format was reintroduced in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022 a new competition was introduced, the Tailteann Cup, for teams that finished 17th–32nd in the National Football League and that did not reach their provincial final. These teams go straight into the Tailteann Cup and do not progress to the qualifiers.
These are the colour-codes used for 2020 and 2021. X stands for the first letter of the province, e.g. Lpr is Leinster preliminary round, Cf is Connacht final.
Xf — Provincial finalists (5th–8th place); Galway in 2020 are not counted as provincial finalists as they did not win any games prior
Xsf — teams that won two provincial games before being eliminated (9th place)
XsfXqf — teams that won one provincial game before being eliminated (8th–16th place)
XqrXqfXsfCf — teams that lost their only game (16th–31st place)
2018–19
S8 — All-Ireland "Super 8" quarter-final groups (5th–8th place)
Quarter-finals were played as single matches between 2001 and 2017.
QF — All-Ireland quarter-finals (5th–8th place)
In 2007 and 2008, teams from Division 4 of the National Football League did not get to play in the qualifiers, instead going straight into the Tommy Murphy Cup, a secondary competition. In those years, there were only three rounds of qualifiers.
