Weird GAA stats
Twenty of the oddest facts in GAA history.
Worked out from every championship game since 1887, then checked against outside sources by two separate checks. Under each one are the pages that confirm it, so you can check it too.
2-14 to 0-15, twice
Two All-Ireland football finals in a row ended 2-14 to 0-15, both against Mayo: Dublin won in December 2020 and Tyrone in September 2021.
Same score, same losers, back to back.
The first was played on 19 December 2020 in an empty Croke Park, and Dean Rock scored the fastest goal in All-Ireland final history. Nine months later the ground was half full, Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue hit the post with a penalty, and second-half goals from Cathal McShane and Darren McCurry gave Tyrone exactly the same score.
- Dublin v Mayo2-14 to 0-15December 2020
- Tyrone v Mayo2-14 to 0-15September 2021
- No. 2
7-0 beat Limerick's 6-2
Wexford won the 1910 All-Ireland hurling final without scoring a point: seven goals and nothing else, 7-0, beat Limerick's 6-2.
Seven goals beat six goals and two points.
It was Wexford's first All-Ireland, played at Jones's Road on 20 November 1910 by two club sides, Castlebridge for Wexford and Castleconnell for Limerick. A goal was worth three points by then, so 21 beat 20. Limerick's captain was Tyler Mackey, father of Mick Mackey.
Read more: GAA.ie · The Irish Times
The monument to Wexford's 1910 All-Ireland hurling champions in St Ibar's churchyard, Castlebridge, photographed in 2009.Photo: David Hawgood, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons - No. 3
6 games to settle one tie
Roscommon and Sligo needed six games to settle one 1925 Connacht football tie, with two results overturned on objections before Sligo won the sixth.
One tie took six games, and two of the results didn't stand.
The tie started in Boyle on 17 May 1925 and wasn't settled until 13 September in Roscommon, when Sligo won 2-3 to 0-2. Connacht ran so late that Mayo were nominated for the All-Ireland semi-finals before the province had a champion. Sligo then lost to Mayo, and Galway, who beat Mayo in the Connacht final, were eventually named All-Ireland champions.
Read more: mayo-ireland.ie · 1925 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (Wikipedia)
Galway's football team of 1925, who were named All-Ireland champions that year.Photo: Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Check it: Galway GAA · Mayo-Ireland.ie
- No. 4
3 games, one semi-final
Clare led Offaly by three when the referee blew up early in the 1998 hurling semi-final replay; Offaly won the third game and then the All-Ireland.
Offaly were losing when the whistle went early, and ended up champions.
Jimmy Cooney blew up with Clare three points clear, and Offaly's supporters and players sat down on the Croke Park pitch in protest. The GAA ordered a replay, played at Semple Stadium in Thurles, and Offaly won it. They'd already lost the Leinster final to Kilkenny, and then beat Kilkenny 2-16 to 1-13 in the All-Ireland final.
Read more: ourgame.ie · newstalk.com
Offaly v Clare
- 1-13 to 1-139 August
- 2-10 to 1-1622 August, ended early
- 0-16 to 0-1329 August
Semple Stadium in Thurles, where Offaly beat Clare in the third game of the 1998 semi-final, photographed in 2018.Photo: DaHuzyBru, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Check it: The Irish Times · OurGame · 1998 hurling championship (Wikipedia)
- No. 5
0 points in two winning finals
Dublin won two camogie All-Ireland finals without scoring a point: 5-0 to 2-3 against Cork in 1938, and 8-0 to 1-1 against Cork in 1943.
All goals, no points, twice, against the same county.
Early camogie was a goal-scoring game: the Camogie Association says players "concentrated on scoring goals" and most points came from placed balls. Dublin and Cork shared the first 13 All-Irelands, seven to six. Emmy Delaney captained Dublin in 1938 and Peggy Griffin in 1943.
Read more: camogie.ie · camogie.ie
Dublin v Cork
- 5-0 to 2-31938
- 8-0 to 1-11943
- No. 6
4 of 4 goalless finals won by Cork
Only four camogie All-Ireland finals have finished without a goal, in 2006, 2009, 2017 and 2018, and Cork won all four.
Every camogie final without a goal went to the same county.
The last two Cork won without a goal were both one-point wins over Kilkenny, settled in injury time. In 2017 Julia White, on as a sub in the 61st minute, hit the winner deep in stoppage time; a year later Orla Cotter's fifth free of the day did the same job.
- Cork v Tipperary0-12 to 0-42006
- Cork v Kilkenny0-15 to 0-72009
- Cork v Kilkenny0-10 to 0-92017
- Cork v Kilkenny0-14 to 0-132018
The O'Duffy Cup, the trophy for the All-Ireland senior camogie championship, photographed in 2023.Photo: Colmdoyle, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - No. 7
4 seasons running, both finals on one day
London played the hurling and football All-Ireland finals on the same day four seasons running, 1900 to 1903, losing seven and beating Cork for the 1901 hurling title.
Eight finals on four days, and the one win came against Cork.
The 1901 final wasn't played until 2 August 1903, at Jones' Road in Dublin, in heavy rain. Every man on London's team was a Munster exile: nine Corkmen, four Claremen, two from Limerick, one from Tipperary and a Kerryman. It's still London's only senior All-Ireland.
Read more: londongaa.org · crokepark.ie
Season Hurling Football 1900 Lost 0-6 to 2-5 Lost 0-2 to 3-7 1901 Won 1-5 to 0-4 Lost 0-2 to 0-14 1902 Lost 0-0 to 3-13 Lost 0-4 to 2-8 1903 Lost 1-1 to 3-16 Lost 0-3 to 0-11 
The London hurling team that won the 1901 All-Ireland title.Photo: Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - No. 8
1 senior final played outside Ireland
Only one All-Ireland senior hurling or football final has been played outside Ireland: Cavan beat Kerry 2-11 to 2-7 at the Polo Grounds, New York, in 1947.
Every other senior hurling and football final has been played in Ireland.
One player remembered the ground as "like a car park", with very little grass, and the game was played in searing heat. Michael O'Hehir, calling it on radio for Ireland, feared the line would be cut before the end and asked on air, "just give us five minutes more". It stayed open, and Ireland heard the whole final.
Read more: The Irish Times · The42
GAANOW Rewind: 1947 Cavan v Kerry All-Ireland Final New YorkGAA - officialgaa on YouTube - No. 9
1 from 1 hurling finals won
Kerry have played in one All-Ireland hurling final and won it: 2-3 to 1-5 against Wexford for 1891, the first final settled in extra time.
One hurling final, one title, and never back since.
Snow in Dublin put the final back, and when it went ahead at Clonturk Park it was the middle game of a triple bill, between Dublin's football semi-final and their football final. Ballyduff, standing in for Kerry, played in their bare feet and took the train home to Lixnaw the next day.
Read more: Irish Examiner · 1891 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final (Wikipedia)
Check it: The Irish Times · 1891 hurling final (Wikipedia)
- No. 10
1937 hurling final in Killarney
The 1937 All-Ireland hurling final was played in Killarney, in football country, while Croke Park's new stand was being built; Tipperary beat Kilkenny 3-11 to 0-3.
A half-built stand at Croke Park sent the hurling final to football country.
The ground was a memorial to Dick Fitzgerald, who captained Kerry in 1913 and 1914, and patients from St Finan's psychiatric hospital, which stands behind it, helped to build it. The author Brinsley MacNamara attended the final and wrote an account of it for The Irish Times.
Read more: The Irish Times · Irish Examiner
Irish Hurling Final At Killarney (1937)British Pathé on YouTube Check it: The Irish Times · 1937 hurling final (Wikipedia)
- No. 11
3 goalless hurling finals
Only three All-Ireland hurling finals have ended without a goal: 1999, 2004 and 2020, and Cork beat Kilkenny in two of them.
Hurling finals almost always have a goal, and two of the three without were Cork against Kilkenny.
In 1999 Kilkenny led 0-11 to 0-08 before Cork hit five unanswered points to win by one. Five years later Kilkenny were going for three in a row and managed two points after half-time. The 2020 final was played on 13 December at an empty Croke Park, and Limerick's 30th point was only the second time a team had reached that mark in a final.
Read more: RTÉ · Irish Examiner
- Cork v Kilkenny0-13 to 0-121999
- Cork v Kilkenny0-17 to 0-92004
- Limerick v Waterford0-30 to 0-192020
Flashback: 1999 All-Ireland SHC Final - Cork v KilkennyGAA - officialgaa on YouTube - No. 12
237,000 people, give or take, at four games
Dublin and Meath needed four games to settle one 1991 Leinster football tie, three of them draws, watched by about 237,000 people before Meath won 2-10 to 0-15.
Three draws in a row, and it took a fourth game to get a winner.
The fourth game was a Saturday evening in brilliant sunshine. Keith Barr drove a Dublin penalty wide with eight minutes left, and Dublin still led 0-15 to 1-9 as time ran out. Then nine Meath players handled the ball in eleven passes before Kevin Foley tapped in a goal, Meath won the kickout, and David Beggy kicked the winner.
Read more: The42 · hoganstand.com
Dublin v Meath
- 1-12 to 1-122 June
- 1-11 to 1-119 June
- 1-14 to 2-1123 June
- 0-15 to 2-106 July
GAANOW Rewind - Kevin Foley Goal Meath v Dublin 1991GAA - officialgaa on YouTube Check it: GAA.ie · Meath Chronicle · The42
- No. 13
6 years winning camogie and ladies' football
Cork have won the camogie and ladies' football All-Irelands in the same year six times: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2015.
Six doubles, in three pairs of back-to-back years.
Several players won both in the same year. After the 2006 camogie final, RTÉ noted that Rena Buckley, Briege Corkery, Angela Walsh and Mary O'Connor had won camogie and football medals the year before and were going for a "double double". Buckley went on to win 18 All-Ireland medals, and was the first woman to captain a county to both titles.
20052015- Both All-Irelands
- Not both
Check it: Camogie Association · LGFA
- No. 14
7-7 Nicky Rackard, one semi-final
Nicky Rackard scored 7-7 for Wexford against Antrim in the 1954 All-Ireland hurling semi-final, 28 points on his own against Antrim's 2-3.
One player scored more than the whole Antrim team.
In the final against Cork, Wexford's forwards managed just 1-6 and lost by three. His brother Billy later wrote that a big mixed grill and chips the night before left Nicky with nervous indigestion. A year later Wexford beat Galway in the final.
Read more: The42 · 1954 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final (Wikipedia)
Mark Richards's sculpture of Nicky Rackard in Wexford town, photographed in September 2013.Photo: Kenneth Allen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons - No. 15
1 in 27 Connacht games won, on penalties
New York have won one of their 27 Connacht football championship games since 1999: a 0-15 draw with Leitrim in 2023, settled on penalties.
Their only win in 27 tries was a draw on the scoreboard.
New York's Shane Carthy forced extra time with a point deep in stoppage time, and it finished 0-15 each. In the shootout both sides missed their first two, Leitrim missed all four, and New York won 2-0. Mikey Brosnan, born in America, hit the winner.
Read more: RTÉ · Irish Examiner
New York's Historic win over Leitrim: Shane Carthy and Mick Cunningham post-match interviewsThe Long Hall Podcast on YouTube Check it: RTÉ · New York county football team (Wikipedia)
- No. 16
0 scores by Galway in the first final
Galway never scored in the first All-Ireland hurling final, at Birr on 1 April 1888: Tipperary won by a goal, a point and a forfeit point.
The very first final, and one side never got off the mark.
It was 21 a side in Birr, then called Parsonstown, and the match counted for the 1887 championship. Meelick's John Lowry walked to Birr on his own, then had to leave the field during the game, in the days before substitutes.
Read more: RTÉ · seamusjking.com
- No. 17
2 from 2 football finals won
Limerick have reached two All-Ireland football finals, for 1887 and 1896, and won both; they have not been back since.
Two finals, two titles, and nothing since 1896.
The first of those finals was played in April 1888 at Clonskeagh, and Limerick Commercials beat Dundalk Young Irelands 1-4 to 0-3. The players then waited more than 20 years for their medals.
Read more: RTÉ · limerickpost.ie
The Limerick team that won the first All-Ireland football championship, 1887.Photo: Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - No. 18
4 All-Ireland finals, all in December
All four All-Ireland finals of 2020 were played in December: camogie on the 12th, hurling on the 13th, football on the 19th and ladies' football on the 20th.
Four All-Ireland finals inside nine days.
The pandemic shut sport down and the championships were pushed into the winter. All four finals went ahead at Croke Park, and it was the first All-Ireland football final played in December since Wexford beat Clare in 1917.
Read more: RTÉ · clarechampion.ie
1 Dec31 Dec- A final
- No final
2020 All-Ireland SFC Final - A Different PerspectiveGAA - officialgaa on YouTube Check it: Breakingnews.ie · Munster GAA · Munster GAA · 2020 football final (Wikipedia)
- No. 19
24 championship defeats in a row
Galway's hurlers lost 24 championship games in a row, one a year, from the 1929 All-Ireland final to the 1952 semi-final, before beating Kilkenny in 1953.
One game a summer, and every one lost, from 1929 to 1952.
With an automatic place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, Galway's summer came down to a single game, and year after year they lost it. When they did get past Kilkenny in 1953, the final against Cork turned sour. Christy Ring was alleged to have struck Galway defender Mickey Burke, and Ring was reportedly attacked at the Gresham Hotel that evening.
Read more: The42 · The Irish Times
19291953- Lost
- Beat Kilkenny
Check it: Galway GAA · 1953 hurling championship (Wikipedia)
- No. 20
4-9 beaten by 0-26
Offaly scored four goals against Kilkenny in the 2013 Leinster hurling quarter-final and still lost: Kilkenny won 0-26 to 4-9 without a goal.
Four goals to none, and still on the losing side.
On a sweltering day at O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly scored after 40 seconds and Kilkenny trailed for the whole first half. Eoin Larkin's 0-11 from placed balls carried the All-Ireland champions clear, and Brian Cody, just back from heart surgery, said it was very seldom you'd win after conceding four goals and scoring none.
Read more: The Irish Times · RTÉ
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody at Pearse Stadium, Galway, in March 2015.Photo: Seaninryan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Check it: The Irish Times · 2013 hurling championship (Wikipedia)
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