The All-Ireland football final: By the numbers

0 – Goals conceded in championship football by Stephen Cluxton since the drawn final between Kerry and Dublin in 2019. The last player to make him pick the ball out of the net was Killian Spillane. In 13 matches since with Cluxton in goals – five in 2020 and eight this season – Dublin haven’t had a single green flag waved against them.

1 – Dublin defender Lee Gannon will be the only player on either side playing in his first All-Ireland final. You have to go back to 2015 to find the last time so few first-timers started a final – everyone who started that final had played in at least one before. At the other end of the scale, it’s 1998 since we had a decider with nobody who had final experience – all 30 players from Kildare and Galway were doing it for the first time that day 25 years ago.

2 – This is referee David Gough’s second final. His other one was also between Dublin and Kerry – the drawn game in 2019.

3 – Sets of brothers involved. Dublin have John and Paddy Small, Kerry have David and Paudie Clifford as well as Adrian and Killian Spillane. The 2021 final is the only one this century that didn’t feature a set of brothers (although Conor O’Shea, brother of Aidan, was on the bench for Mayo, he didn’t see gametime).

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4 – Points needed by David Clifford to catch Derry’s Shane McGuigan at the top of the scoring charts for the 2023 championship. McGuigan is the current leader on 2-52 (58), with Clifford on 5-39 (54). Colm Basquel is the leading scorer from play going into the final, with 5-15 (30) against his name. Con O’Callaghan is next on 2-23 (29), with Clifford a point behind on 3-19 (28).

5 – Goals by Clifford and Basquel so far in the 2023 championship, making them joint leading goalscorers. Of the others involved in the final, Paudie Clifford, Seán O’Shea and Con O’Callaghan have two apiece.

6 – Different free-takers for Dublin during the campaign. Cormac Costello has been their primary place-kicker but there have been scores from dead balls also by Paul Mannion, Colm Basquel, Dean Rock and Con O’Callaghan. Stephen Cluxton also took a 45 in his first game back against Kildare. Kerry have had just two freetakers all summer – David Clifford and Seán O’Shea.

7 – This will be Jack O’Connor’s seventh All-Ireland final as manager. His Kerry teams have won four of them (2004 and ‘06 v Mayo, ‘09 v Cork and last year against Galway). In terms of final appearances, this draws him level with Sean Boylan (seven finals, four wins) and Kevin Heffernan (seven finals, three wins). Still nobody comes close to Mick O’Dwyer (11 finals – 10 with Kerry, one with Kildare – eight wins).

8 – Final matches in a row where Dublin have scored the first goal. Two have them have been directly from the throw-in – Dean Rock in 2020 and Eoin Murchan at the start of the second half of the 2019 replay. The last final in which the Dubs didn’t get the first goal was in 2011 against Kerry. Dublin haven’t lost a final in which they’ve scored the first goal since 1984, also against Kerry.

10 – Stephen Cluxton and James McCarthy have played in 10 All-Ireland final matches, including replays in 2016 and 2019. Cluxton has played every minute of every final. McCarthy was replaced by Philly McMahon early in the second half of the 2011 final and was black carded in the drawn match in 2016, ending his day in the 24th minute. Otherwise, he has been ever-present.

11 – Different goalscorers for Dublin so far in the campaign, the most of any team. Derry were next with nine. Kerry have had seven.

14 – Times Kerry and Dublin have met in the All-Ireland final. Kerry have won eight, Dublin six. Only one of the finals has gone to a replay – the most recent one in 2019. Kerry haven’t beaten Dublin in a final since 1985.

34 – Gap in years between the youngest player Stephen Cluxton has played championship football with (Greg McEneaney, born 2003) and the oldest (Vinny Murphy, born 1969).

68 – Kerry and Dublin have won 68 All-Irelands between them. All the other counties combined have won 67. Only five finals this century have not featured one or other of Kerry or Dublin.

118 – Championship appearances by Stephen Cluxton. The final will push him 30 ahead of the next man on the list, Tyrone’s Seán Cavanagh who finished up on 89. The next active player on the list is Aidan O’Shea, whose six games for Mayo in this year’s championship brought him to 84.