Low-scoring All-Ireland final bucks recent scoring trends

It was a wet day in Croke Park, which is some excuse for the lowest scoring final since 2003. 

Just 21 scores were taken on Sunday , the same as in the finals of 1984 (also Kerry and Dublin), 1997, 1999 and 2003. Only three finals since 1975 have had a lower number of scores. The record low was in 1980 when Kerry beat Roscommon by 1-9 to 1-6, a total of 17 scores. There were two finals with just twenty scores, in 1983 and in 1990.

The highest-scoring final in terms of numbers of scores was the 1982 final when a last-minute goal by Offaly’s Seamus Darby deprived Kerry of five in a row. The final score was Offaly 1-15, Kerry 0-17, a total of 33 scores. There have been three finals since 1975 with 32 scores, in 1991 Down vs Meath, 1992 Donegal vs Dublin and 2004 Kerry vs Mayo. In more recent times, the Cork Down final of 2010 had 31 scores.