20 figures that illustrate a remarkable reign as Dublin's golden era comes to an end

After 45 championship games without defeat and six consecutive All-Ireland titles, the greatest era of any inter-county Gaelic football team came to an end on Saturday.

Sun, 15 Aug, 2021 - 19:30

John Fogarty

After 45 championship games without defeat and six consecutive All-Ireland titles, the greatest era of any inter-county Gaelic football team came to an end on Saturday.

Neither number is likely to ever be touched or beaten, but they are only a couple of figures that illustrate a remarkable reign.

1 — Championship defeats now in the ledger of Brian Fenton, who made his SFC debut seven years ago. This was only Ciarán Kilkenny’s second ever loss, and Jonny Cooper and Dean Rock’s third.

1 — Championship defeats Dublin have suffered without Stephen Cluxton since the 2004 Leinster quarter-final defeat to Westmeath.

3 — Number of Mayo players who began Saturday’s game that also started in 2012 (Lee Keegan, Aidan O’Shea, and Kevin McLoughlin). Colm Boyle, who began that game, was an unused substitute this time around.

5 — Number of survivors from Dublin’s last SFC defeat who were in their latest panel Mick Fitzsimons, Jonny Cooper, and James McCarthy, started, while Philly McMahon, came off the bench. A starter on Saturday, Dean Rock, was a substitute in that 2014 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Donegal.

8 — Successive SFC victories under Dessie Farrell prior to this reverse.

8 — Games unbeaten against Mayo, from the 2013 All-Ireland final to last year’s decider.

9 — Number of years (or 3,269 days to be precise) since Kilkenny’s last Championship defeat, which was his debut against Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final. He missed the Donegal game two years later due to a cruciate injury.

9 — The difference between Dublin’s SFC run without defeat of 45 and the 36 they stretched across the league and championship from March 2015 to April 2017, when Kerry beat them in that year’s Division 1 final.

10 — Starting players who hadn’t experienced a Championship defeat before last Saturday evening (Evan Comerford, David Byrne, John Small, Eoin Murchan, Brian Fenton, Brian Howard, Paddy Small, Niall Scully, Con O’Callaghan, and Cormac Costello).

13 — Pieces of championship silverware won since the unbeaten run began in 2015, with six Sam Maguire Cups and seven Delaney Cups.

14 — Dublin’s unbeaten run across the Allianz League and Championship up to Saturday. From October last year, they won on 13 occasions beating Meath (thrice), Galway (twice), Westmeath, Laois, Cavan, Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Wexford, and Kildare. Their only “blemish” was the draw against Kerry this year when they were forced to concede home advantage and played their league game against the Kingdom in Thurles.

19 — Counties beaten by Dublin since the 2015 Leinster SFC quarter-final; Longford (2), Kildare (4), Westmeath (4), Fermanagh, Mayo (5), Kerry (3), Laois (3), Meath (4), Cork, Donegal (2), Carlow, Monaghan, Tyrone (4), Wicklow, Roscommon (2), Galway, Louth, Cavan, and Wexford.

20 — The number, out of 26 players, who hadn’t suffered a championship loss prior to Saturday (with the others being Sean MacMahon, Michael Shiel, Colm and Ryan Basquel, Seán Bugler, Aaron Byrne, Tom Lahiff, Robbie McDaid, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, and Cillian O’Shea).

22 — Of Saturday’s squad who hadn’t lost a SFC match to Mayo until now. Rock and Cooper weren’t on the panel for the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final loss.

37 — Games unbeaten in championship when Jim Gavin was at the helm.

42 — Victories for Dublin in their unbeaten SFC run of 45 matches, the draws coming against Mayo (twice, 2015 All-Ireland semi-final, 2016 final) and Kerry (2019 final).

43 — All-Stars won by Dublin since 2015; Rory O’Carroll (’15), Philly McMahon (’15, ’16), Cian O’Sullivan (’15, ’17), Jack McCaffrey (’15, ’17, ’18, ’19), Fenton (’15, ’16, ’18, ’19, ’20), Kilkenny (’15, ’16, ’18, ’20), Bernard Brogan (’15), Cooper (’16, ’18), Diarmuid Connolly (’16), Rock (’16, ’17, ’20), Fitzsimons (’17, ’19, ’20), McCarthy (’17, ’18, ’20), O’Callaghan (’17, ’19, ’20), Paul Mannion (’17, ’18, ’19), Howard (’18, ’19), Cluxton (’19), John Small (’20), Murchan (’20) and Scully (’20).

2,156 — Days as All-Ireland champions, from the 2015 final victory over Kerry.

2,268 — Days as championship invincibles, stemming back to their 2015 Leinster SFC quarter-final victory over Longford.

2,541 — Days from Dublin’s previous SFC defeat to their last one.