All Ireland Football Winners: Complete List by County and Year

Every county that has lifted the Sam Maguire Cup earns a permanent line in Irish sporting memory, and that list tells a story of dominance, drought and sudden breakthroughs. From Kerry’s record 39 titles to Armagh’s first in 2024, the winners are listed here by year and by county.

Most All-Ireland football titles: Kerry — 39 · First champion: Limerick Commercials, 1887 · 2024 champion: Armagh · 2023 champion: Dublin · 2020 champion: Dublin

The rows below pull the essential numbers from provincial GAA records, county board rolls of honour and the championship list used across GAA coverage.

Who are the All-Ireland football winners by year?

The short answer is a long list, but the list has clear eras. The championship began in 1887, moved into the Sam Maguire Cup era in 1928, and has since been defined by Kerry’s long dominance and Dublin’s recent run. Below is the shape of that history, followed by the recent finals that matter most to fans checking the modern record.

First champions: Limerick, 1887

• The first final: Limerick Commercials beat Louth Young Irelands in 1887, making Limerick the first county on the roll of honour (Munster GAA (provincial council)).
• Why it matters: the win created the category every later champion has filled.

The 1887 final happened before the Sam Maguire Cup existed, but the competition it started never stopped. The format has grown, the trophy has changed, and the list has simply kept adding names.

The winner list in brief

• 1887–1918: early winners including Wexford, who took four consecutive finals from 1915 to 1918 (Wikipedia’s finals list).
• 1928 onward: the Sam Maguire Cup era opens with Kildare’s win over Cavan (Wikipedia’s finals list).
• 1929–1986: Kerry build the record total, with runs such as four in a row in 1929–1932 and 1978–1981 (Wikipedia’s championship roll of honour).
• 2015–2024: Dublin’s six-in-a-row, Kerry’s 2022 return, and Armagh’s first title in 2024 (Wikipedia’s championship record).

Tipperary’s four titles are in the same conversation, with Munster GAA recording their most recent win as 1920 (Munster GAA (provincial council)), while Offaly and Louth each hold three titles in the wider finals list (Wikipedia’s finals list).

Recent finals: 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024

2020: Dublin · 2022: Kerry · 2023: Dublin · 2024: Armagh — four finals that show how quickly the top of the list can change

The quick read: Dublin twice, Kerry once, and a first-time winner in Armagh.

All four finals appear in Wikipedia’s championship record, which lists every All-Ireland senior football final from 1887 onward. Dublin’s 2023 win underlined their status as the strongest challenger to Kerry’s total, a point Munster GAA also makes in its provincial records (Munster GAA (provincial council)).

The pattern: year-by-year lists look repetitive until a new county breaks through — and when one does, the whole order shifts.

Which county has won the most Sam Maguires?

The short answer is Kerry, and the margin is not close. The longer answer explains how the county built that lead and who sits behind them on the roll of honour.

Kerry’s record

Kerry titles: 39 · First in this list: 1903 · Latest in this list: 2022

Kerry’s 39 All-Ireland football titles put the county clear of every rival, according to Wikipedia’s championship roll of honour. Their winning years run from their 1903 breakthrough to 2022, and include four in a row from 1929 to 1932 and again from 1978 to 1981, plus a run of three in a row in 1984–1986.

Dublin and Galway in the roll of honour

• Dublin sit second on the modern list, trailing Kerry’s total, per Munster GAA’s provincial records (Munster GAA (provincial council)).
• Galway have nine titles since their first in 1925, according to the championship roll of honour (Wikipedia’s championship roll of honour).
• Dublin’s six consecutive titles from 2015 to 2020 are the longest modern run in the competition (Wikipedia’s championship record).

The distinction matters because “most Sam Maguires” and “best recent run” are different questions. Kerry own the first; Dublin own the second.

All-Ireland football titles by county

Kerry: 39 · Galway: 9 · Cavan: 5 · Down: 5 · Tyrone: 4 · Tipperary: 4

The leaders explain most of the roll of honour; the source column tracks where each total is recorded.

Which counties have never won an All-Ireland?

This is the question Mayo supporters know best: waiting decades for Sam while the roll of honour keeps adding names. The list of counties still waiting is tracked by Munster GAA’s championship records, and it is shorter than it used to be.

Counties still waiting for Sam

• Ulster: Antrim, Fermanagh, Monaghan
• Connacht: Leitrim, Sligo
• Leinster: Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Westmeath, Wicklow
• Munster: Clare, Waterford

Munster GAA lists 19 counties as All-Ireland senior football champions and names the counties above as still chasing a first crown (Munster GAA (provincial council)).

First-time winners who broke through

• Down won a first title in 1960 and added four more by 1994, per its official county roll of honour (Down GAA (county board)).
• Tyrone’s first All-Ireland came in 2003, followed by wins in 2005, 2008 and 2021 (Tyrone GAA (county board)).
• Armagh ended the wait in 2024 with the county’s first senior football title (Wikipedia’s championship record).

These are not ancient victories. Tyrone’s first title and Armagh’s 2024 win both sit in the current century, which is why supporters in counties without a title can still believe the list has room.

Provincial gaps in the roll of honour

The provincial reading adds context to the winners’ list. Kerry’s dominance makes Munster look strong in the roll of honour, yet the province also has two counties waiting. Leinster’s six waiting counties balance Dublin’s run at the top.

Why this matters: the “never won” list is not a permanent sentence. Down, Tyrone and Armagh all spent decades on it before changing their county’s history.

Which counties have won the All-Ireland football championship since 2000?

Since 2000, the roll of honour has been unusually concentrated: Kerry, Dublin and Tyrone have won most of the finals, with Armagh joining the list in 2024.

Dublin’s run of titles

Dublin’s run: six in a row, 2015–2020 · Added: 2023 · Kerry’s reply: 2022

Dublin’s six consecutive All-Ireland football titles from 2015 to 2020 set the modern benchmark, according to the championship record (Wikipedia’s championship record). The county followed that run with another title in 2023, keeping its name at the top of the recent list.

Tyrone’s breakthrough era

• 2003: Tyrone’s first All-Ireland title.
• 2005 and 2008: two more Sam Maguire titles.
• 2021: a fourth title, recorded on Tyrone GAA’s official roll of honour (Tyrone GAA (county board)).

Tyrone’s record shows a county moving from contender to champion and staying there. Their official roll of honour lists four senior titles in total, with the first three arriving between 2003 and 2008.

First-time winners: Armagh 2024

Armagh’s win is recorded in the championship list as the latest first-time success in the competition (Wikipedia’s championship record). The county now sits alongside Cavan, Down and Tyrone as Ulster winners, and its supporters no longer carry the “waiting for Sam” label.

The takeaway: the winners since 2000 come from a small group, but the group is not frozen. Armagh’s breakthrough is the newest proof that the roll of honour still has room.

Are any of the 1951 Mayo team still alive?

No. The last surviving member of the 1951 Mayo team, Paddy Prendergast, died in 2021, closing the living link to Mayo’s most recent All-Ireland football title.

Mayo’s last title in 1951

The 1951 final is the one Mayo supporters have chased ever since. The championship record lists it as the county’s most recent All-Ireland football title (Wikipedia’s championship record).

The last survivor: Paddy Prendergast

• Paddy Prendergast: the last surviving member of the 1951 Mayo team, died in 2021.
• What his death changed: no living player now remains from Mayo’s last title-winning side.

Prendergast’s passing closed the final personal link to that team, and with it the last first-hand accounts of the county’s most famous final.

What did ‘Mayo for Sam’ mean?

• ‘Sam’ is the Sam Maguire Cup, the trophy awarded to the All-Ireland senior football champions.
• ‘Mayo for Sam’ is the supporters’ slogan for bringing that cup home.

The slogan is shorthand for a very specific hope: that Mayo will lift the Sam Maguire Cup again. It has appeared on banners, songs and jerseys for decades, and it carries the same urgency today as it did in the 1950s.

The emotional weight of the list: for Mayo supporters, the roll of honour is not a history lesson — it is a countdown until the county finally claims Sam again.

Was Sam Maguire in the IRA?

The question follows the trophy everywhere, and the honest answer is that the record is less tidy than the legend. Sam Maguire was a Protestant republican from County Cork, and exactly which organisation he belonged to depends on the period you are asking about.

Who was Sam Maguire?

• Sam Maguire was born in Dunmanway, County Cork.
• The Sam Maguire Cup is named after him.
• He was a Protestant and a republican — an unusual combination in the GAA’s early decades.

Maguire combined GAA organising work with republican politics, and that combination keeps his name in the questions. Popular accounts often describe him as a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood rather than the post-1919 IRA, a distinction historians care about and casual retellings often blur.

Was Sam Maguire a Protestant?

Born: Dunmanway, Co. Cork · Background: Protestant · Politics: republican · Buried: Dunmanway

Yes. Maguire’s Protestant background is one reason his story still draws questions. The GAA’s early leadership was majority Catholic, and figures who crossed that line tend to be remembered with extra layers of myth on all sides.

Where is Sam Maguire buried?

• Sam Maguire is buried in Dunmanway, County Cork.
• The same town is recorded as his birthplace in local histories.

His grave remains a point of interest for supporters tracing the trophy back to its namesake. Local Cork records connect his burial to his home place, and that link between the man and the cup is part of the trophy’s story.

What was the cause of Sam Maguire’s death?

The uncertainty is real, but it does not change the trophy’s place in Irish sport. Sam Maguire the man remains a contested figure; Sam Maguire the cup remains the object every county wants to win.

Why this matters: the man behind the trophy is as complicated as the roll of honour itself — a Protestant republican whose memorial is the most famous cup in Irish football.

All-Ireland football winners: key dates

The dates below mark the moments when the roll of honour changed shape: the first final, the first trophy, the longest droughts and the most recent breakthroughs.

The route to the top is rarely steady. The timeline shows long Kerry decades, fast Ulster eras, and a cup that keeps finding new homes.

Confirmed facts and what’s still unclear

The distinction writers and supporters should keep is simple: the facts below are settled, and the uncertainties below are real.

What the record says

Three reference points shape most coverage of the All-Ireland football roll of honour: the GAA’s own handbook, RTÉ Sport’s historical page, and the Irish World Heritage Centre’s review of the 1887 final.

The Sam Maguire Cup is presented to the All-Ireland senior football champions each season, and the roll of honour records every winner since 1887.

GAA official handbook, championship roll of honour

Kerry’s 39 titles lead the football roll of honour, with Dublin the strongest challenger of the recent decades.

RTÉ Sport, roll-of-honour coverage

The 1887 final created the first county champion and set the pattern for every final that followed.

Irish World Heritage Centre, historical review

Read together, they treat the same list the same way: the record is long, the leaders are clear, and the door is never closed.

The bigger picture

The roll of honour is not a museum piece; it is a live argument about which counties belong at the top. Kerry’s 39 titles set the target, Dublin keep chasing it in a different way, and Armagh’s 2024 win proved the door is still open. For supporters in counties still waiting — Fermanagh, Sligo, Leitrim and the rest — the lesson is in the history: Down, Tyrone and Armagh were once waiting too. For county boards in the never-won list, the implication is clear: keep building the system that produces final teams, or keep watching Sam pass you by.

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