2017 Kildare reached their first Leinster final in ten years in 2017. They were defeated by Wexford who went on to win the title.
Kildare last won the Leinster title in 2000. The most recent time they finished as runners-up was in 1997.
Overall, Kildare have never won the All-Ireland title. However, they have finished as runners-up on five occasions: 1887, 1889, 1890, 1996, and 1997.
The two counties have met in eight championship finals with Kildare winning six and Wexford losing two. The two counties are currently locked in a semi-final at the end of the regular season with Kildare topping the table and qualifying for next year's All-Ireland final. If this game ended today then Kildare would face Dublin who beat Meath in the other semi-final.
However, both teams will be hoping for a reprieve as the game has been moved to later this month due to concerns over the weather in Georgia where the all-star match is being played.
The Senior Football Championship in Leinster It was unrivaled until Dublin won their own six-in-a-row between 1974 and 1979. Between 2011 and 2018, Dublin won eight consecutive Leinster championships. The last time they did not win at least one Leinster football title was in 1981 when they failed to do so.
Since then, no other team has been close to matching their success. The nearest any other team has come is when Longford took part of five finals in a row from 1995 to 1999. They lost all five games without scoring a goal.
The last time any other team won more than one Leinster title in a row was in the early 1980s when St. Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians and Derry GAA clubs formed an alliance called the "O'Neill Cup". The three teams met each year for a championship that only lasted two seasons because money problems ended it down at the end of its first season. However, this partnership proved to be very successful as they met in several European competitions including the UEFA Cup and the European Champion's League.
After this short lived league, nobody has been able to match the dominance of Dublin over the past thirty years.
Dublin won their 11th consecutive Leinster title and their 16th in the last 17 years. It's Mayo—yet again—up who's next. Full highlights of the weekend's regional finals and the two All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals will be available on The Sunday Game beginning at 9.30 p.m. tonight. You can also watch full matches streamed live on RTÉ Player.
Mayo have now beaten Dublin in four successive championship meetings. They remain unbeaten against "the Dubs" since 2015 when they defeated them by just one point to claim their first ever Leinster crown. "The Kingdom" has never been beaten by Dublin in Leinster play.
It was another successful outing for Dublin head coach Joe Schmidt who wins his 50th game with a single victory. He is only Mick McCarthy (57) among current coaches to have achieved this feat. "Ginger" Gerry Francis is the most successful manager in the history of the competition with 14 titles to his name.
Joe Kernan is the most successful player with five Leinster medals. He finished on the losing side in 1966 but it wasn't until yesterday that he lost an Leinster final. Joe Burke has won three titles in the last year - all in a row! John Power, Paddy Mulligan and Tony O'Sullivan have each won two in a row twice.
Meth were named Leinster minor football champions for 2020 after a thrilling one-point victory over Offaly today. Last year's postponed provincial decider was played at TEG Cusack Park, and the Royals won 1-6 to 1-7. This years' game was also decided by one point - but this time it was enough to give Meth their first ever title.
Meth started brightly and took an early lead through a goal from Jack Kennedy. The Offaly side came back into the game though as they dominated the opening ten minutes, with goals from Conor Hayes and Enda Curran giving them a 0-4 to 0-3 lead at the break.
Kennedy struck again just before the hour mark to restore some hope for his opponents, but they could not find a way past the Meth defence who kept them out until the final minute when a late goal from Sean O'Sullivan gave Methe the win by one point.
There was no shortage of talent on display during these finals, with both teams including several players who have already earned international caps. Meth manager Liam Reilly was delighted with how his team performed despite the short turnaround after last week's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry: "It's brilliant, we knew it would be tough but we've given ourselves a great chance now".
Kilkenny has won the All-Ireland Championship 36 times as of 2019 and the regional Leinster Championship 71 times. The county team was founded in 1785 and is based at John Brown's house in Kilkenney, about 20 miles (30 km) from Dublin.
They are one of the oldest counties in Ireland on which to base a football team. The original club played its home games in St. Francis Church until 1854 when grounds were found for them to play their matches outside of Mass during inclement weather. These grounds are still used today even though they are not owned by the club but instead by the Diocese of Ossory and Kildare. The only other team that has won more All-Ireland Championships than Kilkenny is Cork who has 37 victories. However, due to having more Leinster titles (91 vs. 79), the average age of their squad is slightly higher at 26.3 years.
Kilkenny has also had more runners-up than any other team with 22 appearances. The most recent runner-up finish was in 2018 when Carnarvon lost to Waterford by 1-13 to 0-15 in the All-Ireland final. Before then, no one had ever finished second three years in a row.
Dublin won the Leinster Senior Football Championship by defeating Laois, Kildare, and Wexford. They went on to win the All Ireland Quarter Final against Tyrone and the Semi Final against Donegal. Prior to the final, the Donegal against Dublin football semi-final had the highest attendance of the season (81,436). This record was broken by the final, with a total of 102,829 attending across three days.
The Dublin team that year was considered one of the best ever seen in the country, with Eamonn Coghlan at full back and Brian Cody in charge of tactics and skills. Other notable names on the list include Tony Scullion, Paul Mannix, David O'Sullivan, Paddy McCartan, Martin Brennan, Colin Whelan, Kevin McGovern, Damien Cole, Dessie Morgan, Alan McCourt, and Jeff Kenna. The manager was Joe Kernan who had been appointed after the previous season's successful campaign where he led the team to their first All-Ireland title in 40 years, beating Kerry in the final.
This article lists all the players that appeared for Dublin in the final along with their club affiliations. Some players are dual players so they can play for more than one club in the same league. These players are listed under two clubs for simplicity purposes. I have also included some statistics such as each player's position, number of caps they have earned with Dublin, and details of any honors they have gained while with the team.
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