What are Gaelic games?
Gaelic games are Ireland's native sports, organized by the GAA: Gaelic football (15 a side, carrying the ball with bounces and solo kicks, scoring goals and points), hurling — played with a stick called a hurley and a hard ball, often called the fastest field sport in the world — and its women's counterpart camogie, plus handball and rounders.[1] [2]
The amateur principle
This is what makes Gaelic games unlike any comparable sport: every player is an amateur. Men who play in front of 82,000 at Croke Park in an All-Ireland final — televised nationally, sponsored heavily — are unpaid, and go to work on Monday. Players represent the county of their birth or residence, through their local parish club, and cannot transfer for money. The GAA's revenues fund the clubs and grounds instead.[2] [3]
How does the season work?
Club championships run at county level; county teams contest the provincial championships (Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht) and then the All-Ireland Championships, whose finals fill Croke Park each summer — the hurling final in July, the football final in late summer. National Leagues run in spring.[2] [4]
How are Gaelic games awarded?
Who has won the most in Gaelic games?
Four separate championships, never merged: senior football and senior hurling under the GAA, senior camogie under the Camogie Association, and senior ladies' football under the LGFA — each with its own governing body and its own roll of honour. Base counts for football and hurling come from the GAA's own records handbook, which runs to 2021; camogie and ladies' football come from their own associations' rolls of honour. Every final since has been added from a match report by the relevant association, through the 2026 championships. The arithmetic ties out against the associations' own headlines: Kerry's thirty-ninth football title, Tipperary's twenty-ninth in hurling, Limerick's thirteenth.
Most All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles by county (1887–2026)
| Rank | County | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kerry | 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2022, 2025 | 39 |
| 2 | Dublin | 2011, 2013, 2015–2020, 2023 | 31 |
| 3 | Galway | 1956, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1998, 2001 | 9 |
| 4= | Meath | 1987, 1988, 1996, 1999 | 7 |
| 4= | Cork | 1973, 1989, 1990, 2010 | 7 |
| 6= | Wexford | 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 | 5 |
| 6= | Cavan | 1947, 1948, 1952 | 5 |
| 6= | Down | 1968, 1991, 1994 | 5 |
| 9= | Tipperary | 1889, 1895, 1900, 1920 | 4 |
| 9= | Kildare | 1905, 1919, 1927, 1928 | 4 |
| 9= | Tyrone | 2003, 2005, 2008, 2021 | 4 |
| 9= | Mayo | 1936, 1950, 1951, 2026 | 4 |
Most All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship titles by county (1887–2026)
| Rank | County | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kilkenny | 2006–2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 | 36 |
| 2 | Cork | 1999, 2004, 2005 | 30 |
| 3 | Tipperary | 2001, 2010, 2016, 2019, 2025 | 29 |
| 4 | Limerick | 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026 | 13 |
| 5= | Dublin | 1920, 1924, 1927, 1938 | 6 |
| 5= | Wexford | 1955, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1996 | 6 |
| 7= | Galway | 1923, 1980, 1987, 1988, 2017 | 5 |
| 7= | Clare | 1914, 1995, 1997, 2013, 2024 | 5 |
| 9 | Offaly | 1981, 1985, 1994, 1998 | 4 |
| 10 | Waterford | 1948, 1959 | 2 |
Most All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship titles by county (1932–2026)
| Rank | County | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cork | 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024, 2026 | 31 |
| 2 | Dublin | 1957–1966, 1984 | 26 |
| 3 | Kilkenny | 2016, 2020, 2022 | 15 |
| 4 | Wexford | 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 | 7 |
| 5 | Antrim | 1945, 1946, 1947, 1956, 1967, 1979 | 6 |
| 6= | Galway | 1996, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2025 | 5 |
| 6= | Tipperary | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 | 5 |
Most All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Championship titles by county (1974–2026)
| Rank | County | Years | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kerry | 1982–1990, 1993, 2024 | 12 |
| 2 | Cork | 2005–2009, 2011–2016 | 11 |
| 3 | Dublin | 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2025 | 7 |
| 4 | Waterford | 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998 | 5 |
| 5 | Mayo | 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 | 4 |
| 6 | Tipperary | 1974, 1975, 1980 | 3 |
| 7= | Galway | 2004, 2026 | 2 |
| 7= | Meath | 2021, 2022 | 2 |
| 7= | Monaghan | 1996, 1997 | 2 |
| 7= | Offaly | 1979, 1981 | 2 |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals are separated by golds, then silvers, and every table states the period it covers. Verified September 2026.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Gaelic football. Accessed August 2026.
- GAA — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Hurling. Accessed August 2026.
- Munster GAA — 2026 All-Ireland Senior Hurling final: Limerick 1-29 Galway 1-18. Accessed August 2026.
- GAA — official records handbook, All-Ireland championships to 2021. Accessed September 2026.
- GAA — 2025 All-Ireland senior football final report (Kerry's 39th). Accessed September 2026.
- GAA — 2026 All-Ireland senior football final report (Mayo). Accessed September 2026.
- GAA — 2025 All-Ireland senior hurling final report (Tipperary). Accessed September 2026.
- GAA — 2026 All-Ireland senior hurling final report (Limerick). Accessed September 2026.
- Camogie Association — All-Ireland championship roll of honour. Accessed September 2026.
- Ladies Gaelic Football Association — senior championship roll of honour. Accessed September 2026.