Dublin and Derry diversity in race for Andy Merrigan Cup

When it comes to diversity, Sunday's All-Ireland final between Derry’s Glen and Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes will feature the two counties who do it best in the race for the Andy Merrigan Cup.

Kilmacud’s semi-final win over Kerins O’Rahilly’s ensures that Dublin will have a team in the final for the 16th time, just one behind roll of honour leaders Cork who have had a side compete for the trophy on 17 occasions.

Glen’s win over Maigh Cuilinn takes Derry up to eight appearances, level with Armagh and Roscommon but behind Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and Galway in that particular list.

Where the two counties stand out though is the spread of teams that have marched out on All-Ireland final day, Dublin leading the way with eight teams enjoying that privilege over those 16 finals while Derry’s eight days in the sun have been the work of six different outfits.

Here’s how those clubs have performed.

DERRY

Slaughtneil – 2015, 2017

No club has ever enjoyed such a sustained assault on All-Ireland titles in such a short space of time as the Slaughtneil club who came at it on three fronts between 2016 and 2021.

While their camogs completed a brilliant three in a row, their male counterparts were unable to get over the line in two codes.

On four occasions their hurlers saw their hopes ended at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, but their footballers did manage to make the final twice.

In 2015 they went down heavily to arguably the greatest club team of all time in Corofin, and while they were much more competitive two years later against Dr Croke’s, the first-half dismissal of Padraig Cassidy proved crucial in the two-point loss as Colm Cooper finally got his hands on the Andy Merrigan Cup.

Bellaghy - 1972, 1995

Bellaghy were the second-ever side to be