Galway v Kerry: The All-Ireland final numbers game

The All-Ireland final between Galway and Kerry at Croke Park looks set to be a fascinating affair.

Here are some numbers from both camps ahead of their big Sam Maguire clash.

Sunday's All-Ireland final will be the 23rd championship meeting between Kerry and Galway. The current record sees Kerry with 12 victories, Galway with seven while there have been three drawn encounters.

The Kingdom won the first meeting in the 1913 All-Ireland semi-final, 1-08 to 0-01, before going on claim the title with victory over Wexford. Kingdom captain Dick Fitzgerald would score the goal in that win over Galway in Maryborough, renamed Portlaoise some seven years later.

Galway’s first championship win over Kerry came six years later as they won an All-Ireland semi-final replay and reached the final for the first time, where they’d lose out to Kildare.

The Connacht side have also won the last meeting between the pair, a 2018 Super Eight game at Croke Park. Galway won 1-13 to 1-10, Patrick Sweeney and David Clifford the goal scorers, and the Kingdom would ultimately finish third in the group behind Galway and Monaghan to miss out on a semi-final berth.

Jack O’Connor is preparing for his sixth All-Ireland final in his third term in charge of the Kerry footballers.

After Páidí Ó Sé’s departure after the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone, O’Connor, a former selector under Ó Sé, took on the manager’s gig and qualified for three finals in succession.

The first and last of those would prove fruitful as they hit a combined 5-35 in a pair of final wins over Mayo with Tyrone defeating them in the 2005 showpiece.

O’Connor returned to the job again in 2009 after Pat O’Shea’s departure and, just like the first time around, Sam Maguire arrived in year