In 85 championship games for Kerry, Colm Cooper amassed 352 points.
Sounds good, it is good, it’s the best of all time but the kicker is that Cillian O’Connor will probably surpass it in 2018.
Just 42 points adrift of number one spot on the top football championship scorers of all time, what O’Connor has done for Mayo in such a short space of time cannot be downplayed in any way.
The Ballintubber man has scored 20 goals and 250 points in inter-county championship games for Mayo and, in 2017, he accrued 75 points in the one campaign. They played a lot of games, sure, but he averaged 7.5 a game and, when you consider that Mayo are starting in the Connacht quarter-finals, when you consider they’re guaranteed three matches in the Super 8 quarter-finals and then whatever they have beyond that – not to mention the two or three replays they’ll no doubt be forced to engage in – the chances of Cillian O’Connor hitting over 42 points in the 2018 championship season are pretty good.
The majority of O’Connor’s points come from frees but only someone who’s never taken a free would take that away from him. As a set piece master, you can’t win. You’re expected to score every time you stand over the ball but, when you do, nobody gives a shit – it’s just what you’re supposed to do. When you don’t score however, it’s analysed to death, talked about to the point of insult and questions of character and skill are raised.
You either miss and everyone will be fuming at you or you score and it will never be mentioned again.
By whatever means, Cillian O’Connor is already ahead of some of the greats. He’s already ahead of some of the most deadly footballers ever and only Colm Cooper clings to the lead in front of him. It won’t be a matter of ifs or buts for when O’Connor slips into top spot in the list – it will simply happen whenever he does it and he’ll probably do it next summer.
The GAA handbook shows just how lethal O’Connor has been.
The handbook doesn’t however include Steven McDonnell’s scoring which seems strange considering the Armagh legend racked up 243 points throughout a career which saw him win seven Ulster titles and one All-Ireland.
McDonnell kicked 19-186 in championship football and most of them from play – that would slot him in at eighth place.
Top SFC scorers ever
- Colm Cooper (Kerry) – 352
- Cillian O’Connor (Mayo) – 310
- Mikey Sheehy (Kerry) – 292
- John Doyle (Kildare) – 284
- Pádraig Joyce (Galway) – 265
- Bernard Brogan (Dublin) – 259
- Paddy Bradley (Derry) – 253
- Steven McDonnell (Armagh) – 243
- Maurice Fitzgerald (Kerry) – 241
- Brian Stafford (Meath) – 233
- Oisín McConville (Armagh) – 230
Johnny Doyle tops the charts in Leinster whilst Derry’s Paddy Bradley is the lead-scoring Ulster man of all time despite never winning a provincial title and despite only being awarded one All-Star.
