The race for the top four is close.
They say that the table never lies, and over the course of 38 games, if you’re sitting top of that league, then no one can really dispute that you are anything other than the best team in the competition.
It’s a battle of quality and consistency as every team has their day, but only the very top teams perform at the highest level week in and week out.
GAA Analyst, Barry Cleary, has brilliantly collected all of the data from the last decade and a half, and created a Premier League-styled table for Gaelic football championship teams, over the course of 38 games.
Of course some teams played a lot more than others, so you have to go right back to 2006 for the likes of Waterford football team to reach 38 matches.
If anything it highlights just how few championship games are actually played, as even Dublin, who unsurprisingly sit top of the table, have to accumulate games all the way from 2016 to reach the 38 mark.
Something sillier – The Senior Football Champ as the Premier League. #gaa Everyone's last 38 Champ games.
Shows how little teams play champ football compared to Prem League teams play games.
No surprise who made Champions League spots. pic.twitter.com/pMR73WoCzh
— Barry Cleary (@sheikhbarabas) June 10, 2022
Looking at the table, the top four is really no surprise, as Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone and Mayo claim the Champion’s League spots.
However, Donegal can count themselves unlucky, missing out by a single point, and will have to settle for a place in the Europa League.
Derry currently sit in 13th place, which highlights the dramatic progress they have made in the past two years, and there are no real surprises about the teams who sit in the bottom half of the table.
In terms of relegation, it’s Waterford who finish dead last, followed by Carlow, while Fermanagh just manage to edge out Antrim to secure safety.
