GAA two point score statistics, 2024 to 2026

Data checked on 21 October 2026: all 184 All-Ireland SFC games of 2024, 2025 and 2026, provincial championships included, with every team's scorer line added up against its final score.

The three championships side by side

The two-point score arrived with the Football Review Committee's rule package at the start of the 2025 League, together with changes such as the solo and go and the 3 v 3 restriction (GAA.ie). So 2024 is the clean baseline: the same competitions, the same counties, the old rules. The table counts the provincial and All-Ireland games of each summer. The Tailteann Cup is not in it.

Our count from 184 games. Scores in points, a goal worth three and a two-pointer two. Two-pointer figures use the 52 games of 2025 and 49 of 2026 where both scorer lines could be checked. Download the data (CSV).

The average score rose most in the first year. Fourteen points per game separate 2024 from 2026, and twelve of them were already there by the end of 2025. In 2026 nearly one team performance in four reached 30 points; in 2024 it happened four times all summer.

How the two-point rule changed scoring

Splitting each game's total by type gives the clearest picture of what the arc changed. These are the games where both scorer lines add up: 63 in 2024, 52 in 2025, 49 in 2026.

One-point scores barely moved: 27.8 a game in 2024, 28.7 in 2025, 28.3 in 2026. Almost all of the 2025 rise sits in the two-pointer block, about ten and a half points per match from beyond the arc. The second jump, in 2026, is goals. They added nearly two and a half points per game on 2025, while two-pointers added less than half a point.

This is not proof that the arc alone did it. The whole rule package changed at once, and the same scores might have come another way. What the split does show is that the game did not trade one-pointers for two-pointers. It kept the first and added the second.

How many two-pointers per game

Across the two seasons both teams together kicked 5.27 two-pointers a game in 2025 and 5.45 in 2026. That includes two-point frees, which are a shrinking part of it: 93 of the 274 two-pointers in the checked 2025 games came from frees, 34%, against 71 of 267 in 2026, 27%. Two-pointers from play went up from 181 to 196 while the number of games fell.

In 2026 the All-Ireland series had more long-range kicking than the provincial games. The provincial games averaged 4.9 two-pointers, the All-Ireland series 6.0. In 2025 the gap was small, 5.1 and 5.4.

The most in one game in our count is 12, reached twice: Meath against Offaly in the 2025 Leinster quarter-final, and Cork against Meath in round 1 of 2026, six apiece. GAA.ie counts 13 for that Meath and Offaly game, its record for 2025 across League and championship (GAA.ie). The published scorer lines we worked from carry one fewer, so the official figure is the one to quote.

The surpriseKicking more two-pointers than the other side did not decide championship games. The winner kicked more in 37 games and fewer in 39.

Do teams that kick more two-pointers win?

After the 2026 League, GAA.ie argued that teams with a greater ability to kick two-pointers were likely to be the most successful, noting that six of the ten counties that kicked most of them reached League finals (GAA.ie). Over a season, that may well hold. Game by game in the championship, it did not show.

Games where both scorer lines add up; draws left out.

In both summers the split is close to even, with the winner slightly more often the side that kicked fewer. The data cannot say why. A team chasing a game has more reason to shoot from distance, and a team in front can win by goals and simple points, but those are explanations to test, not findings. What the count rules out is the simple version: more two-pointers in a game does not mean the win.

The champions are a fair exception. Mayo won the 2026 All-Ireland and kicked 31 two-pointers in their eight games, 23 from play, more than any county whose every game we could check. In the final they kicked four to Kerry's one and won 1-20 to 1-17. Their scorers are on our Footballer of the Year page.

Most two-pointers by county in 2026

Our count. Where a county has a game we could not check, the total covers only the checked games.

Per game, Monaghan's checked six are the busiest of the leading counties at four a game, just ahead of Mayo's 3.9. Kerry, the 2025 champions, kicked 23 across eight games and lost the final by three.

For player totals the official list is the one to use. GAA.ie's count for 2025, League and championship together, put Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan top with 24, one ahead of Down's Pat Havern and Westmeath's Luke Loughlin.

What the arc did not change

Higher scores did not make games closer. The median winning margin was 5 points in 2024, 6 in 2025 and 5 in 2026. Leaving out draws, the mean winning margin went from 7.4 to 6.7 to 7.5. In 2024, 24 of the 64 games finished within three points; in 2026 it was 16 of 56. Seven 2026 games went to extra time, the most of the three summers, but with 56 games that is a handful of evenings, not a trend. How often a half-time lead survived in these games is in our half-time lead statistics.

The rule itself, the 40m arc and what counts as a two-point score, is set out on our scoring page.

How we counted

The match list and scorer lines come from Wikipedia's pages for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 championships, which cite the official reports. We used a team's scorer line only if its scores add up to that team's final score. 348 of the 368 lines did, some after we replaced them with the line from the RTÉ or GAA.ie report. Seven of those add up but do not mark two-pointers, which leaves 341 usable lines. Team totals use every game; anything that depends on the type of score uses only games where both lines pass.

We checked the count against official figures where they exist. In the 2025 final, the 2026 final and the 2026 quarter-final between Kerry and Tyrone, our two-pointer counts match GAA.ie. Our share of the total from two-pointers, 23.1% for the 2025 championship, sits close to GAA.ie's 22% for 2025 League and championship together. The Irish Times put the 2025 championship at 4.7 two-pointers a game (The Irish Times), below our 5.27; we have not found how its sample was drawn, and ours leaves out the 12 games of 2025 without two checkable lines. Every game, both scores, the two-pointer counts and the report link are in the CSV.

Frequently asked questions

How many two-pointers are scored in a Gaelic football game?

About five in the championship, counting both teams: 5.27 a game in 2025 and 5.45 in 2026 in our count, two-point frees included.

What percentage of scores come from two-pointers?

In our championship count, 23.1% of the total score in 2025 and 22.8% in 2026. GAA.ie gives 22% for League and championship in 2025.

How has the two-point rule changed Gaelic football?

Mostly by adding scores. The average went from 33.9 points a game in 2024 to 46.0 in 2025, with two-pointers worth about ten and a half points per match while one-point scores stayed near 28. Winning margins barely changed, and the side kicking more two-pointers did not win more often. Other rules changed in the same package, so not all of it can be pinned on the arc.

Which county kicked the most two-pointers in 2026?

Mayo, with 31 in eight championship games, among counties whose every game we could check.

Who scored the most two-pointers in 2025?

Rory Beggan of Monaghan, with 24 across League and championship according to GAA.ie.