NO team since the 1930s has averaged a higher score than Tyrone did in winning the Anglo Celt Cup this year.
Across the comprehensive wins over Derry, Donegal and Down, they hit 3-60, an average of 23 points per game.
That is statistically the highest average of any winning team since the great Cavan team of the 1930s regularly ran up big scores that included gluts of goals (they scored 18 goals in three games in 1932).
The common argument against buying into such a stat would be the quality of opposition they faced and while they enjoyed an uncharacteristic degree of comfort in all three games, that can’t be used as the barometer to gauge the strength of opposition.
This year was only the third time since the introduction of the qualifiers system that Ulster has had five teams in the last 12 of the All-Ireland series, after 2003 and 2004 – years that were generally accepted as being a glorious peak for Ulster football.
And if you still want to argue then you must consider that the second highest average score in the Ulster Championship since 1940 was also achieved by Tyrone – last year.
Mickey Harte’s side have been faced with a barrage of criticism since adopting a counter-attacking gameplan upon the break-up of the side that won three All-Irelands in the last decade.
They have been labelled as a side with “no forwards” over the past two years, fuelled largely by the nature of their display in last year’s Ulster final win over Donegal and the subsequent loss to Mayo.
Yet the ability to create scores from every corner of the pitch has reaped a more handsome dividend than the traditional method.
They also became the first team ever to cross the 20-point threshold in all of their Ulster championship matches this year after hitting 0-22 (v Derry), 1-21 (v Donegal) and 2-15 (v Down).
Tyrone had 12 different scorers in the win over Donegal and 11 different scorers in their other two games.
Armagh’s blistering run to the 2004 Ulster title saw them hit 20.67 points per game and seemed to have set them up for a tilt at a second All-Ireland until Fermanagh famously crushed their hopes.
The Donegal team that narrowly lost an All-Ireland semi-final to Galway in 1974 were the only other team in the last 77 years to average over 20 points per game, down largely to their 10-goal haul across three games.
Overall the average score racked up by an Ulster winning team has increased since the introduction of the qualifiers in 2001.
Since then, the provincial champions have hit an average of just over 17 points per game. In the 17 years previous, the average was just over 15.5 points per game.
Dublin, interesting, equalled their own record of 29.6 points per game during their march to another Leinster title this year.
They had set the record in 2015 when they went on to win the All-Ireland title and have averaged over 20 points per game in the province each year since they hit just 4-40 in three games in 2011.
Were Tyrone to go on and win the All-Ireland, their average score in Ulster would register as the highest ever by a team from the province that has gone on to lift Sam Maguire.
It’s no surprise that Cavan’s average of 21 points per game in 1933 is heading the field but the closest to that wouldn’t have been the first guess for most people, with Donegal’s successful 2012 campaign seeing them hit 18.75 points per game en route to the Ulster title.
Their 1992 campaign is third, just ahead of the Tyrone campaign of 2003, another one which isn’t necessarily remembered for the quality of their attacking play, and unfairly so it seems.
Highest scoring averages since 1940
Total Avg pts per game
1. Tyrone 2017 3-60 23
2. Tyrone 2016 8-61 21.25
3. Armagh 2004 5-47 20.67
4. Donegal 1974 10-31 20.33
5. Down 1971 7-37 19.33
6. Armagh 1977 7-36 19
7. Donegal 1992 3-66 18.75
8. Down 1978 3-47 18.67
9. Donegal 2012 5-59 18.5
10. Tyrone 2003 2-86 18.4
11. Tyrone 2007 4-43 18.33
12- Donegal 2014 4-42 18
12- Derry 1975 3-45 18
14- Tyrone 1973 4-40 17.33
14- Cavan 1967 5-37 17.33
16- Tyrone 2010 3-42 17
16- Derry 1998 6-33 17
16- Cavan 1997 4-56 17
16- Down 1994 2-45 17
16- Tyrone 1989 4-56 17
16- Armagh 1980 7-30 17
16- Derry 1970 6-33 17
16- Cavan 1969 6-33 17
All-Ireland winning teams in Ulster
Avg pts per game
1. Cavan 1933 21
2. Donegal 2012 18.75
3. Donegal 1992 18.5
4. Tyrone 2003 18.4
5. Down 1994 17
6. Armagh 2002 16.75
7- Derry 1993 15.67
7- Down 1960 15.67
9. Tyrone 2005 15.5
10. Down 1961 15.33
11- Tyrone 2008 15
11- Cavan 1935 15
13. Down 1968 14.67
14. Cavan 1952 14
15. Down 1991 13.5
16. Cavan 1947 11.75
17. Cavan 1948 11.25
