Tyrone kings of the kicked-pass - Vodafone 'Big-Match Stats' from championship '08 show Stats service resumes this weekend for Munster final clash of Cork and Limerick All Ireland Champions Tyrone showed themselves to be the masters of the kicked-pass while beaten finalists Kerry enjoyed the most possession in any one match - a review of last year's Big-Match Stats service provided by GAA Senior Football All Ireland Championship sponsors Vodafone has shown ahead of the first provincial final of the year. Vodafone, who also sponsor the GAA All Stars and GAA Player of the Month schemes, provided "Big Match Stats" for the Football Championship provincial finals, All Ireland Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Final last year and resume the service this weekend for the clash of Cork and Limerick in the Munster Football Senior Championship Final. However, ahead of that first major clash of the championship season, a review of the Vodafone 'Big-Match Stats' from '08 provides some extremely interesting analysis. In the possession stakes, Kerry scored the highest percentage for any one of the games last year, ironically in the worst conditions experienced as they dominated with 57% of play in monsoon like conditions at Croke Park in a thrilling All-Ireland quarter final against Galway. Many will recall the same Kerry v Galway clash as one of the thrillers of '08 and this is also reflected by the fact that it was the highest scoring game covered by the Vodafone stats service, with the 2-37 shot in the torrential rain eclipsing the 5-27 scored Kerry's drawn All-Ireland semi-final with Cork - the second highest scoring game. The stats also show the value that All-Ireland champions Tyrone got from using the direct foot pass as their 79 kicked-passes in the All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Dublin was the most used by any one team in the games covered by the service. The game had the most kicked-passes, with 149 in total. Conversely, Armagh had the lowest number of kicked-passes in any one game, with 33 in their Ulster Final replay. The drawn Ulster final, meanwhile, had the highest number of hand-passes (272), 111 more than the game with the least amount of hand-passing - the Leinster final clash of Dublin and Wexford. Tyrone's ability to work the ball into tangible scoring positions was also telling; the 'Red-Handers' were involved in the top three games which had the most close range shootings, with their game against Dublin topping the table in this regard, with 25 efforts from inside the 21 - 13 of those from the eventual champions. However, Kerry topped the league for the team with most shots from close range - their 16 efforts compared to Tyrone's eight in the decider was, however, clearly still not enough. Conversely, Tyrone had almost double the number of shots from outside the 21 that Kerry had in the final. The Cork v Kildare quarter-final clash had more action than any other, with the ball in play all of 43mins 44secs, compared to the 28mins 7secs of actual playing time in the drawn Ulster final between Armagh and Fermanagh - which had the least amount of play time. The most error ridden game would appear to have been the replayed Ulster final clash of Armagh v Fermanagh in which 23 wides were hit, compared to the 13 failed scoring attempts from, again, the Kerry v Galway clash, which had the least amount of wides. Individually, Fermanagh's Ryan McCloskey topped the table in terms of completing passes/retaining possession for his county as he scored a perfect 100% with 38 completed passes in the drawn Ulster final. Dublin also showed prominently in the stats review, with their 93% pass conversion rate in the one-sided Leinster final victory over Wexford amounting to the highest return for a team. Many bemoan the lack of high fielding in the game today and there was much variation in last year's big games, with 24 over-head catches in the Dubiln v Wexford Leinster final, compared to just three in the Cork v Kildare All-Ireland quarter final. Ironically, despite shipping a heavy beating in that Leinster final clash with Dublin, Wexford still managed to field 15 over-head catches, compared to Dublin's nine. Vodafone Big-Match stats overview, Championship 2008 Most possession in one game Kerry (57%) v Galway, All-Ireland quarter-final Kerry (56%) v Cork, All-Ireland drawn semi-final Tyrone (56%) v Wexford, All-Ireland semi-final Ball in Play in one game (most) 43mins 44secs, Cork v Kildare, All-Ireland quarter-final 36mins 44secs, Tyrone v Wexford, All-Ireland semi-final 36mins 13secs, Tyrone v Kerry, All-Ireland final Ball in play in one game (least) 28min 7secs, Armagh v Fermanagh, drawn Ulster final 31mins 6secs, Kerry v Cork, drawn All-Ireland semi-final 32mins 10secs, Kerry v Galway, All-Ireland quarter-final Highest scoring in one game 2-37, Kerry v Galway, All-Ireland quarter-final 5-27, Kerry v Cork, All-Ireland semi-final replay 3-32, Dublin v Wexford, Leinster final Lowest scoring one game 1-19 Armagh v Fermanagh, replayed Ulster final 1-26, Wexford v Armagh All-Ireland quarter-final 1-29, Tyrone v Kerry, All-Ireland final Most wides in one game 23, Armagh v Fermanagh, Ulster final replay 22,Tyrone v Dublin, All-Ireland quarter-final 22, Kerry v Cork, drawn All-Ireland semi-final Least wides in one game 13, Kerry (9) v Galway (4), All-Ireland quarter-final 15, Kerry (5) v Cork (10), All-Ireland semi final reply 15, Tyrone (7) v Wexford (8), All-Ireland semi-final Most wides (team) Kerry (14) v Cork, drawn All-Ireland semi-final Tyrone (14) v Dublin, All-Ireland quarter-final Fermanagh (14) v Armagh, Ulster final replay Least wides (team) Galway (4), v Kerry, All-Ireland quarter-final Kerry (5) v Cork, All-Ireland semi-final replay Kildare (7) v Cork, All-Ireland quarter-final Tyrone (7) v Wexford, All-Ireland semi-final Most passes in one game 375, Armagh v Fermanagh, drawn Ulster final 343, Cork v Kildare, All-Ireland quarter final 342, Wexford v Armagh, All-Ireland quarter-final Least passes in one game 243, Kerry v Cork, Munster final 257, Kerry v Cork, drawn All-Ireland semi-final 271, Galway v Mayo, Connacht final Most hand passes in one game 272, Armagh (130) v Fermanagh (142), drawn Ulster final 234, Wexford (135) v Armagh (99) All-Ireland quarter-final 217, Armagh (107) v Fermanagh (110), replayed Ulster final Least hand-passes in one game 161, Dublin (80) v Wexford (81), Leinster final 166, Kerry (103) v Cork (63), drawn All-Ireland semi-final 176, Galway (81) v Mayo (95), Connacht final Most kicked-passes in one game 149, Tyrone (79) v Dublin (70), All-Ireland quarter-final 130 Dublin (65) v Wexford (65), Leinster final 128, Kildare (72) v Cork (56), All-Ireland quarter final Least kicked-passes in one game 86, Armagh (33) v Fermanagh (53), Ulster final replay 91, Kerry (42) v Cork (49), drawn All-Ireland semi-final 95, Galway (52) v Mayo (43), Connacht final Team with highest pass conversion average Dublin (93%) v Wexford, Leinster final Tyrone (92%) v Wexford, All-Ireland semi-final Kerry (92%) v Cork, replayed All-Ireland semi-final Most red cards in one game 3, Kerry (1) v Cork (2), Munster final 2, Kerry (1) v Cork (1), drawn All-Ireland quarter-final 1, Kerry v Cork (1), replayed All-Ireland semi-final Most yellow cards in one game 8, Tyrone(2) v Kerry (6), All-Ireland final 8, Kerry (5) v Cork (3), drawn All-Ireland semi-final 8, Armagh (5) v Wexford (3), All-Ireland quarter-final Most long-range shots at goal (outside 21 yards) 40, Kerry (16) v Cork (24), replayed All-Ireland semi-final 38, Tyrone (24) v Wexford (14), All-Ireland semi-final 35, Kerry (24) v Cork (11), drawn All-Ireland quarter-final Most close-range shots at goal (inside 21 yards) 25, Tyrone (13) v Dublin (12), All-Ireland quarter-final 24, Tyrone (8) v Kerry (16), All-Ireland final 23, Tyrone (13) v Wexford (10), All-Ireland semi-final Player with most shots at goal in a match Michael Meehan, Galway (12/0-10 converted, including 5 frees) v Kerry, All-Ireland quarter-final Ciarán Lyng, Wexford (11/1-6, converted including 5 frees) v Tyrone, All-Ireland semi- Colm Cooper, Kerry (10/ 1-6 converted), v Cork All-Ireland semi-final replay Player with highest pass accuracy in one match Ryan McCloskey, Fermanagh (100%/38 passes) v Armagh, drawn Ulster final Seamus Scanlon, Kerry (100%/25 passes) v Cork, drawn All-Ireland semi-final Justin McMahon (95%/20 passes) v Wexford, All-Ireland semi-final Most over-head catches in a match 24, Dublin (9) v Wexford (15), Leinster Final 19 Armagh (7) v Fermanagh (12), drawn Ulster final 15, Kerry (7) v Galway (8), All-Ireland quarter-final Least over-head catches in a match 3, Kildare (3) v Cork (0), All-Ireland quarter-final 6, Armagh (3) v Fermanagh (3), replayed Ulster final 8, Kerry (1) v Cork (7), Munster final Tweet

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