Z07_DoGoalWinGames | eamonmyers

GAA Analysis - Do goals win games?

A common adage in Gaelic Football the length and breath of the country is 'Goals win games!'. It is usually thrown out after games, on the way out the gate after one team has scored one or more goals and got the better of their opponents at the same time.
With that in mind, we at Ar an taobh líne.com have taken a look at this years 2013 league season (Division 1 National Football League) and tested the accuracy of this ancient adage.

We analysed 31 games from the 2013 National Football League Division 1 season. 28 regular league games, 2 semi finals and the final. The games analysed can be viewed from the RTE Sport website: View here

Our findings were as follows:

Interesting observations:

In 7 of the 31 games (23%), no goals were scored by either team.
In 4 of the 31 games (13%), both teams scored the same number of goals
In 6 of the 31 games (19%), the team that scored more goals than the opposition lost the game.
In 14 of the 31 games (45%), the team that scored more goals than the opposition won the game.
In the 14 games where a team scored more goals than their opponents, on 9 occasions that team were playing at home (64%).

Interesting observations:

In games where one team scored more goals than their opponents (20 of the 31 games), on 6 occasions that team went on to lose the game (30%).
In games where one team scored more goals than their opponents (20 of the 31 games), on 14 occasions that team went on to win the game (70%).

Conclusion:

In Summary, after analysing the 2013 National Football League season, we feel that more often than not - Goals do in fact win games!