With Croke Park set to host one of the most eagerly awaited All Ireland finals ever this weekend, the team at Legacy Communications has created a different, more futuristic, inter-county competition with the AI-reland Football Championship.
Legacy Communications, which was founded by Dublin GAA Football cousins Bernard and James Brogan, – has used a popular AI image generator Midjourney to imagine what the ‘typical’ GAA footballer looks like from each county. From Dublin to Derry, Limerick to Longford and Cork to Clare – some have fared better than others but, overall, they’re a handsome bunch.
“As AI and the All-Ireland finals take centre stage in the news, we couldn’t resist mixing the two to create AI-generated GAA footballers from every county. Accuracy aside, it’s all in good fun, but we’re serious about embracing the power of AI to deliver even more exceptional results for our clients,” says Mary Maguire, sponsorship associate directory, Legacy Communications.
Not content with AI-reland Football Championship, the Legacy sports and digital teams have crunched the data to see what are the most popular first names of GAA players with the most wins in the Men’s Senior Football Championship winners this century. According to Legacy, the top name was Michael/ Mick/ Mike (32 wins)followed by Paul (26), Brian/ Bryan (22), Stephen (14), Colm (13) and tied in sixth place John (12) and Kevin (12) with David/ Davy (11) tied in eight place with Diarmuid/ Diarmaid (11) and Eoghan/ Eon (11) making up the rest of the team.
O’Sullivan (29) leads the way as the most successful surname – made up of All-Ireland winners Tom, Stephen, Declan, Sean, Darran, Graham and Cian – with Ó’Sé (15), Brogan (12), McCarthy (12) and Cooper (12) making up the top five.
“We had a lot of fun doing this – I’m sure I’ve played against some of these lads over the years! Looks like the O’Sullivans have dominated 21st century football – we’d have to include my dad in the 70’s for the Brogans to be in with a shout of getting top spot! So, there it is – if your surname is O’Sullivan and you have one eye on building a future GAA superstar to win the 2045 All-Ireland final, choosing Michael as your baby’s first name is the way to go,” says Bernard Brogan, Legacy Communications founder.
