Dublin

Wexford defeated Dublin in the final of the 1890 Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC). Dublin won its first Leinster SFC the following year by defeating Kildare in the final, and followed up by winning its first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) by defeating Cork by a scoreline of 2–1 to 1–1 in the 1891 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Dublin retained the Leinster SFC in 1892, defeating Louth in the final and then retained the All-Ireland SFC with victory over Kerry by a scoreline of 1–4 to 0–3 in the 1892 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

After winning the 1963 All-Ireland final, Dublin's football team fell into a period of abject irrelevance, with a Leinster championship win in 1965 the only success they would see for the remainder of the decade. A frustrated board turned to former captain Kevin Heffernan ahead of the 1974 inter-county season to try and revive their fortunes, entrusting him and his assistants with complete control over team construction in an era where other counties would decide the panel by committee.

Heffernan had a reputation as a maverick: as a player in the 1950s was derided as a "soccerite" for encouraging a style focused on quick passing and interplay, off the park he ignored the episcopal ban on Catholics attending Trinity College Dublin to gain a degree there while establishing the university's GAA club, and openly cited soccer manager Don Revie as an influence. His appointment could not have come at a more opportune time. The post-World War II baby boom, growth of newly-built suburbs, and increased migration to Dublin meant that a surfeit of young talent was at his disposal. Many came from Heffernan's own club, St Vincents in the northern suburb of Marino, which would dominate the local club scene at the same time Dublin were making their mark nationally. This newly-built team, playing a rapid, exciting brand of football, did not take long to find success, winning the 1974 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final over Galway thanks to goalkeeper Paddy Cullen stopping a penalty.

Dublin's win was arguably more importantly felt off the park than it was on it. During the late 1960s and early 1970s the city's sporting public were starved for success: Gaelic sports were uncompetitive, many of the local League of Ireland sides had fallen on hard times, and Leinster Rugby were little better. Couple that with the arrival of colour television, where viewers could watch Match of the Day or The Big Match via reception from across the Irish Sea, and the result was more people in the capital following the fortunes of Liverpool or Manchester United, Celtic or Arsenal, than domestic sport. The arrival of a dynamic, successful team that most importantly was from and represented Dublin captivated the city and led to an explosion of interest in Gaelic football from all corners of society. Younger fans brought the terrace culture they had observed from British soccer, with its creative banners, scarves, and songs, to Croke Park; a single released to support the Dublin team said in its chorus "Hill 16 has never seen the likes of Heffo's Army", as supporters nicknamed themselves. Indeed many of the more conservative GAA support from elsewhere were stunned by the style and numbers of fans that came out to support the Dubs.

The Dublin team of this era won four All-Ireland SFCs (1974, 1976, 1977 and 1983) and seven Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles (six of which were consecutive). It was also the first team to play in six consecutive All-Ireland SFC finals (from 1974 to 1979), which would not be matched until 2009. Four of the six straight finals came against Kerry, establishing a fierce rivalry that came with all the hallmarks of great sporting clashes: tradition against modernity, rural versus urban, power versus pace. Heffernan briefly retired after the 1976 championship win over the Kingdom, which carried extra emotional weight as his first All-Ireland final appearance as a player ended in defeat to Kerry. He handed off the team to longtime captain Tony Hanahoe, who won the 1977 championship as a player-manager, only to return in 1979 and later claim his third All-Ireland as a manager in the infamous 1983 final. Fittingly played against Galway, the match saw three Dublin players sent off and a shorthanded team (nicknamed the "Twelve Apostles" or the "Dirty Dozen") hang on to claim the Sam Maguire and put a coda on a defining era of Dublin football.

In January 1986, Heffernan retired as Dublin manager, this time for good.

Dublin and Meath were involved in one of the most famous of Leinster SFC encounters in 1991, the Dublin and Meath four-parter. The teams had to go to three replays in their Leinster SFC first round match before a winner could be found. This series of games had the added factor of Dublin and Meath being long-time fierce rivals, a rivalry that intensified when Meath won four from the previous five Leinster SFCs and two All-Ireland SFCs over the previous five years, to replace Dublin as the strongest team in the province of Leinster. Meath eventually won the series, thanks to a last-minute goal scored by Kevin Foley, and a point scored by David Beggy, in the third replay. Foley took seven steps for the winning goal.^[]

Dublin qualified for the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final by defeating surprise Munster champions Clare in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final. However, the county was surprised itself in the final to be defeated unexpectedly by Donegal.

Dublin qualified for the 1994 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final by defeating surprise Connacht champions Leitrim in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final. However, the county lost to Down in the final on this occasion. The following year, Dublin won the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, defeating Tyrone by a single point.

In the 2010s, Dublin produced the greatest teams in modern times. The Dubs won seven All-Ireland SFCs in this decade (five of which were consecutive, the first team to achieve this feat). Six of these were won without defeat (with the exception of one loss to Jim McGuinness's Donegal in the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final). Dublin limited Cork, Donegal and Kerry to a single All-Ireland SFC each during that decade.

Pat Gilroy led Dublin to the first of these All-Ireland SFCs in 2011.

Jim Gavin led Dublin to the next six from 2013, including the five-in-a-row from 2015 onwards.

He introduced new players to the team each year, starting with Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey in 2013, continuing with Cormac Costello and Nicky Devereaux in 2014, followed by Brian Fenton and John Small in 2015 and Davy Byrne in 2016.

On 25 March 2017, when beating Roscommon by 2–29 to 0–14 in a National League game at Croke Park, Dublin set a new record of playing 35 games in League and Championship without defeat. The previous record, held by Kerry, had stood for 84 years.

Jim Gavin continued to introduce new players, with Con O'Callaghan and Niall Scully appearing in 2017 and Brian Howard and Eoin Murchan emerging in 2018. But Gavin tended to wait one year from when he noticed them to introduce them to his team, O'Callaghan having been ready in 2016 and Howard in 2017.

Jim Gavin stood down as manager in 2019.

Alan Brogan noted in 2020: "The only year he didn't do it [introduce new players] was last year. Last year, [Jim Gavin] kept with the same players which, in hindsight, leads you to believe that maybe he had it in the back of his mind it would be his final year".

Dessie Farrell replaced him.

Mayo defeated Dublin in the semi-final of the 2021 All-Ireland SFC, ending a record run of six consecutive All-Ireland SFC titles for Dublin and marking the team's first championship loss since the 2014 semi-final. A year later, Dublin met the same fate when Kerry defeated Dublin in the 2022 All-Ireland SFC semi-final, Kerry's first victory against Dublin since 2009.

Dublin had earlier been relegated from Division 1 at the conclusion of the 2022 National Football League, but returned to the top flight in 2023, beating Derry in the Division 2 league final.

Galway knocked Dublin out of the 2024 All-Ireland SFC at the quarter-final stage.

Farrell stood down as manager in June 2025 immediately after a second successive All-Ireland SFC quarter-final exit, this time to Tyrone, almost a year to the day of the 2023 defeat to Galway. His replacement was Ger Brennan, who had won two All-Irelands as a player with Dublin and recently led Louth to their first Leinster SFC championship in seven decades as a manager.