Kerry won by 13 points, the widest winning margin in an All-Ireland SFC final since 1978.

[citation needed] Mayo were hoping to bridge a gap that stretched back to their All-Ireland SFC title winning team of 1951.

[4] Mayo were 2–4 down with no score after 13 minutes; the Kerry total of 4–15 was the highest in a final since Dublin's 5–12 total against Armagh in the 1977 final; in 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972, commenting: "Kerry's awesome scoring power against a weak Mayo defence robbed the final of a competitive edge, the basic requirement to make a game entertaining".

Team: 1 Diarmuid Murphy (GK) 2 Marc Ó Sé 3 Michael McCarthy 4 Tom O'Sullivan 5 Tomás Ó Sé 6 Séamus Moynihan (0–1) 7 Aidan O'Mahony (0–2) 8 Darragh Ó Sé 9 Tommy Griffin 10 Seán O'Sullivan (0–1) 11 Declan O'Sullivan (1–2) (c) 12 Paul Galvin (0–1) 13 Colm Cooper (1–2) 14 Kieran Donaghy (1–2) 15 Mike Frank Russell (0–2) Substitutes: 17 Eoin Brosnan (1–1) for T. Ó Sé 18 Darran O'Sullivan for S. O'Sullivan 19 Éamonn Fitzmaurice for T. Griffin 20 Bryan Sheehan (0–1) for M. F. Russell 22 Brendan Guiney for A. O'Mahony Half-time:3-8 - 3-2 Competition:All-Ireland Senior Football Championship(Final) Date:15.30 BSTSunday, 17 September 2006 Venue:Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 82,289 Referee:Brian Crowe(Cavan) Match rules:70 minutes.Replay if scores still level.Maximum of 5 substitutions.

Team: 1 David Clarke (GK) 2 Dermot Geraghty 3 David Heaney (c) 4 Keith Higgins 5 Aidan Higgins 6 James Nallen 7 Peadar Gardiner 8 Ronan McGarrity 9 Pat Harte (1–0) 10 Billy Joe Padden (0–1) 11 Ger Brady 12 Alan Dillon 13 Kevin O'Neill (2–0) 14 Conor Mortimer (0–3) 15 Ciarán McDonald (0–1) Substitutes: David Brady for J. Nallen Trevor Mortimer for A. Dillon Barry Moran for K. O'Neill Aidan Kilcoyne for B. J. Padden Andy Moran for P. Gardiner