All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Current season or competition: 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Green and Sam
Irish	Comórtas Shinsear Peile na hÉireann
Founded	1887
Region	Ireland (GAA)
Trophy	Sam Maguire Cup
No. of teams	33
Title holders	Dublin (25th title)
First winner	Limerick (2 titles)
Most titles	Kerry (37 titles)
TV partner(s)	RTÉ, Sky Sports, BBC, Setanta Sports, Premier Sports, (TG4)
Official website	http://www.gaa.ie

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC), the premier competition in Gaelic football, is an annual series of games usually played in Ireland during the summer and early autumn, and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Contested by the top inter-county football teams in Ireland, the tournament has taken place every year since 1887—except in 1888, when the competition was not played due to a tour of the United States by would-be competitors.

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final is played on the third or fourth Sunday in September at Croke Park in Dublin, with the winning team receiving the Sam Maguire Cup.

History

The first Championship to be held featured club teams who represented their respective counties after their county championship. The 21 a-side final was between Commercials of Limerick and Young Irelands of Louth. The final was played in Beech Hill, Clonskeagh (not Bird Avenue) on 29 April 1888 with Commercials winning by 1–4 to 0–3. Unlike later All-Ireland competitions, there were no provincial championships, and the result was an open draw.

The second Championship was unfinished owing to the American Invasion Tour. The 1888 provincial championships had been completed (Tipperary, Kilkenny and Monaghan winning them; no Connacht teams entered) but after the Invasion tour returned, the All-Ireland semi-final and final were not played. English team London reached the final four times in the early years of the competition (1900–1903).

In 1892, inter-county teams were introduced to the All-Ireland Championship. Congress granted permission for the winning club to use players from other clubs in the county, thus the inter-county teams came into being. The rules of hurling and football were also altered: goals were made equal to five points, and teams were reduced from 21 to 17 a-side.

The 1903 Championship brought Kerry's first All-Ireland title. They went on to become the most successful football team in the history of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

The first half of the twentieth century brought the rise of several teams who won two or more All-Ireland titles in that period, such as Kildare, Mayo, Cavan, Wexford and Roscommon. In a "remarkable GAA phenomenon" these have all declined and have not won a championship in many decades. Since Cavan's fifth title in 1952 none have won a final and Cavan and Wexford have never even appeared in one again. Mayo have appeared in seven finals since 1989 and have lost all of them. In the 1990s, a significant sea change took place, as the All-Ireland was claimed by an Ulster team in four consecutive years (1991–1994). Since then Ulster has produced more All-Ireland winning teams than any other province.

The All-Ireland Qualifiers were introduced in 2001. Later that year, the 2001 final brought victory for Galway who became the first football team to win an All-Ireland by springing through "the back door." In 2013, Hawk-Eye was introduced for Championship matches at Croke Park. It was first used to confirm that Offaly substitute Peter Cunningham's attempted point had gone wide 10 minutes into the second half of a game against Kildare. 2013 also brought the first Friday night game in the history of the Championship - a first round qualifier between Carlow and Laois.

Teams

Team	Colours	Sponsor	Manager	Captain	Most recent success
					All-Ireland	Provincial
Antrim	25px Saffron and white	Creagh Concrete	Frank Fitzsimmons	CJ McGourty		1951
Armagh	Orange and white	Rainbow Communications	Kieran McGeeney	Ciaran McKeever	2002	2008
Carlow	25px Red, green and gold	Tickets.ie	Anthony Rainbow	Brendan Kavanagh		1944
Cavan	25px Royal blue and white	Kingspan Group	Terry Hyland	Alan Clarke	1952	1997
Clare	25px Saffron and Blue	Pat O'Donnell	Colm Collins	Gary Brennan		1992
Cork	Red and white	Chill Insurance	Brian Cuthbert	Michael Shields	2010	2012
Derry	Red and white	H&A	Damien Barton	Mark Lynch	1993	1998
Donegal	Gold and green	Donegal Creameries	Rory Gallagher	Michael Murphy	2012	2014
Down	25px Red and black	Canal Court Hotel	Jim McCorry	Conor Laverty	1994	1994
Dublin	Sky blue and navy	American International Group	Jim Gavin	Stephen Cluxton	2015	2015
Fermanagh	Green and white	Tracey Concrete	Peter McGrath	Eoin Donnelly
Galway	Maroon and white	Supermac's	Kevin Walsh	Paul Conroy	2001	2008
Kerry	25px Green and gold	Kerry Group	Éamonn Fitzmaurice	Fionn Fitzgerald Kieran O'Leary	2014	2015
Kildare	25px White	Brady Family Ham	Jason Ryan	Eamonn Callaghan	1928	2000
Laois	25px Blue and white	MW Hire Services	Tomás Ó Flatharta	Ross Munnelly		2003
Leitrim	25px Green and gold	The Bush Hotel	Seán Hagan	Emlyn Mulligan		1994
London	25px Green and white	Bewley's Hotels	Paul Coggins	Seamus Gannon
Limerick	Green and white	Sporting Limerick	John Brudair	Seanie Buckley	1896	1896
Longford	25px Royal blue and gold	Glennon Brothers	Jack Sheedy	Dermot Brady		1968
Louth	Red and white	Morgan Fuels	Aidan O'Rourke	Craig O'Cathalainn	1957	1957
Mayo	Green and red	Elverys Sports	Noel Connelly	Keith Higgins	1951	2015
Meath	25px Green and gold	Tayto Park	Mick O'Dowd	Kevin Reilly	1999	2010
Monaghan	25px White and blue	Investec	Malachy O'Rourke	Conor McManus		2015
New York	25px Red, white and blue	Navillus Contracting	Ian Galvin	Brendan Quigley
Offaly	25px White, green and gold	Carroll Cuisine	Emmet McDonnell	Niall McNamee	1982	1997
Roscommon	25px Primrose and blue	Club Rossie	John Evans	Niall Carty	1944	2010
Sligo	25px Black and white	Radisson Blu, Sligo	Pat Flanagan	Adrian Marren		2007
Tipperary	25px Blue and gold	Intersport	Peter Creedon	Paddy Codd	1920	1935
Tyrone	White and Red	McAleer & Rushe	Mickey Harte	Seán Cavanagh	2008	2010
Waterford	25px White and blue	3 Mobile	Niall Carew	Shane Briggs		1898
Westmeath	Maroon and white	Renault	Paul Bealin	Paul Sharry		2004
Wexford	25px Purple and gold	Gain Feeds	Aidan O’Brien	Graeme Molloy	1918	1945
Wicklow	25px Blue and gold	Brennan Hotels	Harry Murphy	Leighton Glynn

Format

Current format

Main article: GAA county

The county is a geographical region in Ireland, and each of the thirty-two counties in Ireland organises its own GAA affairs through a County Board. The county teams play in their respective Provincial Championships in Connacht (which also includes teams from London and New York), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. Kilkenny is currently unique among the 32 Irish county associations in not participating in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, however. The Provincial Championships operate through a knock-out cup competition format. They take place during the months of May, June and July. The winners of each of the four Provincial Championships earn a place in the All-Ireland Series, which takes place in the months of August and September.

Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a replay. If that match ends in a draw a period of extra time is played, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time another replay will take place.

The twenty-nine teams that fail to win their respective Provincial Championships receive a second opportunity to reach the All-Ireland Series via the All Ireland Qualifiers (also known as the 'back door'). The qualifiers series takes place in the months of June and July and operates as follows:

Fans of Sligo (in black) are visible in the crowd among supporters of Cork, Meath and Tyrone. The introduction of the All-Ireland Qualifiers in 2001 has provided weaker counties with opportunities to play big games at Croke Park.

• Qualifiers
  • Round 1: All teams that fail to reach the semi-finals of their respective Provincial Championships (16 in total) compete in round one. An open draw system is used to divide the teams into eight individual match-ups. The winning eight teams progress to Round 2, while the losing eight teams are eliminated from the All Ireland Championship.
  • Round 2: Each of the eight winning teams of Round 1 are drawn against the eight losing teams from the semi-finals of the four Provincial Championships. The winning eight teams progress to Round 3, while the losing eight teams are eliminated from the All Ireland Championship.
  • Round 3: The eight winning teams from Round 2 are divided into four individual match-ups. An open draw is made to determine the four pairings. The winning four teams progress to Round 4, while the losing four teams are eliminated from the All Ireland Championship.
  • Round 4: Each of the four winning teams of Round 3 are drawn against the four losing teams from the finals of the four Provincial Championships. The winning four teams proceed to the All-Ireland Series, joining the four Provincial Champions, while the losing four teams are eliminated from the All Ireland Championship.
• The All-Ireland Series
  • All-Ireland Quarter Finals: The four Provincial Champions are drawn against the winning four teams from Round 4 of the All-Ireland Qualifiers. The four winning teams qualify for the All-Ireland Semi-Finals.
  • All-Ireland Semi Finals: The winning four teams from the All-Ireland Quarter Finals play-off. The two winning teams qualify for the All-Ireland Final.
  • All-Ireland Final: The two remaining teams meet in the All-Ireland Final, usually on the third Sunday in September. The winning team is crowned All-Ireland Champions.

Historic format

For the first All-Ireland championship in 1887, the competition was played on an open draw knockout basis. From 1888, the provincial system was introduced, whereby the counties in each of Ireland's four provinces would play each other on a knockout basis to find provincial champions. These four champions would meet in the All-Ireland semi-finals. The structure outlined above was adopted in 2001 to allow more games to be played, but still retain provincial championships and the knockout structure, resulting in every game continuing to be a meaningful fixture, with no dead-rubber league format matches being played out.

All-Ireland winners and finalists

Main article: List of All-Ireland Senior Football Championship finals

Croke Park kitted out in the green and red of Mayo fans at the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

Over the four Sundays of September, All-Ireland Finals in men's football, ladies' football, hurling and camogie take place at Croke Park, the national stadium of the GAA. Two grades are played on each final day, the senior team and the minor team (consisting of younger players, under the age of 18, who have participated in that year's All-Ireland Minor Football Championship). Guests who attend these events include the President of Ireland, the Taoiseach and other important dignitaries. The football final is considered the pinnacle event of this period.

The final game of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship takes place on the third Sunday of September. The men's decider regularly attracts crowds of over 80,000. The winning team captain receives the Sam Maguire Cup. The current champions are Dublin.

Venues

Main article: List of Gaelic Athletic Association stadiums

Dublin, County Dublin	Thurles, County Tipperary	Cork, County Cork	Killarney, County Kerry	Clones, County Monaghan	Castlebar , County Mayo	Salthill , County Galway
Croke Park	Semple Stadium	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	Fitzgerald Stadium	St Tiernach's Park	McHale Park	Pearse Stadium
Capacity: 82,300	Capacity: 53,500	Capacity: 32,550	Capacity: 43,180	Capacity: 36,000	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 26,197
			200px

Croke Park

Semple Stadium

Gaelic Grounds

Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Fitzgerald Stadium

MacHale Park

St Tiernach's Park

Pearse Stadium

Casement Park

Breffni Park

Location of the top 10 GAA stadiums by capacity in Ireland.

Records and statistics

Main article: All-Ireland Senior Football Championship records and statistics

Although Wexford were the first county to win four consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Finals (1915–18), historically Kerry have been the most successful football team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. As of 2014, Kerry have won the competition on 37 occasions, winning in four consecutive years twice (1929–1932 and 1978–1981) and for three consecutive years twice as well (1939–1941 and 1984–1986). Galway were the first team from the western province of Connacht to win an All-Ireland title, doing so in 1925. The 1933 final brought victory for Cavan, who became the first team from the northern province of Ulster to win an All-Ireland title.

Two teams have won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as part of a double with that year's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, namely Cork (1890 and 1990) and Tipperary (1895 and 1900). The championship has never been won by a team from outside Ireland, though London have played in five finals.

Dublin are the reigning champions, having defeated Kerry in the 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

See also

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
• All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship
• Leinster Senior Football Championship
• Ulster Senior Football Championship
• Connacht Senior Football Championship
• Munster Senior Football Championship
• List of Gaelic games competitions

External links

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at the Gaelic Athletic Association