All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Founded	1887
Region	Ireland (GAA)
Number of teams	34
Current champions	Dublin (23rd title)
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2012 (Final)

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in Gaelic football, is a series of games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and played during the summer and early autumn. The All-Ireland Football Final is played on the third or fourth Sunday in September in Croke Park, Dublin with the winning team receiving the Sam Maguire Cup.

Kerry are the most successful football team in the history of the championship. Dublin defeated Kerry in the 2011 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

Format

Current format

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 Munster, Leinster, Connacht (including London and New York), and Ulster. The Provincial Championships operate through a knock-out cup competition format which takes place during the months of May, June and July. The winners of each of the four Provincial Championships earn one of eight places in the All-Ireland Series, which takes place in the months of August and September.

The twenty-eight 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:

• 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. A 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.
• The All-Ireland Series – 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.
• The All-Ireland Series – All-Ireland Final : The two remaining teams meet in the All-Ireland Final on the third Sunday in September. The winning team is crowned All-Ireland Champions.^[1]

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.

Past winners

The following table sets out the winning team and beaten finalist of each All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final. The vast majority of finals were contested by the winning semi-finalists, although in certain cases in the early years a provincial championship had not been completed in time and the affected province nominated a team to participate in the All-Ireland semi-final. In some of these cases, the nominated team (e.g. Dublin in 1905) won its semi-final, but was then vanquished in their provincial championship, and their place in the All-Ireland final taken by another team from that province.

Key

Notes

^A The final was scratched and Louth were awarded the championship after Kerry refused to travel to Dublin as the Great Southern and Western Railway would not sell tickets to their fans at reduced rates.

^B Some confusion surrounds 1925. Kerry beat Cavan 1-7 to 2-3 in the semi-final. One source contends that, after an objection by Cavan and counter-objection by Kerry, both sides were disqualified. Another suggests that Cavan won that appeal and then lost to Galway in the final.^[3]

Roll of honour

The top provinces by number of wins:

	Province	Wins	Last Win	Winners
1	Munster	50	2010	Kerry (36), Cork (7), Tipperary (4), Limerick (2)
2	Leinster	45	2011	Dublin (23), Meath (7), Wexford (5), Kildare (4), Offaly (3), Louth (3)
3	Ulster	16	2008	Cavan (5), Down (5), Tyrone (3), Armagh (1), Derry (1), Donegal (1)
4	Connacht	14	2001	Galway (9), Mayo (3), Roscommon (2)

The following counties have never won an All Ireland:

See also

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

References

1. ^ GAA
2. ^ Corry, E., 2005. The GAA Book of Lists. Dublin. Hodder Headline Ireland. pp.371-412
3. ^ GAA

External links

• Gaa.ie
• All-Ireland Results