2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship


The 2001 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 115th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 6 May 2001 and ended on 23 September 2001.
The format of the championship saw the biggest change in over 100 years with the introduction of the All-Ireland qualifiers. This system saw teams who were defeated in the provincial championships enter a secondary championship and the chance to qualify for the All-Ireland series. The Leinster Championship abandoned its group stage and returned to a straight knockout system. London declined to field a team in the championship due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. They were initially scheduled to host Mayo at Ruislip on the last Sunday of May but Connacht council first postponed the fixture and then outright cancelled the game. The previous fixture between the teams was in 1996 and the next after was in 2006.
Kerry entered the championship as the defending champions, however, they were defeated by Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final.
On 23 September 2001, Galway won the championship following an 0–17 to 0–8 defeat of Meath in the All-Ireland final. This was their ninth All-Ireland title and their first in three championship seasons. The first year of the "back-door" system, as it popularly became known, appropriately finished with the first All-Ireland winner not to win a provincial title. Galway came through the Qualifiers after losing the Connacht Semi-final to Roscommon. They beat Wicklow, Armagh and Cork in the Qualifiers, followed by a win in the re-match with Roscommon in the All Ireland Quarter-final. Their semi-final guaranteed that at least one "back-door" team would contest the All-Ireland final as opponents Derry entered the Qualifiers in the second round alongside Galway after losing the Ulster semi-final to Tyrone.
Galway's Pádraic Joyce was the championship's top scorer with 3–45. He was also named as the Texaco Footballer of the Year, while Declan Meehan was chosen as the All Stars Footballer of the Year.

Format

The provincial championships in Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht ran as usual on a "knock-out" basis. But for the first time, these provincial games were then followed by the "Qualifier" system:
  • Round 1 of the qualifiers included all the counties that did not qualify for the Provincial Semi-finals, except for New York. Sixteen teams were paired in an open draw.
  • Round 2 consisted of the eight defeated teams in the Provincial Semi-finals playing against the eight winners from Round 1. A draw was made to determine the eight pairings.
  • Round 3 consisted of the eight winners from Round 2 playing each other in an open draw format.
  • Round 4 consisted of each of the four teams defeated in the Provincial Finals playing against the four winners from Round 3. A draw was made to determine the four pairings.
The Leinster football championship, previously held as a group stage before proceeding to knock-outs, returned to a straight knock-out format.
In the All-Ireland Quarter-finals, each of the four Provincial Champions played one of the four winners from Round 4. The All-Ireland Semi-final draw at this time was seeded on a provincial rotation schedule, initially determined by the Central Council. If a Provincial Championship winning team was defeated in its Quarter-final, the team that defeats it took its place in the semi-final.

Provincial championships

[Connacht Senior Football Championship]

Due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK, London did not take part in the Connacht Senior Football Championship in 2001. The Connacht Council decided to cancel their home Quarter-final game against Mayo.
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
'''Final'''

[Munster Senior Football Championship]

Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
'''Final'''

[2001 Ulster Senior Football Championship]

Preliminary round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
'''Final'''

[Leinster Senior Football Championship]

First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
'''Final'''

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The provincial champions and the winners of round 4 contested the quarter-finals. The quarter final matches were held at neutral sites and pitted each provincial champion against a round 4 winner.

Quarter-finals

Three of the quarter-finals involved teams who had previously met in their respective provinces. The exception was Dublin v Kerry, which in itself was exceptional in that it was held at Semple Stadium in Thurles.

Championship statistics

Scoring

;Overall
RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1Pádraic JoyceGalway3–455486.75
2Ger HeavinWestmeath2–323884.75
3Joe FallonWestmeath0–292983.67
4Ollie MurphyMeath4–152773.85
4Dara Ó CinnéideKerry1–242764.50
6Johnny CrowleyKerry3–152464.00
6Trevor GilesMeath1–212473.43
8Rory GallagherFermanagh0–232345.75
9Dessie SloyanSligo1–192245.50
9Pádraig BrennanKildare0–222245.50

;Single game
RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalOpposition
1Pádraic JoyceGalway3-0312Leitrim
2Leigh O'BrienWexford0–1111Westmeath
3Pádraic JoyceGalway0–1010Meath
4Dara Ó CinnéideKerry0-099Cork
5Gerry LohanRoscommon2-028Mayo
5Fionán MurrayCork2-028Waterford
5Ollie MurphyMeath2-028Westmeath
5Johnny CrowleyKerry2-028Dublin
5Pádraig DavisLongford1-058Dublin
5Stephen MaguireFermanagh1-058Donegal
5Pádraig DavisLongford1-058Louth
5Ger HeavinWestmeath1-058Meath
5Trevor GilesMeath1-058Kildare
5Keith ByrneWicklow1-058Longford
5Brendan DevenneyDonegal1-058Kildare
5Colin CorkeryCork0-088Kerry
5Paddy LoganAntrim0-088Derry
5Rory GallagherFermanagh0-088Monaghan
5Pádraig BrennanKildare0-088Carlow
5Paddy LoganAntrim0-088Leitrim
5Joe FallonWestmeath0-088Wexford
5Ger HeavinWestmeath0-088Limerick
5Dessie SloyanSligo0-088Kildare

Miscellaneous