2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 129th edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part − 31 counties of Ireland, London and New York.
Dublin dethroned defending champions Kerry in the final, winning by 0–12 to 0–9.

Teams

A total of 33 teams contested the championship – 31 teams from Ireland plus London and New York. As in previous years, Kilkenny footballers did not field a team. New York does not participate in the qualifiers.

Format

Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster organise four provincial championships on a knock-out basis. All the teams beaten in the provincial matches enter the All-Ireland Qualifiers in rounds 1, 2 and 4. The qualifier matches are knock-out and eventually result in four teams who play in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals against the four provincial winners. From the quarter-finals onwards the competition is entirely knock-out.

Fixtures and results

Connacht Senior Football Championship

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Leinster Senior Football Championship

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Munster Senior Football Championship

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Ulster Senior Football Championship

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All-Ireland Series

Qualifiers

A and B teams

An A and B system for the qualifying draws was introduced in 2014 and continued in 2015. The teams were designated as A or B depending on which half of their provincial championships they were initially drawn to play in. Typically the provincial draws were not seeded, resulting in random A and B team designations.
In all qualifier rounds A teams played A teams and B teams played B teams. Usually the A teams completed their provincial games before the B teams, which allowed the A qualifier games to be scheduled a week before the B qualifier games.

Round 1

The first round consisted of all teams that failed to reach their provincial semi-finals, with the exception of New York. 16 teams in total took part.
In round 1 four A teams played four A teams and four B teams played four B teams. The eight round 1 winners played the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists in round 2 of the qualifiers.
The following teams took part in this round:
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London '
Leitrim '
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Carlow '
Offaly '
Laois '
Longford '
Louth '
Wexford '
Wicklow '
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Waterford '
Limerick '
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Antrim '
Cavan '
Armagh '
Down '
Tyrone '
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Round 2

In the second round of the qualifiers the eight winning teams from Round 1A and Round 1B played the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists. The round 2 draw was unrestricted − if two teams had played each other in a provincial match they could be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches played each other in Round 3.
Antrim
Cavan
Longford
Offaly
Clare
Kildare
Fermanagh
Roscommon
Armagh
Louth
Wexford
Tyrone
Derry
Galway
Tipperary
Meath
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Round 3

In the third round of the qualifiers winning teams from round 2A played against winning teams from round 2A and winning teams from round 2B played against winning teams from round 2B. Round 3 rules did not allow two teams that had played each other in a provincial match to meet again. The four winners of these matches played the four beaten provincial finalists in Round 4.
Kildare
Longford
Roscommon
Fermanagh
Derry
Tipperary
Tyrone
Galway
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Round 4

In the fourth round of the qualifiers, the four winning teams of Round 3A and Round 3B played the four provincial beaten finalists. Round 4 rules did not allow two teams that had played each other in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided. The four winners of these matches played the provincial winners in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals.
Kildare
Fermanagh
Westmeath
Cork
Tyrone
Galway
Sligo
Donegal
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All-Ireland knockout

= Draw = Replay

Quarter-finals

The four provincial champions played the winners from Round 4 of the qualifiers. If one of the provincial champions had already met one of the qualifiers in an earlier match then those two teams could not be drawn together.
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Semi-finals

There was no draw for the semi-finals as the fixtures were pre-determined on a three yearly rotation. This rotation ensured that a province's champions played the champions of all the other provinces once every three years in the semi-finals if they each won their quarter-finals. If a qualifier team defeated a provincial winner in a quarter-final, the qualifier team took that provincial winner's place in the semi-final.
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Statistics

All scores correct as of September 20, 2015

Scoring

First goal of the championship:
*Shane Walsh for Galway against New York
Widest winning margin: 27 points
*Dublin 4–25 – 0–10 Longford
*Kerry 7–16 – 0–10 Kildare
Most goals in a match: 8
*Mayo 6–25 – 2–11 Sligo
Most points in a match: 38
*Dublin 2-23 – 2-15 Fermanagh
Most goals by one team in a match: 7
*Kerry 7–16 – 0–10 Kildare
Highest aggregate score: 60
*Mayo 6–25 – 2–11 Sligo
Lowest aggregate score: 21
*Monaghan 0–11 – 0–10 Donegal
*Dublin 0–12 – 0–9 Kerry
Most goals scored by a losing team: 3
*Meath 2–19 – 3–12 Wicklow

Top scorers

;Overall

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	3–34	43	5	8.60
2	Seán Quigley	Fermanagh	2–36	42	6	7.50
3	Bernard Brogan	Dublin	6–21	39	7	5.57
4	Eoghan O'Flaherty	Kildare	2–31	37	7	5.29
5	Brian Kavanagh	Longford	1–29	32	5	6.40
6	John Heslin	Westmeath	1–26	29	4	7.25
6	Conor McManus	Monaghan	1–26	29	4	7.25
6	Dean Rock	Dublin	2–23	29	7	4.14
9	Donie Kingston	Laois	2–22	28	4	7.00
10	Darren McCurry	Tyrone	1–24	27	7	3.86
11	Tomás Corrigan	Fermanagh	2–18	24	6	4.00
11	Colm O'Neill	Cork	2–18	24	4	6.00
13	Connor McAliskey	Tyrone	0–23	23	7	3.29
13	Michael Murphy	Donegal	0–23	23	6	3.83
15	Diarmuid Connolly	Dublin	4–10	22	7	3.14
16	Gary Sice	Galway	1–18	21	6	3.50
17	Donncha O'Connor	Cork	2–14	20	4	5.00
18	Ciarán Lyng	Wexford	0–19	19	3	6.33

;Single game

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Seán Quigley	Fermanagh	0–14	14	Antrim
2	Aidan O'Shea	Mayo	3-04	13	Sligo
3	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	1-09	12	Dublin
3	Andrew Tormey	Meath	1-09	12	Wicklow
3	John Heslin	Westmeath	1-09	12	Meath
6	Seán Quigley	Fermanagh	1-08	11	Dublin
7	Tomás Corrigan	Fermanagh	1-07	10	Cork
7	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	1-07	10	Sligo
7	Eoghan O'Flaherty	Kildare	1-07	10	Offaly
7	Gearóid McKiernan	Cavan	1-07	10	London
7	Adrian Marren	Sligo	1-07	10	Roscommon
7	Jamie Clarke	Armagh	2-04	10	Wicklow
13	John Heslin	Westmeath	0-09	9	Louth
13	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	0-09	9	Galway
13	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	1-06	9	Dublin
13	Conor McManus	Monaghan	1-06	9	Fermanagh
13	Bernard Brogan	Dublin	1-06	9	Longford
13	Bernard Brogan	Dublin	1-06	9	Fermanagh
13	Colm O'Neill	Cork	1-06	9	Kerry
13	Dean Rock	Dublin	1-06	9	Longford
13	Bernard Brogan	Dublin	2-03	9	Kildare
13	Diarmuid Connolly	Dublin	2-03	9	Kildare
13	Colm Cooper	Kerry	2-03	9	Kildare
13	Kieran Martin	Westmeath	2-03	9	Meath

Discipline

First red card of the championship: Neil Gallagher for Donegal against Tyrone

Miscellaneous

Tipperary and Waterford meet in the Munster championship for the first time since 2003.
Westmeath recorded their first ever championship win over Meath in the Leinster semi-final.
Tyrone met Limerick and Tipperary for the first time in championship history, with Tyrone coming out on top of both games.
Under the old system, an All-Ireland semi-final would have featured Kerry vs Monaghan.

Broadcasting rights

RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland provided live television coverage of the championship. In the second year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a number of matches were also broadcast by Sky Sports, with Sky having exclusive rights to some games.
Australia's terrestrial Seven Network announced it would not broadcast Gaelic games following its coverage of the 2014 Championship.
As in the 2014 season, the GAA and RTÉ provided a streaming service called GAAGO intended to stream championship games worldwide. The subscription-based service was available to fans everywhere in the world outside of the island of Ireland, including all the games broadcast in Ireland exclusively by Sky Sports.
All televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both RTÉ and Sky were available to watch on GAAGO.

Live television rights

The following matches were broadcast live on television in Ireland.

Round	RTÉ	Sky Sports
Connacht Championship	Mayo vs Galway Mayo vs Sligo	Sligo vs Roscommon
Munster Championship	Kerry vs Cork Kerry vs Cork
Leinster Championship	Dublin vs Longford Westmeath vs Meath Dublin vs Kildare Dublin vs Westmeath	Laois vs Kildare
Ulster Championship	Donegal vs Tyrone Cavan vs Monaghan Derry vs Down Armagh vs Donegal Monaghan vs Donegal	Derry vs Donegal
Qualifiers	Cavan vs Roscommon	Tipperary vs Tyrone Galway vs Derry Westmeath vs Fermanagh Cork vs Kildare Sligo vs Tyrone Donegal vs Galway
Quarter-finals	Kerry v Kildare Dublin v Fermanagh	Monaghan v Tyrone Mayo v Donegal
Semi-finals	Kerry v Tyrone Dublin v Mayo	Kerry v Tyrone Dublin v Mayo
Final	Kerry v Dublin	Kerry v Dublin

Awards

;The Sunday Game Team of the Year
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 20 September, the night of the final. Dublin's Jack McCaffrey was named as The Sunday Game player of the year.

1. Brendan Kealy
2. Shane Enright
3. Rory O'Carroll
4. Philly McMahon
5. Lee Keegan
6. Cian O’Sullivan
7. Jack McCaffrey
8. Anthony Maher
9. Brian Fenton
10. Mattie Donnelly
11. Ciarán Kilkenny
12. Donnchadh Walsh
13. Conor McManus
14. Aidan O'Shea
15. Bernard Brogan

;All Star Team of the Year
The All Star football team was announced on 6 November. Dublin's Jack McCaffrey was named as the All Stars Footballer of the Year with Diarmuid O'Connor of Mayo being named as the All Stars Young Footballer of the Year.

1. Brendan Kealy
2. Shane Enright
3. Rory O'Carroll
4. Philly McMahon
5. Lee Keegan
6. Cian O'Sullivan
7. Jack McCaffrey
8. Brian Fenton
9. Anthony Maher
10. Mattie Donnelly
11. Ciarán Kilkenny
12. Donnchadh Walsh
13. Conor McManus
14. Aidan O'Shea
15. Bernard Brogan