All-Ireland Senior Football Championship


The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions.
Organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association, the championship has been contested every year except one since 1887.
The final is played by the 35th Sunday of the year at Croke Park in Dublin, with the winning team receiving the Sam Maguire Cup. For the majority of its existence, the All-Ireland Championship has been played on a straight knockout basis whereby once a team loses they are eliminated from the championship. In more recent years, the qualification procedures for the championship have changed several times. Currently, qualification is limited to teams competing in 6 feeder competitions; the finalists of the 4 provincial championships: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster, the Tailteann Cup holders and the best non-qualified National Football League teams to make the 16-team group stage.
Thirty three teams currently participate in the All-Ireland Championship, with Kerry, Dublin, Galway and Cavan being the most successful teams in their respective provinces.
The title has been won by 19 counties, 18 of whom have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holders are Kerry, who have won the championship on 39 occasions. They are the current title holders, defeating Donegal by 1–26 to 0–19 in the 2025 final.

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, Donnybrook 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 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.
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.
Unlike in other European countries, such as neighbouring England, where annual sports events were cancelled during the twentieth century due to the First and Second World Wars, the All-Ireland Championship has been running continuously since 1887, with the final running since 1889. The competition continued even in spite of the effects on the country of the Civil War and the Second World War. In 1941, the All-Ireland Championship was disrupted by an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease but the postponed Leinster final were later rescheduled.
The duration of certain championship matches increased from 60 to 80 minutes during the 1970s. They were settled at 70 minutes after five seasons of this in 1975. This applied only to the provincial finals, All-Ireland semi-finals and finals.
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 the 1990s, a significant sea change took place, as the All-Ireland was claimed by an Ulster team in four consecutive years. 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.
In recent years further changes have been made to the structure of the championship. In 2018 the Super 8s were introduced, where the four provincial champions and the four-round 4 qualifier winners would be split into two groups of four teams. Each team plays their group rivals once, with the top two teams progressing to the All-Ireland Semi-Finals. In 2022 a two-tier format was adopted for the championship. Division 3 and 4 teams from the National Football League that fail to reach a provincial final will not proceed to the All-Ireland qualifiers and will instead play in the Tailteann Cup.

Format history

Historic format (1888–2000)

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.

Quarter-finals format (2001–2017)

From 2001 to 2017, the Championship was played using the Quarter-finals format. Under this format, Provincial matches would take place during the months of May, June and July. The winners of each of the four Provincial Championships would earn a place in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals, which would take place in the month of August. Replays would be played for all drawn matches, not just drawn Provincial Finals and drawn All-Ireland Finals. Extra-time would only be used for Replays and Qualifier Matches. If the teams were still level after extra time, the qualifier match would go to a replay or in the case of replays, another replay would take place.
The qualifiers series for teams that did not win their provincial championships would take place in the months of June and July with the winning four teams of Round 4 playing the four Provincial Champions in the All-Ireland Quarter Finals.
  • All-Ireland Quarter-Finals: The four Provincial Champions would be drawn against the winning four teams from Round 4 of the All-Ireland Qualifiers. If a match finished with both teams level, a replay would take place. The four winning teams qualify for the All-Ireland Semi-Finals.
  • All-Ireland Semi-Finals: The All-Ireland Semi-Finals would take place in August and be contested by the four winners of the All-Ireland Quarter Finals. If a match ended with both teams level, a replay would take place. The two winning teams qualify for the All-Ireland Final.
  • All-Ireland Final: The two remaining teams would meet in the All-Ireland Final, usually on the third Sunday in September. The winning team is crowned All-Ireland Champions.

    Single-tier championship format (2018–2019)

This championship was identical to the format above, though with no second-tier championship all teams who failed to win their provincial final were eligible to play in the qualifiers. The qualifiers took place over four rounds rather than two, and the four winners of the fourth round proceeded to the All-Ireland Super 8s. As in the format above, the further a team progressed in their provincial championships the later the round they entered the qualifiers. The All-Ireland Super 8s were a round-robin group stage, featuring four teams placed into two groups. The two-highest ranked teams from each group were drawn into an All-Ireland Semi-final, which was followed by the All-Ireland Final.

Return to single-elimination format (2020–2022)

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 championships returned to the historic single-elimination format. Teams that were eliminated in their provincial championships did not access the qualifiers, which were cancelled, and the "Super 8's" were removed in favour of a straight-knockout semi-final and final. In 2022 a smaller back door system took place then Knockout or Super 8 there was a knock out Tailteann Cup in 2022 as well.

Integration with the league and Tailteann Cup (2023–)

In 2023, the format of the championship was again altered. Under this system, approved at a Special Congress of the GAA in February 2022, the results in the National Football League would have an impact on counties' progression in the championship. After the conclusion of the four provincial championships, whose structures remain unaltered, there would be a round-robin competition for 16 teams, split evenly into four. The groups would be made up of the four provincial champions and four runners-up, joined by a further eight teams based on their overall ranking from the league. The four group winners would automatically qualify for the All-Ireland Quarter Finals, and the four remaining spots in the quarter-finals are determined by playoff-matches between the second and third placed teams. The quarter finals, semi-finals and final are then played under the traditional single-elimination format. Furthermore, the 16 teams that fail to qualify for the round-robin stage would compete in the second-tier Tailteann Cup, which is also played via round-robin groups and single-elimination finals.

2026 proposal

A potential new format for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is under consideration, with a single alternative structure gaining significant support.
The proposal was discussed at a GAA Central Council meeting took place in Donegal on February 22, 2025.
The format, inspired by systems previously used in 16-team county championships, emerged as the most favoured option during a recent consultation process involving GAA counties.
Key Features of the Proposed Format
The alternative format retains the provincial championships and introduces a new pathway for teams advancing to the All-Ireland series. After the completion of the provincial competitions, the eight provincial finalists would join the top seven National Football League teams and the Tailteann Cup winners in the first round of the Sam Maguire Cup. The outcome of this round would determine the placement of teams into two groups: winners and losers.
Quarter-Final Qualification
The winners of the provincial winners' group would secure direct qualification for the All-Ireland quarter-finals, while the remaining quarter-final spots would be contested between the provincial losers’ group winners and the losers of the provincial winners' group.
Game Structure
The proposed format involves 27 games across six rounds, a reduction from the current 35 games over seven rounds. This streamlining is aimed at easing scheduling pressure and creating a clearer gap between the league and the provincial championships.
Minimum Games Guarantee
Counties would be assured at least three championship games, down from the four currently guaranteed, from the 2026 season.
The Preliminary round, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals of the Provincial championships will be played in separate weekends in 2026. In 2026, the Connacht championship at the Quarter-final stage will see Mayo host London and Roscommon host New York in separate weekends, while the Quarter-final between any two of Galway, Sligo and Leitrim will be after the overseas trips have been completed.