The 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 117th staging of the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

, the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

's premier

inter-county Inter-county, is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) List of Gaelic games terminology, terminology which refers to competitions or matches between County (Gaelic games), counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term c ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

tournament. The championship began on 4 May 2003 and ended on 28 September 2003.

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

entered the championship as the defending champions. On 28 September 2003, Tyrone won the championship following a 0-12 to 0-9 defeat of Armagh in the All-Ireland final. This was their first All-Ireland title. Tyrone's

Peter Canavan Peter Canavan (born 9 April 1971) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer, manager and pundit. He played inter-county football for Tyrone, and is one of the most decorated players in the game's history, winning two All-Ireland Senior Football C ...

was the championship's top scorer with 1-48. Armagh forward Steven McDonnell was the choice for the

Vodafone Footballer of the Year The Gaelic Athletic Association & Gaelic Player's Association All Stars Footballer of the Year — known for sponsorship reasons as the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year — is a Gaelic football award. It is presented annually to the footballer ...

award.

Format

The provincial championships in

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

were run as usual on a "knock-out" basis. These provincial games were then followed by the "Qualifier" system: *Round 1 of the qualifiers included all the

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

(except

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) that did not qualify for the Provincial Semi-finals. An open draw was made to give eight pairings. *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. Another open draw was made to determine the four pairings. *Round 4 consisted of the four winners from Round 3 playing against the beaten Provincial finalists. A draw was made to determine the pairings. The All-Ireland Quarter-finals: Each of the four Provincial Champions played one of the four winners from Round 4. The All-Ireland Semi-finals were played on a Provincial rota basis, initially determined by the Central Council. If a Provincial Championship winning team was defeated in its Quarter-final, the team that defeated it took its place in the semi-final.

Provincial championships

Connacht Senior Football Championship The Connacht Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Connacht Championship and shortened to Connacht SFC, is an annual Gaelic football competition for the senior county teams of Connacht GAA. All of the county teams of Connacht particip ...

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Associatio ...

Quarter-finals Semi-final Final

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

Preliminary round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Qualifiers

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

All-Ireland

The provincial champions and the winners of round 4 contested the quarter-finals. The quarter final matches would be between a provincial champion and a round 4 winner. Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

;Overall ;Single game

Miscellaneous

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

beat

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

for the first time since 1965. * The first Munster championship meeting between

and

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

since 1988. *

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

won their first Leinster title in 57 years for the first time since 1981 neither

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

reached the Leinster final. * Tyrone won their first All Ireland title marketing a historic 6th breakthrough of Ulster counties hitting the "Roll of Honor" after Cavan 1933, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1952 , Down 1960, 1961, 1968, 1991, 1994 Donegal in 1992,

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

in 1993 &

in 2002 * Dublin lost in the third round qualifiers; as of 2024 this is the only time since qualifiers were introduced in 2001 that Dublin did not reach the quarter-final stage or better.

References

{{Armagh Football Team 2003