The All-Ireland Men's Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in

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 ...

, is an annual series of games played in Ireland during the summer and early autumn, and organised by 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 ...

(GAA). Contested by the top male

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 ...

football teams in Ireland, the tournament has taken place every year since 1887, except in 1888 when the competition was not played due to a tour of the United States by would-be competitors. The competition traditionally culminates on the third or fourth Sunday in September with the All-Ireland Men's Senior Football Championship Final. The winning team receives the Sam Maguire Cup. Finals held before the GAA's acquisition of Croke Park in 1913 were played at various venues in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, and Tipperary; since then the final has been played at

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

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 ...

, except for the 1947 final which was played at the

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History

Teams from the southern province of

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 ...

shared the early titles, with Limerick, Tipperary and Cork winning the first three finals. The

first Championship The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome ...

featured club teams who represented their respective counties after their county championship. The 21 a-side final, played in Beech Hill, Donnybrook on 29 April 1888, was contested between Commercials of Limerick and Young Irelands of Louth, with Commercials winning by 1–4 to 0–3. The second Championship was unfinished owing to the American Invasion Tour. The 1888 provincial championships had been completed (won by Tipperary, Kilkenny and Monaghan, with no Connacht teams entering) but after the Invasion Tour ended, the All-Ireland semi-final and final were not played.

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

reached the final four times in the early years of the competition (1900–03). 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. As of 2022, the Kingdom have won the competition on 38 occasions, including two four-in-a-rows (1929–32 and 1978–81) and two three-in-a-rows (1939–41 and 1984–86). Galway were the first team from the western province of

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 ...

to win an All-Ireland title, in 1925, while Cavan were the first from the northern province of

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 ...

, in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

Croke Park from the Hill - 2004 All-Ireland Football Championship Final

The first half of the twentieth century brought the rise of several teams who won two or more All-Ireland titles during this period, such as Kildare, Mayo, Cavan, Wexford and Roscommon. Wexford won four consecutive titles between 1915 and 1918, while Kildare were the first winners of the Sam Maguire Cup in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

. Cavan won five titles between 1933 and 1952, including in 1947 when the final was played in New York. None of these teams have won an All-Ireland title since, with only Kildare, Mayo and Roscommon reaching the final. Most notably, Mayo have appeared in eleven finals since winning their last title in 1951, losing them all (1989, 1996 after a replay, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016 after a replay, 2017, 2020 and 2021); this is the longest unbroken sequence of losing finals in the history of the competition. A record 90,556 attended the 1961 final between Down and Offaly. For 13 consecutive finals between

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and

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, either

or Kerry always contested the decider, with both playing against each other in six of them, and

Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...

(in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

) the only other team to win a title in that period. In the 1990s, a significant sea change took place, as the All-Ireland was claimed by an Ulster team in four consecutive years (1991–94). Since then Ulster has produced more All-Ireland winning teams than any other province. The introduction of the qualifier system (commonly known as the "back door") in 2001 enabled Galway to reach and win that year's final despite losing to Roscommon in the Connacht semi-finals; a further six teams have since claimed the All-Ireland after coming through the qualifiers. Between 2011 and 2023 All Ireland champions won their Province. But in 2023 became a round robin system. ( and Armagh in 2024 under a Round Robin system). The 2003 final between Tyrone and Armagh was the first to be contested by two teams from the same province. 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.

Finals

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.

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

All teams are based in Ireland, except for

and

Results

: Originally, a goal outweighed any number of points. In 1892, the value of a goal was set at five points; this was reduced to three in 1896. : The 1894 replay was abandoned after Dublin walked off when some of their players were assaulted by Cork supporters. Cork led by two points at the time, but Dublin were awarded the championship as Cork were deemed to have been responsible for the abandonment. : The 1910 final was scratched and Louth were awarded the championship after Kerry refused to travel to Dublin as the

Great Southern and Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the larges ...

would not sell tickets to their fans at reduced rates. : Kerry beat Cavan 1–7 to 2–3 in the semi-final, but after an objection by Cavan and counter-objection by Kerry, both sides were disqualified. Galway were declared champions but, following protests, a substitute competition between the four provincial finalists was organised, with Galway and Cavan proceeding to the final. : Game played behind closed doors due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In Ireland, it has resulted in 1,753,206 cases ...

: Game played at 50% capacity due to the

Results by team

Man of the match

* 1990 Shea Fahy * 1991: James McCartan Jnr * 1992: Manus Boyle * 1993: Johnny McGurk * 1994:

Mickey Linden Michael Rory Linden is an Irish people, Irish Gaelic footballer who played for Down GAA, Down in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. He was part of the Down team that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in All-Ireland Senior Football ...

* 1995: Paul Curran * 1996 (draw): Liam McHale * 1996 (replay): Tommy Dowd * 1997: Maurice Fitzgerald * 1998: Michael Donnellan * 1999: Mark O'Reilly * 2000 (draw): Mike Frank Russell * 2000 (replay): Seamus Moynihan * 2001:

Pádraic Joyce Pádraic Joyce (born 1 April 1977) is a Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player who played as a forward. He has been manager of the senior Galway county football team, Galway county team since 2019. Joyce won the All ...

* 2002: Oisín McConville * 2003: Kevin Hughes * 2004:

Colm Cooper Colm "the Gooch" Cooper (born 3 June 1983) is an Irish Gaelic footballer whose National Football League (Ireland), league and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, championship career at senior level with the Kerry county football team, Kerr ...

* 2005: Owen Mulligan * 2006:

Aidan O'Mahony Aidan O'Mahony (born 8 June 1980, in Tralee) is a retired Irish Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Kerry county team. He has 5 All-Irelands, 3 NFLs, 10 Munster Championships, 1 County Senior Championship, 1 Senior Club Coun ...

* 2007:

* 2008:

Seán Cavanagh Seán Cavanagh (born 16 February 1983) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Moy Tír Na nÓg club and for the Tyrone county team. He is a five-time All Star winner. He won All-Ireland Championships for Tyrone at minor lev ...

* 2009: Tom O'Sullivan * 2010: Daniel Goulding * 2011:

Kevin Nolan Kevin Anthony Jance Nolan (born 24 June 1982) is an English former professional footballer and coach, who manages Northampton Town. He has represented England at under-21 level. After growing up in Toxteth, Liverpool, Nolan signed for Bolton ...

* 2012: Michael Murphy * 2013: Bernard Brogan Jnr * 2014: Paul Murphy * 2015: Brian Fenton * 2016 (draw): John Small * 2016 (replay): Mick Fitzsimons * 2017: James McCarthy * 2018: Jack McCaffrey * 2019 (draw): Jack McCaffrey * 2019 (replay): Ciarán Kilkenny * 2020: Con O'Callaghan * 2021: Darren McCurry * 2022: David Clifford * 2023: Paul Mannion * 2024: Oisín Conaty

References

{{All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...