Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta is an annual All Ireland

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 ...

competition contested by clubs from the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

-speaking

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

areas of Ireland. Clubs compete on a county-basis at first, in order to qualify for the tournament that is hosted by a different club from the Gaeltacht each year. The first competition was held in

Gweedore Gweedore ( , officially known by its Irish language name, ) is a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) district, and parish, located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. It stretches some from Glasserchoo and Bloody For ...

, County Donegal in 1969 and was won by the local club

CLG Ghaoth Dobhair CLG Ghaoth Dobhair is a GAA club based in the parish of Gaoth Dobhair (anglicised to Gweedore) in northwest County Donegal, Ireland. They are one of the strongholds of Gaelic football in County Donegal. Their home ground is at Machaire Gathlán ...

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the inter ...

provides radio coverage of both the regional qualifiers and the national finals, held over the June Bank Holiday.

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

provides live television coverage of the men's semi-finals and finals on the June Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday, and these are also broadcast online.

History

The idea for the competition came about in 1968 at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

when both Antoin Ó Cearúill from

and Antoin de Bairéad from

An Ghaeltacht GAA An Ghaeltacht is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in County Kerry. The club competes in the Kerry Intermediate Football Championship. It also competes in the West Kerry GAA, West Kerry Football Championship, Division 1 of the Kerry County Le ...

were playing on the UCD Gaelic football team who won the

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

. They were good friends and decided that their home teams should play each other, de Bairéad brought his team from Baile an Fheirtéaraigh to Ó Cearúil's

Gaoth Dobhair Gweedore ( , officially known by its Irish language name, ) is a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) district, and parish, located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. It stretches some from Glasserchoo ...

to play in a friendly. On the 5 January 1969, "in a blizzard" of snow as the Derry People/Donegal News said, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh GAA won against Gaoth Dobhair by 3–6 to 0–3. Antoin de Bairéad himself scored two points on the day. That evening at a celebratory cabaret in Óstán Radharc na Mara, Antoin de Bairéad, Antoin Ó Cearúill, Seán Delap and Feardorcha Ó Colla decided that there should be a competition between the

areas similar to the

. Sean Delap said he would provide a trophy. On 15 March 1969 the first official meeting for Cómórtas Peile na Gaeltachta was held in the Castle Hotel, Dublin. The following officers were elected: * President: Seán Delap, Gaoth Dobhair. * Vice President: Commandant Seán Ó Colmáin, An Daingean. * Chair: Antoin de Bairéad, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh. * Secretary: Feardorcha Ó Colla, Gaoth Dobhair. * Treasurer: Séamus Mac Gearailt, Corca Dhuibhne. On 23 May 1969 the competition was officially launched at the

Gresham Hotel The Hotel Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin, formerly The Gresham Hotel, is a historic four-star hotel on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland. It is a Dublin institution and landmark. Founded in 1817, the current structure was completed in 1927 and ...

. Justice Seán Delap donated the trophy and Canon Hamilton from County Clare donated the 72 Medals. The inaugural competition was held in Gweedore, County Donegal on 3 August 1969. There was 8 teams present from 6 counties: one from Dún na nGall, Gaillimh, Port Láirge and an Mhí and two teams from Maigh Eo and Ciarraí. The local club

being crowned as champions against Baile an Fheirtéaraigh by 2–8 to 2–7. From 1975 onwards, the competition has also been contested at junior level. The 2010 champions were Béal an Mhuirthead from Mayo at senior level, who won the tournament on home ground, and An Spidéal at junior level. Cloich Cheannfhaola from An Fál Carrach in Donegal hosted and subsequently won the 2011 senior title, beating Maigh Cuilinn of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

in the final on a scoreline of 0-11 to 1-6. At junior level, Naomh Muire from the Rosses in Donegal won the title by beating Laochra Loch Lao of Belfast on a scoreline of 0-14 to 0-13. The 2012 competition was held in

, who are the joint most successful club in the competition's history. They managed to win the tournament outright on home soil also, the third consecutive team to do so. They beat Mayo's Cill tSéadhna, a team who remarkably made the final after three games in two days. Even more remarkably, they scored a total of 17 goals in 4 games (15 of them in the first 3 games). Gaoth Dobhair, however, were by far the superior team over the weekend. They won the final on a scoreline of 1–13 to 2–9. An estimated crowd of 10,000 attended the picturesque coastal region for the finals. The

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

club

Rinn Ó gCuanach CLG Rinn is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 6 km southeast of Innsbruck. The village was mentioned in documents as “Runne” in 1250 for the first time. Population Climate Climate ty ...

hosted the competition in 2013, having last hosted it in 1999. The Kerry teams An Ghaeltacht and Lios Póil won the senior and junior finals respectively that year. The 2017 finals of Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta were played at

Lough Mask Lough Mask () is a limestone lake of about in Counties Mayo and Galway, Ireland, north of Lough Corrib. Lough Mask is the middle of the three lakes, which empty into the Corrib River, through Galway, into Galway Bay. Lough Carra flows into ...

for the first time at

Tuar Mhic Éadaigh Toormakeady or Tourmakeady (, the official name) is a Gaeltacht in south County Mayo in the west of Ireland. It is located between the shores of Lough Mask and the Partry Mountains, and covers . As at the time of the 2011 census, Toormakeady had ...

, County Mayo. The 2020 Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta which was planned to be hosted by Naomh Anna, Leitir Móir, was deferred in response to government guidelines to deal with the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland may refer to: * COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state * COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic reached Northern Ireland in February 2020. At the start of the first ...

Senior Championship 1969–2025

Results by team

Junior Championship 1975–2025

An Cailín Gaelach winners

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comortas Peile na Gaeltachta 1969 establishments in Ireland 1969 in Gaelic games Gaelic football competitions in Ireland