All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – History, Teams, Stats, and more
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: Gaelic football’s most important tournament is the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC). The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) arranges this tournament every year, and the county teams from all of Ireland compete in it. The first tournament was in 1887, and since 1889, it has happened every year. The final of each tournament is held on the 35th Sunday of the year at Croke Park in Dublin. The winning team gets the Sam Maguire Cup.
History of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The first Championship consisted of club teams from each county that had just won their county championship. Commercials of Limerick and Young Irelands of Louth played in the 21-a-side final. On April 29, 1888, the final was held at Beech Hill in Donnybrook.
Kerry’s first All-Ireland title came in 1903 when they won the Championship. They went on to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship more times than any other team. During the 1970s, the length of some championship games went from 60 minutes to 80 minutes. After five years of this, in 1975, they consented on 70 minutes.
During the first half of the 20th century, teams like Kildare, Mayo, Cavan, Wexford, and Roscommon rose to prominence and won two or more All-Ireland titles. In the 1990s, the All-Ireland was won by an Ulster team for four years in a row, from 1991 to 1994. This was a significant change.
In the last few years, more changes have been made to how the Championship is set up. In 2018, the Super 8s were added. As well, the four provincial champions and the four winners of the Round 4 qualifiers were split into two groups of four teams each. In 2022, the Championship will be divided into two groups.
Teams in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
| Team | Colours | Most recent success | |
| All-Ireland | Provincial | ||
| Antrim | Saffron and white | 1951 | |
| Armagh | Orange and white | 2002 | 2008 |
| Carlow | Red, green and gold | 1944 | |
| Cavan | Royal blue and white | 1952 | 2020 |
| Clare | Saffron and Blue | 1992 | |
| Cork | Red and white | 2010 | 2012 |
| Derry | Red and white | 1993 | 2022 |
| Donegal | Gold and green | 2012 | 2019 |
| Down | Red and black | 1994 | 1994 |
| Dublin | Sky blue and navy | 2020 | 2022 |
| Fermanagh | Green and white | ||
| Galway | Maroon and white | 2001 | 2022 |
| Kerry | Green and gold | 2022 | 2021 |
| Kildare | White | 1928 | 2000 |
| Laois | Blue and white | 2003 | |
| Leitrim | Green and gold | 1994 | |
| Limerick | Green and white | 1896 | 1896 |
| London | Green and white | ||
| Longford | Royal blue and gold | 1968 | |
| Louth | Red and white | 1957 | 1957 |
| Mayo | Green and red | 1951 | 2021 |
| Meath | Green and gold | 1999 | 2010 |
| Monaghan | White and blue | 2015 | |
| New York | Red, white and blue | ||
| Offaly | White, green and gold | 1982 | 1997 |
| Roscommon | Primrose and blue | 1944 | 2019 |
| Sligo | Black and white | 2007 | |
| Tipperary | Blue and gold | 1920 | 2020 |
| Tyrone | White and Red | 2021 | 2021 |
| Waterford | White and blue | 1898 | |
| Westmeath | Maroon and white | 2004 | |
| Wexford | Purple and gold | 1918 | 1945 |
| Wicklow | Blue and gold |
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – Format
The county is a geographic area in Ireland, and each of the 32 counties in Ireland has its own County Board to run its own Gaelic games. In Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster, the county teams play in their own Provincial Championships. Kilkenny is the only Irish county association out of the 32 that does not participate in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. A knock-out cup competition is how the Provincial Championships work.
From 1888 to 2000, the historical format was used.
The quarter-finals format was followed from 2001 to 2017.
Single-tier championship format was operational for the years 2018 and 2019.
After that, COVID-19 spread, which caused the retrieval to a single-elimination format from 2020 to 2022.
The format of the Championship will change again in 2023.
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Stats and Records: Performances by County
| County | Title(s) | Runners-up | Years won | Years runner-up |
| Kerry | 38 | 23 | 1903, 1904, 1909, 1913, 1914, 1924, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2022 | 1892, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1923, 1927, 1938, 1944, 1947, 1954, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1982, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019 |
| Dublin | 30 | 13 | 1891, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1942, 1958, 1963, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1995, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 | 1896, 1904, 1920, 1924, 1934, 1955, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1994 |
| Galway | 9 | 14 | 1925, 1934, 1938, 1956, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1998, 2001 | 1919, 1922, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1959, 1963, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1983, 2000, 2022 |
| Cork | 7 | 16 | 1890, 1911, 1945, 1973, 1989, 1990, 2010 | 1891, 1893, 1894, 1897, 1899, 1906, 1907, 1956, 1957, 1967, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1999, 2007, 2009 |
| Meath | 7 | 9 | 1949, 1954, 1967, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1999 | 1895, 1939, 1951, 1952, 1966, 1970, 1990, 1991, 2001 |
| Cavan | 5 | 6 | 1933, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1952 | 1925, 1928, 1937, 1943, 1945, 1949 |
| Wexford | 5 | 3 | 1893, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 | 1890, 1913, 1914 |
| Down | 5 | 1 | 1960, 1961, 1968, 1991, 1994 | 2010 |
| Kildare | 4 | 5 | 1905, 1919, 1927, 1928 | 1926, 1929, 1931, 1935, 1998 |
| Tyrone | 4 | 3 | 2003, 2005, 2008, 2021 | 1986, 1995, 2018 |
| Tipperary | 4 | 1 | 1889, 1895, 1900, 1920 | 1918 |
| Mayo | 3 | 15 | 1936, 1950, 1951 | 1916, 1921, 1932, 1948, 1989, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 |
| Offaly | 3 | 3 | 1971, 1972, 1982 | 1961, 1969, 1981 |
| Louth | 3 | 3 | 1910, 1912, 1957 | 1887, 1909, 1950 |
| Roscommon | 2 | 3 | 1943, 1944 | 1946, 1962, 1980 |
| Donegal | 2 | 1 | 1992, 2012 | 2014 |
| Limerick | 2 | 0 | 1887, 1896 | – |
| Armagh | 1 | 3 | 2002 | 1953, 1977, 2003 |
| Derry | 1 | 1 | 1993 | 1958 |
| London[a] | 0 | 5 | – | 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1908 |
| Laois | 0 | 2 | – | 1889, 1936 |
| Antrim | 0 | 2 | – | 1911, 1912 |
| Waterford | 0 | 1 | – | 1898 |
| Clare | 0 | 1 | – | 1917 |
| Monaghan | 0 | 1 | – | 1930 |