The 2023 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 136th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. Thirty one of the thirty two Irish counties took part – Kilkenny did not compete, while London and New York completed the lineup.

The championship worked as a two-tier system for the second time, with the Tailteann Cup being the second tier competition for those that do not qualify for the Sam Maguire Cup competition.

The draws for the provincial championships took place on 15 October 2022. The All-Ireland final was played on 30 July 2023 at Croke Park in Dublin, between defending champions Kerry and Leinster champions Dublin. Dublin won their 31st title after a 1–15 to 1–13 win against Kerry.

Format

Provincial Championships

Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster each organise a provincial championship. All provincial matches are knock-out.

Group stage format

Sixteen teams progress to the All-Ireland Championship round-robin:

• The 4 provincial champions
• The 4 beaten provincial finalists
• The 2022 Tailteann Cup winners (Westmeath)
• The 7 next-ranked teams, based on final position in the 2023 National Football League
  • Position is based on standing after promotion and relegation are applied and after finals are played; therefore, the top two teams in Division 2 outrank the bottom two teams in Division 1, and if the 2nd placed team in Division 2 wins the final, they are ranked above the 1st place finishers who lost the final.
  • If Westmeath reach the Leinster final, then an 8th team will be chosen based on league position.

The other 17 county teams compete in the 2023 Tailteann Cup.

In the All-Ireland Championship round-robin, 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four teams. Each team plays the other teams in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. Each team plays one home, one away and one neutral fixture.

The top three in each group advance to the knockout stages; first-place teams to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and second- and third-placed teams to the preliminary quarter-finals.

All-Ireland format

The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in the preliminary quarter-finals. The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals advance to play the group winners in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Two semi-finals and a final follow. All matches are knock-out.

Teams by province

The participating teams, listed by province, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the 2023 National Football League before the championship were:

Britain (1)

• London (32)

Connacht (5)

• Galway (2)
• Leitrim (29)
• Mayo (1)
• Roscommon (3)
• Sligo (23)

Leinster (11)

• Carlow (30)
• Dublin (7)
• Kildare (13)
• Laois (27)
• Longford (25)
• Louth (11)
• Meath (14)
• Offaly (21)
• Westmeath (20)
• Wexford (28)
• Wicklow (24)

Munster (6)

• Clare (17)
• Cork (12)
• Kerry (5) (title-holders)
• Limerick (18)
• Tipperary (26)
• Waterford (31)

Ulster (9)

• Antrim (22)
• Armagh (9)
• Cavan (15)
• Derry (8)
• Down (19)
• Donegal (10)
• Fermanagh (16)
• Monaghan (6)
• Tyrone (4)

Other (1)

• New York (DNE)

Teams

General Information

Thirty three counties will compete in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: seven teams in the Connacht Senior Football Championship, eleven teams in the Leinster Senior Football Championship, six teams in the Munster Senior Football Championship and nine teams in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

Personnel and kits

Provincial championships

Connacht Senior Football Championship

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Leinster Senior Football Championship

Preliminary Round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Munster Senior Football Championship

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Preliminary round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Team allocation and draw

Team Allocation

Format

16 teams are divided into 4 groups of 4 teams and play a round robin to qualify for the knockout stages of the All-Ireland. Group games take place between 20 May and 18 June 2023.

Qualified teams

Teams qualified to the All-Ireland group stage.

Group Stage seeding

Numbers in brackets indicate ranking in the 2023 NFL.

All-Ireland group stage

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

All-Ireland knockout stage

Bracket

Preliminary quarter-finals

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Incidents

Armagh v Monaghan quarter-final

During the All-Ireland quarter-final clash between Armagh and Monaghan, Gardaí arrested seven people and 15 fans were ejected from Croke Park after a fight broke out on Hill 16 before the penalty shoot-out. Video footage later emerged on social media showing blows being exchanged between Armagh and Monaghan fans and some of those involved being knocked to the ground. The footage was condemned by the GAA, saying it represented "unacceptable behaviour from a small number of supporters", warning fans that Hill 16 could be converted to seats if fighting in the terraced stand continued.

Earlier in the match, the Hawk-Eye score detection system malfunctioned again after it returned a 'data unavailable' message. The GAA requested an explanation from Hawk-Eye who concluded that the message was a result of operator error. The next day the GAA took the decision to stand down Hawk-Eye once again.

Stadia and locations

Championship statistics

Top scorers

Top scorer overall

Scoring events

Does not include extra time.

• Widest winning margin: 28 points
  • Kerry 5-24 - 0-11 Louth (All Ireland SFC group stage)
• Most goals in a match: 6
  • Dublin 4-30 - 2-09 Laois (Leinster SFC)
• Most points in a match: 41
  • Monaghan 1-23 — 1-18 Clare (All Ireland SFC group stage)
• Most goals by one team in a match: 5
  • Kerry 5-14 - 0-15 Clare (Munster SFC)
  • Dublin 5-21 - 0-15 Louth (Leinster SFC)
  • Kerry 5-24 - 0-11 Louth (All Ireland SFC group stage)
• Most points by one team in a match: 30
  • Dublin 4-30 - 2-09 Laois (Leinster SFC)
• Highest aggregate score: 57 points
  • Dublin 4-30 - 2-09 Laois (Leinster SFC)
• Lowest aggregate score: 23 points
  • Clare 0-09 — 0-14 Donegal (All Ireland SFC group stage)

Miscellaneous

• First-time championship meetings:
  • Monaghan vs Clare (All-Ireland group stage)
• New York won their first ever Connacht Senior Football Championship game.
• Armagh and Antrim meet in the Ulster Senior Football Championship for first time since 1982.
• Clare beat Cork for the first time since 1997.
• Derry retain the Ulster Senior Football Championship for first time since 1976.
• Sligo qualify to their first Connacht final since 2015.
• Clare qualify to their first Munster final since 2012.
• It's the first Leinster final between Dublin and Louth since 1958. Dublin make it 13 Leinster titles in a row.
• Limerick and Meath enter the Tailteann Cup for the first time.
• Kerry are defeated at Fitzgerald Stadium in the championship for the first time since the Munster Final of 1995, ending an unbeaten record of 39 championship games. This occurred in a five-point defeat to Mayo.
• Armagh beat Galway for the first time ever in the championship.
• This is the first time since the 2015 championship that 4 Ulster counties reached the quarterfinals.
• Galway were provincial champions but failed to reach the quarter-finals, the first time this has happened and the first season that such an outcome was possible.
• It's the first championship meeting between Derry and Kerry since the 2004 championship.

See also

• 2023 Connacht Senior Football Championship
• 2023 Leinster Senior Football Championship
• 2023 Munster Senior Football Championship
• 2023 Ulster Senior Football Championship
• 2023 Tailteann Cup (Tier 2)
• 2023 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship (Tier 3)

References

External links

• GAA official website