| Year: | 2015 |
| Dates: | 3 May — 20 September 2015 |
| Teams: | 33 |
| Connacht: | Mayo |
| Munster: | Kerry |
| Leinster: | Dublin |
| Ulster: | Monaghan |
| Matches: | 62 |
| Poty: | Jack McCaffrey |
| Team: | Dublin |
| Titles: | 25th |
| Captain: | Stephen Cluxton |
| Manager: | Jim Gavin |
| Team2: | Kerry |
| Captain2: | Kieran Donaghy |
| Manager2: | Éamonn Fitzmaurice |
| Topscorer: | Cillian O'Connor (3-34) |
| Previous: | 2014 |
| Next: | 2016 |
The 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 128th edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part − 31 counties of Ireland (excluding Kilkenny), London and New York.
Dublin dethroned defending champions Kerry in the final, winning by 0–12 to 0–9.[1] [2]
A total of 33 teams contested the championship – 31 teams from Ireland plus London and New York. As in previous years, Kilkenny footballers did not field a team. New York does not participate in the qualifiers.
Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster organise four provincial championships on a knock-out basis. All the teams beaten in the provincial matches (except New York) enter the All-Ireland Qualifiers in rounds 1, 2 and 4. The qualifier matches are knock-out and eventually result in four teams who play in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals against the four provincial winners. From the quarter-finals onwards the competition is entirely knock-out.
RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland provided live television coverage of the championship. In the second year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a number of matches were also broadcast by Sky Sports, with Sky having exclusive rights to some games.[3] [4]
Australia's terrestrial Seven Network announced it would not broadcast Gaelic games following its coverage of the 2014 Championship.[5]
As in the 2014 season, the GAA and RTÉ provided a streaming service called GAAGO intended to stream championship games worldwide.[6] The subscription-based service was available to fans everywhere in the world outside of the island of Ireland, including all the games broadcast in Ireland exclusively by Sky Sports.[7] All televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both RTÉ and Sky were available to watch on GAAGO.[8]
See main article: 2015 Connacht Senior Football Championship. ----
See main article: 2015 Leinster Senior Football Championship. ----
See main article: 2015 Munster Senior Football Championship. ----
See main article: 2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship. ----
An A and B system for the qualifying draws was introduced in 2014 and continued in 2015. The teams were designated as A or B depending on which half of their provincial championships they were initially drawn to play in. Typically the provincial draws were not seeded, resulting in random A and B team designations.
In all qualifier rounds A teams played A teams and B teams played B teams. Usually the A teams completed their provincial games before the B teams, which allowed the A qualifier games to be scheduled a week before the B qualifier games.
The first round consisted of all teams that failed to reach their provincial semi-finals, with the exception of New York. 16 teams in total took part.
In round 1 four A teams played four A teams and four B teams played four B teams. The eight round 1 winners played the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists in round 2 of the qualifiers.
The following teams took part in this round:
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In the second round of the qualifiers the eight winning teams from Round 1A and Round 1B played the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists. The round 2 draw was unrestricted − if two teams had played each other in a provincial match they could be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches played each other in Round 3.
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In the third round of the qualifiers winning teams from round 2A played against winning teams from round 2A and winning teams from round 2B played against winning teams from round 2B. Round 3 rules did not allow two teams that had played each other in a provincial match to meet again. The four winners of these matches played the four beaten provincial finalists in Round 4.
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In the fourth round of the qualifiers, the four winning teams of Round 3A and Round 3B played the four provincial beaten finalists.[9] Round 4 rules did not allow two teams that had played each other in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided. The four winners of these matches played the provincial winners in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals.
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(D) = Draw (R) = Replay
The four provincial champions played the winners from Round 4 of the qualifiers. If one of the provincial champions had already met one of the qualifiers in an earlier match then those two teams could not be drawn together.
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There was no draw for the semi-finals[10] as the fixtures were pre-determined on a three yearly rotation. This rotation ensured that a province's champions played the champions of all the other provinces once every three years in the semi-finals if they each won their quarter-finals. If a qualifier team defeated a provincial winner in a quarter-final, the qualifier team took that provincial winner's place in the semi-final.
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See main article: 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.
| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Matches | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cillian O'Connor | Mayo | 3-34 | 43 | 5 | 8.60 |
| 2 | Seán Quigley | Fermanagh | 2-36 | 42 | 6 | 7.50 |
| 3 | Bernard Brogan | Dublin | 6-21 | 39 | 7 | 5.57 |
| 4 | Eoghan O'Flaherty | Kildare | 2-31 | 37 | 7 | 5.29 |
| 5 | Brian Kavanagh | Longford | 1-29 | 32 | 5 | 6.40 |
| 6 | John Heslin | Westmeath | 1-26 | 29 | 4 | 7.25 |
| Conor McManus | Monaghan | 1-26 | 29 | 4 | 7.25 | |
| Dean Rock | Dublin | 2-23 | 29 | 7 | 4.14 | |
| 9 | Donie Kingston | Laois | 2-22 | 28 | 4 | 7.00 |
| 10 | Darren McCurry | Tyrone | 1-24 | 27 | 7 | 3.86 |
| 11 | Tomás Corrigan | Fermanagh | 2-18 | 24 | 6 | 4.00 |
| Colm O'Neill | Cork | 2-18 | 24 | 4 | 6.00 | |
| 13 | Connor McAliskey | Tyrone | 0-23 | 23 | 7 | 3.29 |
| Michael Murphy | Donegal | 0-23 | 23 | 6 | 3.83 | |
| 15 | Diarmuid Connolly | Dublin | 4-10 | 22 | 7 | 3.14 |
| 16 | Gary Sice | Galway | 1-18 | 21 | 6 | 3.50 |
| 17 | Donncha O'Connor | Cork | 2-14 | 20 | 4 | 5.00 |
| 18 | Ciarán Lyng | Wexford | 0-19 | 19 | 3 | 6.33 |
The following matches were broadcast live on television in Ireland.
| Round | RTÉ | Sky Sports | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connacht Championship | Mayo vs Galway Mayo vs Sligo | Sligo vs Roscommon | |
| Munster Championship | Kerry vs Cork Kerry vs Cork (replay) | ||
| Leinster Championship | Dublin vs Longford Westmeath vs Meath Dublin vs Kildare Dublin vs Westmeath | Laois vs Kildare | |
| Ulster Championship | Donegal vs Tyrone Cavan vs Monaghan Derry vs Down Armagh vs Donegal Monaghan vs Donegal | Derry vs Donegal | |
| Qualifiers | Cavan vs Roscommon | Tipperary vs Tyrone Galway vs Derry Westmeath vs Fermanagh Cork vs Kildare Sligo vs Tyrone Donegal vs Galway | |
| Quarter-finals | Kerry v Kildare Dublin v Fermanagh | Monaghan v Tyrone Mayo v Donegal | |
| Semi-finals | Kerry v Tyrone Dublin v Mayo | Kerry v Tyrone Dublin v Mayo | |
| Final | Kerry v Dublin | Kerry v Dublin |