2023 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Explained

Year:	2023
Dates:	5 April – 9 July 2023
Teams:	31
Connacht:	Mayo
Munster:	Kerry
Leinster:	Dublin
Ulster:	Derry
Team1:	Derry
Titles:	6th
Captain:	Fionn McEldowney
Manager:	Damian McErlean
Team2:	Monaghan
Captain2:	Matthew Carolan
Manager2:	Dermot Malone
Matches:	76
Totalgoals:	199 (2.61 per game)
Totalpoints:	1637 (21.53 per game)
Topscorer:	Max McGinnity (3-46)
Previous:	2022
Next:	2024

The 2023 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship was the 92nd staging of the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1929. The championship ran from 5 April to 9 July 2023.

Galway entered the championship as the defending champions, however, they were beaten by Derry in the All-Ireland quarter-final.^{[1] [2]}

The All-Ireland final, the first to feature two Ulster teams, was played on 9 July 2023 at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh, between Monaghan and Derry, in what was their first ever meeting in an All-Ireland final but their third meeting in that year's championship.^[3] Derry won the match by 1-13 to 0-09 to claim their sixth All-Ireland title overall and a first title in three years.^{[4] [5]}

Derry's Max McGinnity was the championship's top scorer with 3-46.

Connacht Minor Football Championship

See main article: Connacht Minor Football Championship.

Group Stage

width=10		width=170 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=10		width=10		width=10		width=10		width=30		width=30		width=10		width=10		Qualification
1	Galway	4	4	0	0	67	50	17	8	Advance to final
2	Mayo	4	2	1	1	71	56	15	5	Advance to semi-finals
3	Roscommon	4	2	0	2	52	43	9	4
4	Sligo	4	0	2	2	43	56	−13	2	Advance to shield final
5	Leitrim	4	0	1	3	55	75	−20	1

Connacht group stage fixtures

Connacht final

Leinster Minor Football Championship

See main article: Leinster Minor Football Championship.

Group 1

	Team									Qualification
1	Kildare	3	3	0	0	54	30	24	6	Advance to semi-finals
2	Offaly	3	2	0	1	47	46	11	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Laois	3	1	0	1	37	39	−2	2	Advance to preliminary quarter-finals
4	Longford	3	0	0	3	21	44	−23	0

Group 2

width=10		width=170 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=10		width=10		width=10		width=10		width=30		width=30		width=10		width=10		Qualification
1	Dublin	3	3	0	0	64	43	21	6	Advance to semi-finals
2	Meath	3	2	0	1	42	35	7	4	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Louth	3	1	0	2	42	40	2	2	Advance to preliminary quarter-finals
4	Westmeath	3	0	0	3	36	66	−30	0

Group 3

width=10		width=170 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=10		width=10		width=10		width=10		width=30		width=30		width=10		width=10		Qualification
1	Wicklow	2	2	0	0	33	22	11	4	Advance to preliminary quarter-finals
2	Wexford	2	1	0	1	20	20	0	2
3	Carlow	2	0	0	1	22	33	−11	0

Leinster final

Munster Minor Football Championship

See main article: Munster Minor Football Championship.

Phase 1 Group Stage

	Team									Qualification
1	Tipperary	3	3	0	0	53	21	32	6	Advance to phase 1 final
2	Limerick	3	2	0	1	36	34	2	4
3	Clare	3	1	0	2	44	38	6	2
4	Waterford	3	0	0	3	13	32	−19	0

Munster phase 1 group stage fixtures

Munster final

Ulster Minor Football Championship

See main article: Ulster Minor Football Championship.

Group A

	Team									Qualification
1	Derry	4	4	0	0	86	17	69	8	Advance to quarter-finals
3	Monaghan	4	3	0	1	67	46	21	6
2	Donegal	4	2	0	2	59	52	7	4
4	Fermanagh	4	1	0	3	37	73	−36	2
5	Down	4	0	0	4	36	97	−61	0

Ulster group A fixtures

Group B

width=10		width=170 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=10		width=10		width=10		width=10		width=30		width=30		width=10		width=10		Quarter-finals
1	Tyrone	3	3	0	0	69	21	48	6	Advance to quarter-finals
2	Cavan	3	2	0	1	60	30	30	4
3	Armagh	3	0	1	2	25	42	−17	1
4	Antrim	3	0	1	2	17	78	−61	1

Ulster group B fixtures

Ulster final

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship

See main article: All-Ireland Minor Football Championship.

All-Ireland final

Championship statistics

Top scorers

Overall

Rank	Player	County	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Max McGinnity	Monaghan	3-46	55	10	5.50
2	Lenny Cahill	Dublin	2-42	48	7	6.85
3	Paul Honeyman	Leitrim	3-30	39	5	7.80
4	Paddy Lane	Kerry	2-32	38	5	7.60
5	Adam Gillespie	Louth	2-30	36	5	7.20
6	Joey Cunningham	Kildare	0-33	33	6	5.50
Ger Dillon	Kildare	0-33	33	10	3.30
8	Matthew Finn	Monaghan	3-22	31	9	3.44
9	Conall Higgins	Derry	2-23	29	8	3.62
10	Darragh Beirne	Mayo	2-21	27	7	3.85

In a single game

Rank	Player	Club	Tally	Total	Opposition
1	Lenny Cahill	Dublin	2-10	16	Westmeath
2	Niall Heneghan	Roscommon	3-04	13	Leitrim
3	Darragh Donaghy	Tyrone	3-03	12	Antrim
	Barry Goodwin	Fermanagh	3-03	12	Down
	Ben O'Hara	Cavan	2-06	12	Antrim
6	Rory Gilbert	Wexford	3-02	11	Laois
	Max McGinnity	Monaghan	1-08	11	Down
8	Paddy Lane	Kerry	1-07	10	Kildare
	John Boyle	Derry	0-10	10	Down
10	Andrew Lyons	Limerick	2-03	9	Clare
	Darragh Donaghy	Tyrone	2-03	9	Fermanagh
	Paul Honeyman	Leitrim	1-06	9	Galway
	Paul Honeyman	Leitrim	1-06	9	Mayo
	Shane Callaghan	Donegal	1-06	9	Down
	Adam Gillespie	Louth	1-06	9	Meath
	Joey Cunningham	Kildare	0-09	9	Offaly
	Paul Honeyman	Leitrim	0-09	9	Roscommon

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rampant Galway shock Mayo to land All-Ireland minor title. Connaught Telegraph. 8 July 2022. 8 July 2022.
2. Web site: Derry dethrone All-Ireland Minor Football champions Galway to book place in last four. Irish Examiner. 10 June 2023. 4 July 2023. Michael. McMullan.
3. Web site: Armagh to host first all-Ulster All-Ireland Minor Football Championship. The Irish News. 26 June 2023. 4 July 2023.
4. Web site: 14-man Derry claim All-Ireland MFC title with win over Monaghan. Irish Examiner. 9 July 2023. 11 July 2023. Brendan. O'Brien.
5. Web site: Derry clinch minor All-Ireland joy as Sargent puts Oak Leaf in charge. Irish Independent. 9 July 2023. 11 July 2023. John. Campbell.