2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Explained
| Year: | 2025 |
| Dates: | 5 April- 27 July 2025 |
| Teams: | 31 |
| Previous: | 2024 |
| Next: | 2026 |
The 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship will be the 138th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. Thirty-one of the thirty-two Irish counties took part – Kilkenny did not compete, while London and New York completed the lineup with rescheduled fixtures postponed during Covid-19 in 2020.
Armagh will be the defending champions having won the 2024 competition.[1] Down will enter the competition as Tailteann Cup winners.[2]
The draws for the championship took place on 12 October 2024.
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 four provincial champions
- The four beaten provincial finalists
- The 2024 Tailteann Cup winners (Down)
- The seven next-ranked teams, based on final position in the 2025 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 Down reaches the Ulster final, an 8th team will be chosen based on league position.
The other 17 county teams compete in the 2025 Tailteann Cup.
In the All-Ireland Championship round-robin, 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four teams. Each team plays the other 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.[3]
Teams
General Information
Thirty-three counties competed 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
In rotation fixtures in return. Last played in 2015 but were both postponed in 2020 because of Covid-19.
Final
Leinster Senior Football Championship
Final
Munster Senior Football Championship
Final
Ulster Senior Football Championship
Final
Team allocation and draw
Team allocation
Seven places in the All-Ireland group stage are allocated based on performance in the 2025 National Football League, as detailed below.
Group stage draw
Number in brackets indicates ranking in the 2025 NFL.
Pot 4
All-Ireland group stage
Group 1
Round 3
Group 2
Round 3
Group 3
Round 3
All-Ireland knockout stage
Final
Stadia and locations
| County | Location | Province | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|
| Antrim | Belfast | Ulster | Corrigan Park | 3,700 |
| Armagh | Armagh | Ulster | Athletic Grounds | 18,500 |
| Carlow | Carlow | Leinster | Dr Cullen Park | 21,000 |
| Cavan | Cavan | Ulster | Breffni Park | 25,030 |
| Clare | Ennis | Munster | Cusack Park | 19,000 |
| Cork | Cork | Munster | Páirc Uí Chaoimh | 45,000 |
| Derry | Derry | Ulster | Celtic Park | 18,500 |
| Donegal | Ballybofey | Ulster | MacCumhaill Park | 18,000 |
| Down | Newry | Ulster | Páirc Esler | 20,000 |
| Dublin | Dublin | Leinster | Croke Park | 82,300 |
| Fermanagh | Enniskillen | Ulster | Brewster Park | 20,000 |
| Galway | Galway | Connacht | Pearse Stadium | 26,197 |
| Kerry | Killarney | Munster | Fitzgerald Stadium | 38,000 |
| Kildare | | Leinster | Manguard Park | 1,200 |
| Laois | Portlaoise | Leinster | O'Moore Park | 22,000 |
| Leitrim | Carrick-on-Shannon | Connacht | Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada | 9,331 |
| Limerick | Limerick | Munster | Gaelic Grounds | 44,023 |
| London | South Ruislip | Britain | McGovern Park | 3,000 |
| Longford | Longford | Leinster | Pearse Park | 10,000 |
| Louth | Drogheda | Leinster | Drogheda Park | 3,500 |
| Mayo | Castlebar | Connacht | MacHale Park | 25,369 |
| Meath | Navan | Leinster | Páirc Tailteann | 11,000 |
| Monaghan | Clones | Ulster | St Tiernach's Park | 29,000 |
| New York | Bronx | North America | Gaelic Park | 2,000 |
| Offaly | Tullamore | Leinster | O'Connor Park | 18,000 |
| Roscommon | Roscommon | Connacht | Dr Hyde Park | 18,890 |
| Sligo | Sligo | Connacht | Markievicz Park | 18,558 |
| Tipperary | Thurles | Munster | Semple Stadium | 45,690 |
| Tyrone | Omagh | Ulster | Healy Park | 17,636 |
| Waterford | Waterford | Munster | Fraher Field | 15,000 |
| Westmeath | Mullingar | Leinster | Cusack Park | 11,000 |
| Wexford | Wexford | Leinster | Chadwicks Wexford Park | 18,000 |
| Wicklow | Aughrim | Leinster | Aughrim County Ground | 7,000 | |
Championship statistics
Top scorers
Overall
| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Matches | Average | |
|---|
In a single game
| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Opposition | |
|---|
Miscellaneous
- Due to Covid-19 in 2020 it has taken extra 5 years for Galway to play New York and Roscommon having a game against London. Those fixtures will celebrate 50 years of London in the Connacht championship and 100 years of Galway's first All Ireland title in 1925.
See also
- 2025 Connacht Senior Football Championship
- 2025 Leinster Senior Football Championship
- 2025 Munster Senior Football Championship
- 2025 Ulster Senior Football Championship
- 2025 Tailteann Cup (Tier 2)
- 2025 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
- 2025 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 2024-07-29 . Armagh: All-Ireland winners to be welcomed home by fans . 2024-08-02 . BBC News . en-GB.
- Web site: 2024-07-13 . Down beat Laois in hard fought Tailteann Cup final . 2024-08-02 . The Irish News . en.
- Web site: GAA votes to restructure All-Ireland Football Championship: 'Green proposal' receives significant majority . Sky Sports.
- News: Forker handed Armagh captaincy ahead of Louth visit. hoganstand.com. 26 January 2024.
