The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is the biggest thing you can win in Gaelic Football.  It is an annual competition and it has a series of games.  Kerry have won the most All-Ireland's in football winning 37 in total and they are the reigning champions beating Donegal in the 2014 final back in September (they won their first title in 1903).  The tournament has taken place since 1887 just 3 years after the GAA was founded.  It is contested by the top inter-county football teams in Ireland.  An inter-county football team is when all of the best players from the county come together to contest the championship and the Allianz National league which is a competition at the start of the year but it is nothing in comparison to championship football.  To play for your county team is a huge honour and it is very hard to get on these teams.  The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship has been contested every year since it started except 1888.  The ALL-Ireland final is contested usually on the third or fourth Sunday during the month of September.  The winners receive the Sam Maguire Cup.  The first team to win the All-Ireland was Limerick.  Kilkennny are the only one of the 32 counties in Ireland who do not compete in Championship however they have won the most Hurling All-Ireland's (winning 35) and are very much considered a hurling county.  London and New York compete in the Connacht Championship.  To get to the All-Ireland finals you first have to play in your provincial championship.  There are four provincial championships which are  Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster.  Some are easier to win than others however.  1892 was the first year inter-county teams were introduced to the championship.  In 2001 the All-Ireland qualifiers (or "the back door") were introduced.   That same year Galway won the All-Ireland coming through the new back door system.  This system gave teams a second chance and to go on and win the All-Ireland. The qualifiers take place in June and July.   The teams who are knocked out of their provincial championship play the other teams who were knocked out, so there are 29 teams altogether that have to face the qualifiers. It also provided weaker inter-county teams a chance to play in Croke Park.  If you are defeated in the qualifiers you are knocked out of the All-Ireland championship and your season is over.  If you fail to reach the semi-finals of your provincial championship you are sent to round 1 of the qualifiers, there are 16 teams in Round 1 of the qualifiers.  There are 8 games and the winners progress to round 2 of the qualifiers.  The eight teams who progressed to round 2 then have to face the 8 teams who lose the semi-finals of their provincial championship and the winning 8 teams from these games progress to round 3 of the qualifiers.  These 8 teams (who won their games in round 2)  are divided into four individual match-ups.  The 4 teams that win progress to round 4 where they face the losers of each province's championship final.  These 8 teams are divided into four individual match-ups again and the winners march on to the All-Ireland series where all the games are (usually) played in Croke Park, Dublin.  For the All-Ireland quarter finals the four teams that win their provincial championship face the four teams who progressed from round 4 of the qualifiers.  The winners qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals where the winning four teams from the quarter finals match-up. The two winners then go on to contest the big one, The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.  The winner of this game recieve the Sam Mcguire cup and are crowned All-Ireland champions.