Manager Jim Gavin | Top scorer Seán Quigley (3-36) Teams 33 | |
Dates 3 May — 20 September 2015 People also search for | ||
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.
Contents
- Teams
- Format
- Broadcasting
- A and B Teams
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
- All Ireland Knockout
- Quarter Finals
- Semi Finals
- Miscellaneous
- Scoring
- Top scorers
- Discipline
- Live broadcast matches
- Awards
- References
Dublin dethroned defending champions Kerry in the final, winning by 0-12 to 0-9.
Teams
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.
Format
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.
Broadcasting
RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland will provide live television coverage of the championship. In the second year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a number of matches will also be broadcast by Sky Sports, with Sky having exclusive rights to some games.
Australia's terrestrial Seven Network announced it would not broadcast Gaelic games following its coverage of the 2014 Championship.
As in the 2014 season, the GAA and RTÉ will provide streaming service called GAAGO intended to stream championship games worldwide. The subscription-based service will be available to fans everywhere in the world outside of the island of Ireland, including all the games broadcast in Ireland exclusively by Sky Sports. All televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both RTÉ and Sky will be available to watch on GAAGO.
A and B Teams
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 are not seeded resulting in random A and B team designations.
In all qualifier rounds A teams play A teams and B teams play B teams. Usually the A teams complete their provincial games before the B teams which allows the A qualifier games to be scheduled a week before the B qualifier games.
Round 1
The first round consists of all teams that fail to reach their provincial semi-finals with the exception of New York. 16 teams in total take part.
In round 1 four A teams play four A teams and four B teams play 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:
Round 2
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 have played each other in a provincial match they can be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches play each other in Round 3.
Round 3
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 do not allow two teams that have played each other in a provincial match to meet again. The four winners of these matches play the four beaten provincial finalists in Round 4.
Round 4
In the fourth round of the qualifiers, the four winning teams of Round 3A and Round 3B play the four provincial beaten finalists. Round 4 rules do not allow two teams that have played each other in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided. The four winners of these matches played the provincial winners in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals.
All-Ireland Knockout
(D) = Draw (R) = Replay
Quarter-Finals
The four provincial champions play the winners from Round 4 of the qualifiers. If one of the provincial champions has already met one of the qualifiers in an earlier match then those two teams cannot be drawn together.
Semi-Finals
There is no draw for the semi-finals as the fixtures are pre-determined on a three yearly rotation. This rotation ensures that a provinces's champions play the champions of all the other provinces once every three years in the semi-finals if they each win their quarter-finals. If a qualifier team beats a provincial winner in a quarter-final, the qualifier team takes that provincial winner's place in the semi-final.
Miscellaneous
Scoring
Top scorers
Discipline
Miscellaneous
Live broadcast matches
These matches were/will be broadcast live on television in Ireland
Awards
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 20 September, the night of the final. Dublin's Jack McCaffrey was named as the Sunday Game player of the year.
The All Star football team was announced on 6 November. Dublin's Jack McCaffrey was named as the All Stars Footballer of the Year with Diarmuid O'Connor of Mayo being named as the All Stars Young Footballer of the Year.