Code Gaelic football Trophy Anglo-Celt Cup Title holders Tyrone (14th title) Region Ulster | Founded 1888 No. of teams 9 Number of teams 9 | |
Irish Comórtas Peile Sinsear Uladh Sponsors Vodafone, Ulster Bank, Toyota |
The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a GAA inter-county competition for gaelic football teams within the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council and begins in early May. The final is usually played on the third Sunday in July.
Contents
- Teams
- Current format
- Historic format
- Team progress since 2001
- List Of Winners By County
- List Of Winners By Year
- Scoring records
- All time top Ulster scorers
- All time top Ulster goalscorers
- Ulster top scorers by year
- Broadcasters
- References
All nine Ulster counties participate. It is regarded as hardest to win of the four provincial football championships.
Cavan are the most successful team in Ulster Championship history, having won the competition on 37 occasions. Fermanagh remain the only team not to have won an Ulster title. The Ulster Senior Football Championship celebrated its 125th year in 2013.
For many decades, winning the Ulster Senior Football Championship was considered as much as a team from Ulster could hope for, as the other provinces were usually much stronger and more competitive. Before 1990, only Cavan in 1933, 1935, 1947, 1948 and 1952, and Down in 1960, 1961 and 1968, had won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title. In the 1990s however, a significant sea change took place, as the Ulster Champions won the All-Ireland in four consecutive years from 1991–1994. Since then Ulster has produced more All-Ireland winning teams than any other province.
Currently the Ulster Senior Football Championship is considered one of the toughest provinces to compete in. Ulster teams have gained considerable dominance on the All-Ireland scene, having won three All-Irelands from four in the early 2000s, including in 2003 when for the first time ever, the All-Ireland football final was competed for by two teams from one province.
The Ulster football final is normally played on the third Sunday in July, usually at St. Tiernach's Park in Clones. From 2004 until 2006, it was staged at Croke Park in Dublin. The 2007 final—contested by Monaghan and Tyrone—marked a return to Clones, with Tyrone emerging victorious.
In the 2000s, Armagh were a dominant force in Ulster, winning six titles in seven years between 1999 and 2006. Donegal won consecutive Ulster titles from the preliminary round in 2011 and 2012 (a feat achieved by no other county) and added the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2012.
Teams
The Ulster championship is contested by the nine traditional counties in the Irish province of Ulster. Ulster comprises the six counties of Northern Ireland as well as Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.
Current format
The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a straight knock-out competition. All beaten teams compete in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifiers. The Ulster Senior Football Championship winner enters the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at the quarter-final stage.
Historic format
Before the introduction of the qualifiers in 2001, the winner of the Ulster Senior Football Championship would compete with the other three provincial winners in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-finals. The two semi-final winners competed in the All-Ireland Senior Football Final.
Team progress since 2001
Below is a record of each county's performance since the introduction of the qualifier system to the All-Ireland Series in 2001.
List Of Winners By County
List Of Winners By Year
Notes:
Scoring records
On 9 July 2006, Oisín McConville became the record point scorer in the history of the Ulster Senior Football Championship in that year's final at Croke Park.
All-time top Ulster scorers
As of 3 June 2008 according to the BBC.
Notes:
All-time top Ulster goalscorers
As of 15 June 2008, according to the Sunday Tribune.
Notes:
Ulster top scorers by year
* Scores only include Ulster Championship. All-Ireland Championship and Qualifiers are not included.
Broadcasters
In the late 90's, matches were broadcast in Northern Ireland by UTV before moving to BBC Northern Ireland.