Ulster Senior Football Championship


The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a GAA inter-county competition for gaelic football teams in 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.
All nine Ulster counties participate. It is regarded as hardest to win of the four provincial football championships.
The winners receive the Anglo-Celt Cup, which was presented to the Ulster Council in 1925 by John F. O'Hanlon, who was editor of The Anglo-Celt newspaper based in Cavan.
Cavan are the most successful team in Ulster Championship history, having won the competition on 39 occasions. Down in the 1960s and Donegal in the 2010s share a record of competing in six consecutive finals. 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 eight years between 1999 and 2006. Donegal won consecutive Ulster titles from the preliminary round in 2011 and 2012 and added the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2012.
The 2019 final had the highest score for the winning team in the final since 1933 when Cavan won, and the second highest score ever. It also had the highest Ulster final score for the losing team ever.

Teams

The Ulster championship is contested by the nine traditional counties in the Irish province of Ulster. The province comprises the six counties of Northern Ireland plus the counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.

Format

The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a straight knock-out competition. Seven of the nine teams are drawn in the quarter-finals, while the other two teams contest a preliminary match to determine the final quarter-final place. The winners of the championship enter the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at the quarter-final group stage, while the other eight teams compete in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Before the introduction of the qualifiers in 2001, the winners of the Ulster Championship went straight to the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland Championship, along with the winners of the Leinster, Munster and Connacht Championships.

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.
From 2020, the All-Ireland series will be tiered.
;Key
Winner
Final
Semi Final
Quarter Final / Super 8s
Qualifier Rounds 1-4 / Tommy Murphy Cup

Championship2001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182018
AntrimQ2Q1Q2Q1Q1Q1TMTMQ4Q1Q3Q3Q1Q2Q2Q2Q1Q1Q2
ArmaghQ3WFQFSFQFQ1QFQ1Q3Q3Q1Q3QFQ2Q1QFQ4Q3
CavanQ4Q1Q2Q2Q4Q1Q1Q1Q2Q2Q1Q2QFQ2Q2Q3Q2Q3Q4
DerrySFQ3Q2SFQ3Q3QFQ1Q3Q3Q4Q1Q3Q1Q3Q4Q2Q1Q2
DonegalQ2QFSFQ4Q2QFQ3Q2QFQ1SFWQFFQFQFQ4S8sS8s
DownQ1Q1Q4Q2Q2Q1Q1Q3Q3FQ4QFQ2Q3Q1Q1Q4Q2Q2
FermanaghQ1Q3QFSFQ1Q4Q2Q3Q1Q2Q1Q1Q2Q1QFQ2Q1Q4Q1
MonaghanQ2Q1Q2Q1Q4Q2QFQ4Q2Q4Q1Q2QFQFQFQ2QFSFQ2
TyroneQFQ4WQFWQ2QFWSFQFQFQ3SFQ2SFQFSFFSF

List of winners by county

A golden background denotes years in which the Ulster champions also won the All-Ireland Championship.
TeamWinsYears won
1Cavan391891, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1915, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1934, 1935 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1948 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1949, 1952 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1997
2Tyrone171896, 1897,1956, 1957, 1973, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017
3Monaghan161888, 1906, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1938, 1979, 1985, 1988, 2013, 2015
4Armagh141890, 1903, 1950, 1953, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1999, 2000, 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008
5Down121959, 1960 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1991 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1994 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|
6Donegal101972, 1974, 1983, 1990, 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 2011, 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 2014, 2018, 2019
7Antrim91901–02, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1946, 1951
8Derry71958, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1987, 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|, 1998
9Fermanagh0Finalists: 1914, 1935, 1945, 1982, 2008, 2018

List of finals by year

Notes:
in the Ulster Championship are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players from the club championships. Their influence varies from county-to-county and is related to the individual county boards. From 2018, all inter-county head coaches must be Award 2 qualified. The manager is assisted by a team of two or three selectors and an extensive backroom team consisting of various coaches. Prior to the development of the concept of a manager in the 1970s, teams were usually managed by a team of selectors with one member acting as chairman.
ManagerTeamWinsWinning years
Mickey HarteTyrone72001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017
Joe KernanArmagh42002, 2004, 2005, 2006
Brian McEniffDonegal31983, 1990, 1992
Art McRoryArmagh21984, 1995, 1996
Jim McGuinnessDonegal32011, 2012, 2014
Seán McCagueMonaghan21985, 1989
Pete McGrathDown21991, 1994
Eugene McKennaArmagh21995, 1996
Brian McAlinden
Brian Canavan		Armagh21999, 2000
Malachy O'RourkeMonaghan22013, 2015
Declan BonnerDonegal22018, 2019
John DonnellyTyrone11986
Eamonn ColemanDerry11993
Martin McHughCavan11997
Brian MullinsDerry11998
Peter McDonnellArmagh12008

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. Updated list
RankPlayerCountyTallyTotal scoreChampionship years
1Paddy BradleyDerry17–2012522000–2012
2Oisin McConvilleArmagh11–1972301997–2008
3Peter CanavanTyrone9–1912181989–2005
4Paddy DohertyDown15–1592041954–1971
5Peter DonohoeCavan17–1331841945–1955
6Seán O'NeillDown17–1251761959–1975
7Charlie GallagherCavan10–1421721955–1969
8Steven McDonnellArmagh15–1111562000–2011
9Seán O'ConnellDerry11–1181511957–1975
10Ronan CarolanCavan2–1381441987–1998

Notes:
As of 15 June 2008, according to the Sunday Tribune.
RankPlayerCountyNumber of goalsChampionship years
1=Steven McDonnellArmagh171999–2011
1=Peter DonohoeCavan171945–1955
1=Seán O'NeillDown171959–1975
4Paddy DohertyDown151954–1971
5=Paddy Bradley**Derry132000–2012
5=Ger HoulahanArmagh131984–2000
5=James McCartan SrDown131958–1967
5=Brendan Coulter *Down132000–2014
9=Joe StaffordCavan121943–1949
9=Enda MuldoonDerry121997–2011
9=Jason ReillyCavan121997–2008
12=Seán O'ConnellDerry111957–1975
12=PT TreacyFermanagh111960–1973
12=Oisín McConvilleArmagh111997–2008

Notes:
* Scores only include Ulster Championship. All-Ireland Championship and Qualifiers are not included.

Gallery


Belfast, County AntrimDerry, County LondonderryClones, County MonaghanOmagh, County TyroneEnniskillen, County Fermanagh-
Casement ParkCeltic ParkSt. Tiernach's ParkHealy ParkBrewster Park-
Capacity: 0Capacity: 15,000Capacity: 37,000Capacity: 18,500Capacity: 16,000-


Broadcasters

In the late 1990s, matches were broadcast in Northern Ireland by UTV before moving to BBC Northern Ireland.