| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 5 April – 27 July 2025 |
| Teams | 33 |
| Connacht | Galway |
| Munster | Kerry |
| Leinster | Louth |
| Ulster | Donegal |
| Team | Kerry |
| Titles | 39th |
| Captain | Gavin White |
| Manager | Jack O'Connor |
| Team 2 | Donegal |
| Captain 2 | Patrick McBrearty |
| Manager 2 | Jim McGuinness |
| Topscorer | David Clifford (8–62) |
| Previous | 2024 |
| Next | 2026 |
The 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) was the 139th 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, but took part in the All-Ireland Junior Championship, while London and New York completed the lineup by entering the Connacht SFC.
Armagh the defending champion, would have been assured of a place in the All-Ireland round robin phase by a top 7 finish in the 2025 National Football League; in the event, Armagh qualified as an Ulster SFC finalist.[1] Down, as winner of the 2024 Tailteann Cup, moved up to the All-Ireland championship round robin, regardless of provincial championship or National Football League position.[2]
The final was played on 27 July 2025 at Croke Park in Dublin, between Ulster champions Donegal and Munster champions Kerry. Kerry won a 39th title, with a 1–26 to 0–19 win against Donegal in that game.[3]
The draws for the competition took place on 12 October 2024.
Format
Provincial Championships
Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster each organised a provincial championship. All provincial matches were knock-out.
Group stage format
Sixteen teams progressed to the All-Ireland Championship round-robin:
- The four provincial champions
- The four beaten provincial finalists
- The 2024 Tailteann Cup winner (Down)
- The seven next-ranked teams, based on final position in the 2025 National Football League
- Position was based on standing after promotion and relegation were applied, and after finals had been played; therefore, the top two teams in Division 2 outranked the bottom two teams in Division 1, and if the 2nd placed team in Division 2 had won the final, they were ranked above the 1st-place finisher who had lost the final.
- If Down reached the Ulster final, an 8th team would have been chosen based on league position.
- New York did not participate in the League, although London did.
The other 17 county teams competed in the 2025 Tailteann Cup. New York, by failing to reach the final of the Connacht SFC, joined the Tailteann Cup in the preliminary quarter-final stage, the remaining teams in the round-robin group stages.
In the All-Ireland Championship round-robin, 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. Each team played the other in its group once, earning 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. Each team played one home, one away, and one neutral fixture.
The top three in each group advanced to the knockout stages, first-place teams to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and second and third-placed teams to the preliminary quarter-finals.[4]
Teams
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.
Provincial championships
Connacht Senior Football Championship
Leinster Senior Football Championship
Final
Munster Senior Football Championship
Ulster Senior Football Championship
Final
Team allocation
Seven places in the All-Ireland group stage were allocated based on performance in the 2025 National Football League, as detailed below.
| Qualified for round-robin phase | by reaching provincial final | |
| by winning 2024 Tailteann Cup | ||
| based on NFL position | ||
| Compete in 2025 Tailteann Cup | ||
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| NFL champions | |
| NFL finalists | |
| 3rd Div 1 | |
| 4th Div 1 | |
| 5th Div 1 | |
| 6th Div 1 | |
| Div 2 champions | |
| Div 2 finalists | |
| 7th Div 1 | |
| 8th Div 1 | |
| 3rd Div 2 | |
| 4th Div 2 | |
| 5th Div 2 | |
| 6th Div 2 | |
| Div 3 champions | |
| Div 3 finalists | |
| 7th Div 2 | |
| 8th Div 2 | |
| 3rd Div 3 | |
| 4th Div 3 | |
| 5th Div 3 | |
| 6th Div 3 | |
| Div 4 champions | |
| Div 4 finalists | |
| 7th Div 3 | |
| 8th Div 3 | |
| 3rd Div 4 | |
| 4th Div 4 | |
| 5th Div 4 | |
| 6th Div 4 | |
| 7th Div 4 | |
| 8th Div 4 | |
| Did not enter |
Group stage draw
Number in brackets indicates ranking in the 2025 NFL.
Pot 1
Pot 2
Pot 3
Pot 4
All-Ireland Championship round robin stage
Group 1
<noinclude>
Group 2
</noinclude>
Group 3
<noinclude>
Group 4
<noinclude>
Knockout stage
Knockout stage seeding
Seeded into quarter-finals
Seeded into preliminary quarter-finals
Unseeded in preliminary quarter-finals
Bracket
<noinclude> </noinclude>
Final
Stadia and locations
Statistics
Top scorers
Overall
| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Matches | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Clifford | Kerry | 8–62 | 86 | 9 | 9.55 |
| 2 | Seán O'Shea | Kerry | 1–50 | 53 | 8 | 6.62 |
| 3 | Michael Murphy | Donegal | 0–52 | 52 | 11 | 4.72 |
| 4 | Robert Finnerty | Galway | 3–40 | 49 | 0.00 | |
| 5 | Sam Mulroy | Louth | 4–37 | 49 | 0.00 | |
| 6 | Ryan O'Donoghue | Mayo | 2–39 | 45 | 0.00 | |
| 7 | Pat Havern | Down | 0–41 | 41 | 6 | 6.83 |
| 6 | Eoghan Frayne | Meath | 0–41 | 41 | 0.00 | |
| 9 | Darren McCurry | Tyrone | 0–37 | 37 | 7 | 5.28 |
| 10 | Conor O'Donnell | Donegal | 3–25 | 34 | 0.00 | |
| 11 | Cormac Costello | Dublin | 2–27 | 33 | 0.00 | |
| 12 | Mark McInerney | Clare | 2–27 | 33 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 13 | Matthew Tierney | Galway | 6–15 | 33 | 0.00 |
In a single game
| Rank | Player | County | Tally | Total | Opposition |
|---|
Miscellaneous
- Liam Gallagher scored the first two-pointer in championship football. He did so against Roscommon in the 14th minute of their 2025 Connacht SFC meeting in Ruislip.[5]
- Neither Leinster SFC semi-final was held at Croke Park. This had not happened since 1995.[6]
- As Portlaoise hosted Dublin v Meath in the Leinster Senior Football Championship for the first since the fixture was played in Navan in 1980 that the fixture is not played at Croke Park. The match ended Dublin's 14-year spell as Leinster champions.
- Clare scored a first Munster Senior Football Championship victory over Tipperary since 2000.
- Clare reached a third consecutive Munster SFC final, having only previously done so in 1915–1916–1917.
- Louth reached a third consecutive Leinster SFC final, having only previously done so in 1912–1913–1914.
- Galway won a fourth consecutive Connacht SFC title for the first time since 1963–1966.
- Louth won a first SFC Leinster title since 1957.
- Cavan defeated Mayo in the championship for the first time since the 1948 All-Ireland SFC final.[7]
- Meath scored their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship victory over Kerry since the 2001 semi-final.
- Kerry's defeat against Meath (9 points) was their heaviest since the 2001 semi-final.
- Clare met Louth for the first time in the history of the championship.
- Down played Galway in the championship for the first time since 1971.
- Cavan conceded an all-time championship record of 3–26 against Donegal.[8]
- Meath reached the All-Ireland semi-finals for the first time since 2009.[9]
- Donegal defeated Meath by 20 points in the All-Ireland semi-finals; this tied for the fourth biggest winning margin in an All-Ireland SFC semi-final; the last score of the same size was in 1993 when Cork beat Mayo by 20. It was also the second-biggest win for Donegal in the championship (they beat Clare by 24 points in 2024), and the 3–26 (35 pts) they scored was the most scored by Donegal in a championship match.[10]
- Donegal played against 6 different Ulster counties in the championship, only missing and .
- Donegal became the first team to play 11 championship matches in the same season.[11]
- Kerry won a record 39th title.[3]
- Kerry's score of 1–26, a total of 29 points, is the highest score ever in an All Ireland senior football championship final.
Attendances
The following table lists all 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship matches with an attendance of at least 30,000. Attendance figures are taken from the match reports on this page.
| Date | Match | Venue | Attendance | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 July 2025 | Kerry vs Donegal | Croke Park | 82,109 | Final |
| 2 | 13 July 2025 | Donegal vs Meath | Croke Park | 82,000 | Semi-final |
| 3 | 29 June 2025 | Armagh vs Kerry; Meath vs Galway | Croke Park | 70,530 | Quarter-finals doubleheader |
| 4 | 11 May 2025 | Meath vs Louth | Croke Park | 65,786 | Leinster final |
| 5 | 12 July 2025 | Tyrone vs Kerry | Croke Park | 62,434 | Semi-final |
| 6 | 28 June 2025 | Monaghan vs Donegal; Tyrone vs Dublin | Croke Park | 61,659 | Quarter-finals doubleheader |
| 7 | 1 June 2025 | Dublin vs Armagh | Croke Park | 38,763 | Round 2 |
| 8 | 21 June 2025 | Dublin vs Cork | Croke Park | 36,546 | Preliminary quarter-final |
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
References
- ^ "Armagh: All-Ireland winners to be welcomed home by fans". BBC News. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
- ^ "Down beat Laois in hard fought Tailteann Cup final". The Irish News. 13 July 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
- ^ Fogarty, John (27 July 2025). "Kerry crowned All-Ireland champions after dominant victory over Donegal". Irish Examiner
- ^ "GAA votes to restructure All-Ireland Football Championship: 'Green proposal' receives significant majority". Sky Sports
- ^ "Liam Gallagher: 'Nice to go down as a pub quiz question for the future!'". RTÉ. 5 April 2025.
- ^ "Tullamore and Portlaoise to host Leinster SFC semi-finals". Hogan Stand. 14 April 2025.
- ^ Finnerty, Mike (18 May 2025). "Cavan produce superb display to defeat flat Mayo". RTÉ.
- ^ "Donegal v Kerry: Routes to the All-Ireland football final". rte.ie. 26 July 2025. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
Records indicate that Donegal's 3–26 was the highest score Cavan have ever conceded in championship football. Donegal's second-half performance was exceptional, with Cavan looking out on their feet for the final 20 minutes as the Ulster champions moved through the gears.
- ^ Fogarty, John (27 June 2025). "All-Ireland quarter-final head-to-head: Galway v Meath". Irish Examiner
- ^ McNulty, Chris (15 July 2025). "Here's where Sunday's big win over Meath ranks in the Donegal history books". www.donegallive.ie
- ^ "Maurice Brosnan: McCole’s masterclass sets up a heavyweight showdown with Clifford". irishexaminer.com. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.