The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county and cross-border competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is played in May, but, traditionally, was 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.[1][2] At a referee conference in January 2015, David Coldrick said about officiating in the competition: "Ulster makes or breaks you. It can be a graveyard. The games are different. There is an extra dimension and intensity, and you must be at your best. If you aren't prepared physically and mentally, the chances are you will be caught out. But when you are appointed for your first Ulster championship match, that's making progress".[3]
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 have won the most championships (40). Donegal are the title holders, defeating Armagh on penalties in the 2024 final.
Cavan are the most successful team in Ulster SFC history, having won the competition on 40 occasions.[4] Cavan maintain the record for consecutive appearances in Ulster Finals. During the 1930s and 1940s, they appeared in and won seven consecutive Ulster SFC titles. Fermanagh remain the only team not to have won an Ulster SFC title. The Ulster Senior Football Championship celebrated its 125th year in 2013.[5]
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 to 1994. Since then Ulster has produced more All-Ireland winning teams than any other province.[6]
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.[citation needed]
The Ulster SFC 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.[7] The 2007 final—contested by Monaghan and Tyrone—marked a return to Clones, with Tyrone emerging victorious.[citation needed] The Athletic Grounds in Armagh hosted the 2020 final, as the fixture was played behind closed doors due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games.[8] The final was last played in Belfast in 1971.[9]
In the 2000s, Armagh were a dominant force in Ulster, winning six titles in eight years between 1999 and 2006. Donegal won consecutive Ulster SFC 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.[citation needed]
The 2019 final had the highest score for the winning team in the final (Donegal that year) since 1933 when Cavan won, and the second highest score ever. It also had the highest Ulster SFC final score for the losing team ever (Cavan on this occasion).[10]
The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a single elimination tournament. Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there is currently no seeding. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found.
The Ulster SFC 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. It is the only provincial championship with most participating teams being from the UK.
Nine counties will compete in the 2025 Ulster Senior Football Championship:
Below is a record of each county's performance following the introduction of the qualifier system to the All-Ireland series in 2001. Before 2001 only the Ulster SFC title winner contested the All-Ireland SFC. Qualifiers did not occur from 2020–2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games. They are no longer held, with weaker teams, such as Cavan, Fermanagh and Antrim, moving aside, to instead play in the Tailteann Cup.
Bold indicates years team reached the final.
Legend
For each year, the number of competing teams is shown (in brackets).
Antrim (1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913)
Cavan (1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926) Cavan (1903, 1904, 1905) Cavan (1918, 1919, 1920) Cavan (1947, 1948, 1949)
Down (1959, 1960, 1961)
Armagh (2004, 2005, 2006) Antrim (1900, 1901)
Monaghan (1916, 1917) Monaghan (1921, 1922) Monaghan (1929, 1930) Cavan (1954, 1955)
Tyrone (1956, 1957) Down (1965, 1966)
Derry (1975, 1976) Tyrone (1995, 1996) Armagh (1999, 2000) Tyrone (2009, 2010)
Donegal (2011, 2012) Tyrone (2016, 2017) Donegal (2018, 2019) Derry (2022, 2023)The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Ulster SFC titles, is as follows:
Monaghan (1888) Armagh (1890), Cavan (1891) Antrim (01, 08, 09) Antrim (10, 11, 12, 13) Cavan (20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28) Cavan (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39) Cavan (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49) Cavan (52, 54, 55) Down (60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 68) Derry (70, 75, 76) Tyrone (84, 86, 89) Donegal (90, 92), Down (91, 94), Tyrone (95, 96), Derry (93, 98) Armagh (00, 02, 04, 05, 06, 08) Donegal (11, 12, 14, 18, 19) Derry (22, 23)No county teams have appeared in the final, being victorious on all occasions.
On the opposite end of the scale, one team has appeared in the final, losing on each occasion:
Fermanagh (1914, 1935, 1945, 1982, 2008, 2018)Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning the Ulster SFC, the All-Ireland SFC and the National Football League all in the same season.
As of 3 June 2008, according to the BBC.[32] Updated list (2012)
Notes:
As of 15 June 2008, according to the Sunday Tribune.[33]
Notes:
* Scores only include Ulster SFC. All-Ireland SFC and SFC Qualifiers are not included.
Managers in the Ulster SFC 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.
* = joint managers
In the late 1990s, matches were broadcast in Northern Ireland by UTV, before moving to BBC Northern Ireland.
2013 marks the 125th Anniversary of the Ulster Football Championship and the Ulster Museum in Botanic Gardens was transformed into an exhibition of Ulster's finest memories over those 125 years.
