The 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 127th edition of the GAA's premier
inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887.
It is played between 31 counties of Ireland, London and New York.
Changes for 2014 included the introduction of black cards for "cynical" fouls, the addition
of IPTV service GAAGO for international audiences and the broadcasting of live televised matches
on Sky Sports for the UK audience.
The defending champions were Dublin until they collapsed against Donegal in the second
semi-final.
This led to the unexpected final pairing of Donegal and Kerry - a first on All-Ireland
Final day, and only a second meeting in Championship history.
Their first Championship encounter, a 2012 quarter-final, led to victory for Donegal,
who marched on to lay claim to that year's Sam Maguire Cup.
Kerry won their 37th title after a 2-9 to 0-12 win against Donegal.
Teams A total of 33 teams contested the championship.
These include 31 teams from Ireland, as well as London and New York.
As in previous years, Kilkenny footballers decided not to field a team.
New York does not participate in the qualifiers.
Broadcasting In the first year of a deal running from 2014
until 2016, a total of 45 provincial and All-Ireland championship matches in hurling and football
will be broadcast live on television in Ireland.
A total of 31 games will be shown by RTÉ and 20 by Sky Sports for the first time, both
All-Ireland Semi Final and Finals will be shared coverage between the two broadcasters.
TV3's six year-involvement with broadcasting games came to an end in 2013.
Sky Sports will also broadcast live the All-Ireland hurling and football semi-finals and finals
along with RTÉ.
Rachel Wyse and Brian Carney were announced as presenters of Sky's coverage, with Dave
McIntyre and Mike Finnerty as commentators.
Analysts were Peter Canavan and Paul Earley.
Australia's terrestrial Seven Network will broadcast all 45 Championship games.
In May, the GAA and RTÉ launched a new 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 45 televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both
RTÉ and Sky will be available to watch on GAAGO.
For Great Britain, the games broadcast by Sky will only be available through Sky.
The price for a worldwide GAAGO 'Season Pass' is €110 while in Britain, the GB Pass will
be €60.
A pay-per-game option is available for €10, and this will rise to €14 for the quarter-final,
semi-final and final stages of the championship.
Stadia and locations
Innovations and utilities The inclusion of GAAGO and Sky Sports in the
Championship season.
Central Council decided to defer the implementation of the clock/hooter until the 2015 championships.
Fixtures and results Connacht Senior Football Championship
Leinster Senior Football Championship
Munster Senior Football Championship
Ulster Senior Football Championship
All-Ireland qualifiers Round 1
The first round consisted of all teams that failed to reach their respective provincial
semi-finals. 16 teams in total took part.
The draw took place on Monday 9 June 2014 on RTÉ Radio 1.
2014 saw a new qualifying system implemented.
The teams were split into groups A and B depending on which side of the draw they had played
in their provincial championships.
Each team was drawn to face an opponent from the same group as themselves, meaning A teams
were paired with A teams and B teams were paired with B teams.
Four games were instituted for each round, with Round 1A staged on 21 June and Round
1B taking place on 28 June.
Round 2 The second round of the qualifiers featured
the eight winning teams of Round 1A and Round 1B, along with the defeated teams from the
provincial semi-finals.
The draw saw each team from the previous qualifier round face a beaten semi-finalist, with the
eight winners of these matches progressing to Round 3.
Round 3 The third round of the qualifiers featured
the eight winning teams of Round 2A and Round 2B.
The draw saw each team from the previous qualifier round face each other, with the four winners
of these matches progressing to Round 4.
Round 4 The fourth round of the qualifiers features
the four winning teams of Round 3A and Round 3B.
The draw saw each team from the previous qualifier round face a provincial runner-up.
The teams from Round 3A faced runners up from Connacht and Munster, while the teams from
Round 3B faced those from Leinster and Ulster, with the four winners of these matches progressing
to the All-Ireland Quarter Finals.
For the Round 4A games no draw was necessary as Sligo had already faced Galway, while Tipperary
had previously played Cork.
A similar situation occurred on the B side of the draw, with Armagh unable to meet Monaghan,
and Kildare having played Meath previously.
All-Ireland series Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals will feature the four provincial champions, along with the teams that progress
from Round 4 of the qualifiers.
The teams from Round 4A will face either the Connacht or Munster champions in the earlier
games, while the following weekend sees the teams from Round 4B face the champions from
Leinster and Ulster.
Teams coming from the qualifiers that had already met one of the provincial champions
in an earlier match in the competition were automatically kept apart from that team.
This made a draw unnecessary on the A side of the draw, Cork and Galway were prevented
from facing Kerry and Mayo respectively.
On the B side of the draw, Armagh had not met either of the teams and were able to play
either Donegal or Dublin, but Monaghan's earlier game with Donegal meant that those two teams
were kept apart, again making a draw unnecessary.
Semi-finals There was no draw for the semi-finals as the
fixtures are pre-determined on a yearly rotation.
The pairings saw last years finalists Dublin and Mayo take on Donegal and Kerry respectively.
Kerry became the first team to reach the 2014 final following a win in extra time in a replay
at the Gaelic Grounds, while Donegal joined them the following day after seeing off the
reigning champions Dublin by six points.
The Kerry–Mayo replay was moved to Limerick because Croke Park had been booked for a college
American football game between Penn State and UCF.
Final
Statistics All scores correct as of 21st September 2014
Scoring First goal of the championship:
Diarmuid O'Connor for Mayo against New York
Widest winning margin: 28 points Carlow 0-06 – 7-13 Meath
Most goals in a match: 8 Galway 4-17 – 4-12 Tipperary
Most points in a match: 39 Carlow 2-13 – 4-26 Clare
Most goals by one team in a match: 7 Carlow 0-06 – 7-13 Meath
Highest aggregate score: 57 points Carlow 2-13 – 4-26 Clare
Lowest aggregate score: 21 points Cavan 0-05 – 0-16 Roscommon
Most goals scored by a losing team: 4 Laois 4-09 – 3-17 Tipperary
Galway 4-17 – 4-12 Tipperary
Top scorers Season
Single game Awards
Sunday Game Team of the Year The Sunday Game team of the year was picked
on 21 September, the night of the final.
Kerry's James O'Donoghue was named as the Sunday Game player of the year.
Paul Durcan Aidan O'Mahony
Neill McGee Keith Higgins
Paul Murphy Peter Crowley
Colm Boyle David Moran
Neil Gallagher Paul Flynn
Diarmuid Connolly Ryan McHugh
James O'Donoghue Michael Murphy
Cillian O'Connor See also
2014 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship 2014 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship
References