2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship


The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 131st edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football competition since its establishment in 1887.
Thirty-three teams entered the competition – thirty-one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, London and New York.

Competition format

Provincial Championships format
Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster each organise a provincial championship. All provincial matches are knock-out but the teams who lose a match enter the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Qualifiers format
Twenty-eight of the twenty-nine teams who were beaten in the provincial championships enter the All-Ireland qualifiers, which have a single-game knockout format. Sixteen of the seventeen teams who lost in provincial first round or quarter-final games play eight matches in round 1. The winners play the eight losing provincial semi-finalists in round 2. The eight winning teams from round 2 play-off against each other in round 3, with the four winning teams facing the four losing provincial finalists in round 4 to complete the double-elimination format. Further details of the format are included with each qualifier round listed below.
All-Ireland format
Significant changes to the format of the All-Ireland championship were passed at the GAA's Annual Congress in February 2017 and implemented in the 2018 championship. The major change was the creation of the All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stage commonly known as the "Super 8s", which replaced the knockout quarter-finals. The eight remaining teams in the Championship are split into two groups of four teams. One group features the Connacht champions, Munster champions, Leinster runners-up and Ulster runners-up. The reverse is employed for the other group, which features the Leinster champions, Ulster champions, Connacht runners-up and Munster runners-up.
The top two teams in each of the two Super 8 groups advance to the semi-finals, with the winners of those matches meeting in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. The All-Ireland final was initially scheduled for 26 August 2018 but was moved to 2 September 2018 to avoid clashing with Pope Francis's visit to Ireland.
A number of former players have publicly criticised the new format as they believed it would result in the same top county teams regularly playing at least three high-profile matches in July and August while the remaining teams are without competitive football until the end of December, thereby enabling the top teams to become even more elite. Prominent sportswriter and RTÉ Sport analyst Joe Brolly referred to the new system as the "Super 8/Crap 25". The changes were to be trialled for three years before being reviewed by the GAA in late 2020.

Changes from 2017 Championship

Rules

Connacht Championship

Leinster Championship

The four winning teams in the previous year's quarter-finals were given byes to this year's quarter-finals. Six of the seven remaining teams played off in the first round with the seventh team receiving a bye to the quarter-finals.

Munster Championship

The two winning teams in the previous year's semi-finals were given byes to this year's semi-finals.

Ulster Championship

All nine teams were drawn randomly without conditions to determine the fixtures.

All-Ireland Qualifiers

Qualifiers format

The A and B split system for the qualifier draws introduced in 2014 was discontinued after 2017. In qualifier rounds one to three, teams from divisions three and four of the 2018 National Football League had home advantage if drawn against teams from divisions one or two. All qualifier matches were knockout.
;Initial Schedule
Qualifiers Round 1: 9 June 2018

Qualifiers Round 2: 23 June 2018

Qualifiers Round 3: 30 June 2018

Qualifiers Round 4: 7 & 8 July 2018

Qualifiers Round 1

In the first round, sixteen of the seventeen teams who were beaten in the preliminary rounds or quarter-finals of the provincial championships competed. New York did not enter the qualifiers. The round 1 draw was unrestricted − if two teams had previously met in a provincial match they could be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches played the eight losing provincial semi-finalists in round 2 of the qualifiers. The draw was conducted on 28 May 2018.
The following teams took part in round 1:
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In the second round, the eight losing provincial semi-finalists played the eight winning teams from round 1 of the qualifiers. The round 2 draw was unrestricted − if two teams have previously met in a provincial match they could be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches played each other in round 3. The draw was conducted on 11 June 2018.
The following teams took part in round 2 –
In the third round, the eight winning teams from round 2 played off in four matches. Round 3 draw rules did not allow two teams that had played each other in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided. The four winners of these matches played the four losing provincial finalists in round 4. The draw was conducted on 25 June 2018.
The following teams took part in round 3 –
In the fourth round, the four losing provincial finalists played the four winning teams from round 3 of the qualifiers. Round 4 draw rules did not allow teams that have met in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing could be avoided, which meant Fermanagh were kept apart from Armagh and Monaghan, who they had met in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Ulster Championship respectively. The matches are normally held in neutral venues. The four winners of these matches qualified for the All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stage. The draw was conducted on 2 July 2018.
The following teams took part in round 4 –

All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stage

Most Irish sports media refer to this stage as the Super 8s.
Format
The four provincial champions and the four winning teams from round four of the All-Ireland qualifiers play three games each in two groups of four teams during the months of July and August. Each group consists of two provincial champions and the two losing finalists of the other two provinces or the team that beats them in round four of the qualifiers.
In the first round the two provincial champions play each other and the two round four qualifiers play each other in Croke Park. In rounds two and three the provincial champions play the two qualifiers. In phase two the qualifiers have home advantage and the provincial winners are at home in phase three. Dublin, if they qualify, to also play their home game at Croke Park.
Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The top two teams in each group advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Tie-breaker
If only two teams are level on group points -
If three or more teams are level on group points, score difference is used to rank the teams.

Group 1

Group 2

All-Ireland Semi-Finals

The winners of Group 1 play the runners-up of Group 2 and the winners of Group 2 play the runners-up of Group 1.

All-Ireland Final

The final was initially planned for 26 August 2018. It was rescheduled to 2 September to avoid a clash with the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families 2018.

Stadia and locations

Each team has a nominal home stadium, though not all teams are guaranteed a home game over the course of the Championship. In addition, games may be played at neutral or alternate venues. For example, Dublin have not played a Championship game in Parnell Park, their nominal home, since the 2004 Championship.

Championship statistics

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1Conor McManus Monaghan2-475395.89
2Dean Rock Dublin2-414776.7
2Connor McAliskey Tyrone2-4147104.7
4Michael Murphy Donegal1-343775.29
5Paul Broderick Carlow1-293248
5Neil Flynn Kildare2-263284
7Cillian O'Connor Mayo3-223147.75
8David Clifford Kerry4-183056
8Diarmuid Murtagh Roscommon0-303065.0
8Shane Walsh Galway1-273065.0
8Ciaran Kilkenny Dublin2-243074.2

Top scorer: From play

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalMatchesAverage
1Ciarán Kilkenny Dublin2-243074.2
2David Clifford Kerry3-152454.8
2Connor McAliskey Tyrone2-1824102.4
4Daniel Flynn Kildare4-102282.75
5Neil Flynn Kildare2-152182.6

Top scorer: Single game

RankPlayerCountyTallyTotalOpposition
1Cillian O'Connor Mayo3-0918 Limerick
2William Woods Louth0-1313 London
3Conor McManus Monaghan1-0912 Kerry
3David Clifford Kerry2-0612 Kildare
5Paul Broderick Carlow0-1111 Kildare
5Paul Broderick Carlow1-0811 Louth
5Connor McAliskey Tyrone1-0811 Meath
5Paul Kinsgston Laois3-0211 Westmeath
9Luke Connolly Cork0-1010 Tipperary
9Adrian Moyles London0-1010 Louth
9Ciaran Kilkenny Dublin1-0710 Wicklow

Scoring events

, the national broadcaster in Ireland, provide the majority of the live television coverage of the football championship in the second year of a five-year deal running from 2017 until 2021. In the UK, Premier Sports have exclusive coverage of 26 games including Sunday provincial games from all 4 regions, 1st/2nd choice of qualifiers from rounds 1 and 2 and 4 of the 12 quarter-final group matches. Sky Sports broadcast a number of matches and have exclusive rights to a number of games including some All-Ireland super 8 matches. BBC Northern Ireland showed at least two live games from the Ulster Championship and other games were shown in their entirety at a later time.

Awards

''The Sunday Game'' Team of the Year

The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 2 September, the night of the final. Dublin's Ciarán Kilkenny was named as the Sunday Game player of the year.
The football All Stars were revealed on 1 November 2018 and were presented on 2 November at an awards ceremony at the Convention Centre in Dublin.

Young Footballer of the Year