2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
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| Championship details | |
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| Dates | 1st May — 18th September 2016 |
| Teams | 33 |
| All-Ireland Champions | |
| Winning team | ' ( win) |
| Provincial Champions | |
| Munster | ' |
| Leinster | ' |
| Ulster | ' |
| Connacht | ' |
| Championship statistics | |
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← 2015 2017 → | |
The 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship will be the 129th edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams are expected to take part − 31 counties of Ireland (excluding Kilkenny), London and New York.
Dublin are the defending champions after beating Kerry in the 2015 final, winning by 0-12 to 0-9.[1][2]
The draw for the 2016 fixtures took place on 15 October 2015 live on RTE 2 [3][4][5]
Format
Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster each organise a provincial championship on a knock-out basis. All the teams beaten in the provincial competitions (except New York) enter the All-Ireland qualifiers in rounds 1, 2 and 4. The qualifier matches are knock-out and eventually result in four teams who play in the All-Ireland quarter-finals against the four provincial winners. From the quarter-finals onwards the competition is entirely knock-out.
Changes from 2015 championship
- Referees have been instructed to add on 20 seconds for the introduction of a substitute and 20 seconds for each instance of a goalkeeper or defender going upfield for a placed ball attempt. Previously there was no specific provision for these two events which led to instances of deliberate time-wasting by teams who were leading. 30 seconds are also to be added each time Hawk-Eye is utilised.
- On 1st January 2017 the 'mark' will be introduced. A player who catches the ball cleanly outside the ‘45’ metre line from a kick-out will be entitled to call a mark and take a free kick. Alternatively, he can continue to play on. Central Council decided on 19 March 2016 not to introduce the mark for games in 2016.
Broadcasting
RTÉ, the national broadcaster in Ireland, will provide the majority of the live television coverage of the championship. In the third year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a number of matches will also be broadcast by Sky Sports, with Sky having exclusive rights to some games.[6][7]
Stadia and locations
Provincial Championships
Connacht Senior Football Championship
| Preliminary Round | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Connacht Final | |||||||||||||||
 New York |
0-17 | |||||||||||||||||
 Roscommon |
1-15 | Roscommon |
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 Leitrim |
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 Sligo |
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 London |
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 Mayo |
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 Galway |
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Leinster Senior Football Championship
| Preliminary Round | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Leinster Final | |||||||||||||||
 Laois |
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| Wicklow |
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 Dublin |
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 Louth |
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 Carlow |
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| Meath |
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| Longford |
' | ' | ||||||||||||||||
 Offaly |
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| Westmeath |
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 Wexford |
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 Kildare |
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Munster Senior Football Championship
| Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Munster Final | |||||||||||
 Clare |
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| Limerick |
' | ||||||||||||
| Kerry |
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| Tipperary |
Cork |
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 Waterford |
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Ulster Senior Football Championship
| Preliminary Round | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Ulster Final | |||||||||||||||
| Derry |
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 Tyrone |
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| Cavan |
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 Armagh |
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| Monaghan |
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 Down |
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 Antrim |
Donegal |
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| Fermanagh |
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All-Ireland Qualifiers
A and B Teams
An A and B system for the qualifying draws was introduced in 2014 and has been retained. The teams are designated as A or B depending on which half of their provincial championships they are initially drawn to play in. Although some teams receive byes in the early provincial rounds, the round in which they enter the competition is usually determined by a draw, resulting in most teams being designated as A or B randomly.
In all qualifier rounds A teams play A teams and B teams play B teams. Usually the A teams play their provincial games before the B teams which allows the A qualifier games to be scheduled a week before the B qualifier games.
Round 1
The first round consists of all teams that fail to reach their provincial semi-finals with the exception of New York. 16 teams in total take part.
In round 1 four A teams play four A teams and four B teams play four B teams. The eight round 1 winners play the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists in round 2 of the qualifiers.
The following teams take part in this round:
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Round 2
In the second round of the qualifiers the eight winning teams from Round 1A and Round 1B play the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists. The round 2 draw is unrestricted − if two teams have played each other in a provincial match they can be drawn to meet again. The eight winners of these matches play each other in Round 3.
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Round 3
In the third round of the qualifiers winning teams from round 2A play against winning teams from round 2A and winning teams from round 2B play against winning teams from round 2B. Round 3 rules do not allow two teams that have played each other in a provincial match to meet again. The four winners of these matches play the four beaten provincial finalists in Round 4.
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Round 4
In the fourth round of the qualifiers, the four winning teams of Round 3A and Round 3B play the four provincial beaten finalists.[8] Round 4 rules do not allow two teams that have played each other in a provincial match to meet again if such a pairing can be avoided. The four winners of these matches play the provincial winners in the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals.
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All-Ireland Knockout
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Qualifier | ||||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Ulster Champion | ||||||||||
| Qualifier/Ulster Champion | ||||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Qualifier/Connacht Champion | ||||||||||
| Qualifier | ||||||||||
| September – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Connacht Champion | ||||||||||
| Semi Final 1 Winner | ||||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Semi Final 2 Winner | ||||||||||
| Qualifier | ||||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Leinster Champion | ||||||||||
| Qualifier/Leinster Champion | ||||||||||
| August – Croke Park | ||||||||||
| Qualifier/Munster Champion | ||||||||||
| Qualifier | ||||||||||
| Munster Champion | ||||||||||
Quarter-Finals
The four provincial champions play the winners from Round 4 of the qualifiers. If one of the provincial champions has already met one of the qualifiers in an earlier match then those two teams cannot be drawn together.
Semi-Finals
There is no draw for the semi-finals as the fixtures are pre-determined on a three yearly rotation. This rotation ensures that a provinces's champions play the champions of all the other provinces once every three years in the semi-finals if they each win their quarter-finals. If a qualifier team beats a provincial winner in a quarter-final, the qualifier team takes that provincial winner's place in the semi-final.
Final
References
- ↑ "Dublin grind down Kerry to win 25th All-Ireland". RTE Sport. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ↑ "Frank Roche picks his footballer, goal, point of the year and his end-of-season awards". Irish Independent. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ↑ "Revealed: The provincial draws for the 2016 All-Ireland hurling and football championships". Irish Independent. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ "Here are the draws for the 2016 provincial football championships". The 42. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ "The 2016 All Ireland Football and Hurling draws: as it happened". The 42. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ↑ "GAA must be cautious after reaching for Sky". Irish Independent. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ↑ "Media Rights Press Release". GAA.ie. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ↑ http://www.gaa.ie/content/documents/publications/draws.docx