The All-Ireland Junior Football Championship is a GAA competition involving four Junior

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

inter-county teams. Prior to a change in competition structure in 2021, the competition was previously for all Junior

inter-county teams in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In this previous format, the definition of what constituted a Junior player differed from county to county. In some, the junior team was the second team after the senior team. This meant that any players who had not played with the senior team could play with the junior team. In others, such as

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

, players could only be chosen from clubs that played in junior or intermediate grades. These counties could not choose players from senior clubs, even if they were not on the senior county team. When a team won this championship, it had to pick a new team for the following year. No player could thus be on a winning team for two successive years.

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

did not participate in the Junior Championship for a period,

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

the 2014 champions represented Leinster in the absence of an Ulster competition. Kerry are the most successful county in the competition's history, having lifted the title on twenty occasions. Kerry are current winners winning five in a row All Irelands. The 2008 championship was won by

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

for the first time since 1960.

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

defeated

in 2010 to win their first title since 1935. For the bulk of this competition's history up to 2021, the winners of the provincial Junior Football Championships met to decide who was the "Home" winner. This team then met the champion county in Great Britain to determine the All-Ireland Junior Football champion. At GAA Congress in 2021, a motion was passed to change the entire structure of the All Ireland Junior Football Championship competition to that of a mostly 'overseas competition' along with just one Irish county, Kilkenny. The Junior Football Championship competition therefore now involves just four teams: New York, Kilkenny, and the winner and runner-up of the British Junior Championship, all meeting in the All Ireland Junior Championship semi-finals. The current holders are

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

, defeating

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

by 3-12 to 1-09 in the 2022 final.

Teams

Roll of Honour

Wins by County

Wins by Province

List of Finals

By province

References

Sources

Roll of Honour from RTE website

Roll of Honour from gaainfo.com

{{Gaelic football

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

Gaelic football junior