The 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2004 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the premier

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 ...

competition in 2005. It consisted of 33 teams and began on Sunday 2 May 2004. The championship concluded on Sunday 26 September 2004, when Mayo were defeated by Kerry by 1–20 to 2–9.

Format

Since the introduction of the so-called "back-door" system, a number of changes have taken place in the championship format. In 2004 the following system was used: The provincial championships in

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht ran as usual on a "knock-out" basis. These provincial games were then followed by the "Qualifier" system: *Round 1 of the qualifiers included all the counties (except

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 * '' ...

) that do not qualify for the Provincial Semi-Finals. An open draw was made to give eight pairings. *Round 2 consisted of the eight defeated teams in the Provincial Semi-Finals playing against the eight winners from Round 1. A draw was made to determine the eight pairings. *Round 3 consisted of the eight winners from Round 2. Another open draw was made to determine the four pairings. *Round 4 consisted of each of the four teams defeated in the Provincial Finals playing against the four winners from Round 3. A draw was made to determine the four pairings. The All-Ireland Quarter-Finals: Each of the four Provincial Champions played one of the four winners from Round 4. The All-Ireland Semi-Finals were on a Provincial rota basis, initially determined by the Central Council. If a Provincial Championship winning was defeated in its Quarter-Final, the team that defeated it would take its place in the Semi-Final.

Provincial Championships

Munster Senior Football Championship

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Leinster Senior Football Championship

First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Preliminary round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Connacht Senior Football Championship

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Qualifiers

Round 1

The losers of the Preliminary round matches and quarter final matches of each provincial championship started the qualifier. Tipperary withdrew from the competition following the resignation of their manager, Andy Shorthall, giving Fermanagh a walkover into Round 2.

Round 2

The winners of round 1 were joined by the semi final losers of each provincial championship. The matches would be between a round 2 winner and a provincial championship semi final loser.

Round 3

The winners of round 2 contest as the matches from here were lowered to four. Matches were open.

Round 4

The winners of round 3 were joined by the losers of each provincial championship final. The matches would be between a round 3 winner and the loser of a provincial championship final.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The provincial champions and the winners of round 4 contested the quarter finals. The quarter final matches would be between a provincial champion and a round 4 winner. Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Championship statistics

Miscellaneous

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

defeat

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

in the Leinster Championship for the first time since 1977. * Limerick and Waterford meet in the Munster Championship for the first time since 1991. * The Ulster final was moved from

St Tiernach's Park St Tiernach's Park is the principal GAA stadium of Ulster GAA located in County Monaghan, Ireland. It is used mainly for Gaelic football. Such is its association with the town of Clones ( ), which is located to the south, the venue itself is of ...

, Clones to

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

, Dublin. * Westmeath win the Leinster Championship for the very first time in their history.

Top scorers

References

{{Mayo Football Team 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship