Ladies' Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is a women's team sport. It is the women's equivalent of

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 ki ...

. Ladies' football is organised by the

Ladies' Gaelic Football Association The Ladies' Gaelic Football Association ( ga, Cumann Peil Gael na mBan) is the main governing body for ladies' Gaelic football. It organises competitions such as the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship and the Ladies' National Foot ...

. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball towards goals at each end of a grass pitch, since May 2022 women Gaelic footballers have to wear shin pads. The sport is mainly played in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, where the two main competitions are the

All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship is the premier inter-county competition in the game of ladies' Gaelic football in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and are played during the ...

and the

Ladies' National Football League The Ladies' National Football League is an annual inter-county ladies' Gaelic football tournament, secondary to the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship. It is competed for annually by the county teams of Ireland. National League ro ...

. Both competitions feature teams representing the traditional Gaelic games counties. The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Final was the best attended women's sports final of

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. The 2019 final, after the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, was the second largest attendance at any women's sporting final during

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. Historically

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 have been the sport's most successful counties.

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Let ...

and Mayo have also experienced spells of success. In more recent years, 2017 to 2020,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

have been the dominant team. Ladies' Gaelic football is also played in

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, the

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, New Zealand and Australia. Outside of Ireland it is mainly, although not exclusively, played by members of the

Irish diaspora The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

. There is also a seven-a-side version of the sport.

Timeline

Most successful counties

Differences from men's football

Scoring in Gaelic games - H shaped posts

Most of the rules of ladies' Gaelic football are the same as those for the men's game. The main differences are - * A player may pick the ball up directly from the ground, so long as she is standing * Most matches last 60 minutes; in men's senior inter-county football, games last 70 minutes * Kickouts may be taken from the hand * Changing hands: Throwing the ball from your right hand to left or vice versa. * A countdown clock with siren is used if available; in the men's game, the referee decides the end of the game * All deliberate bodily contact is forbidden except when "shadowing" an opponent, competing to catch the ball, or blocking the delivery of the ball * A smaller size 4 Gaelic ball is used compared to the size 5 ball used in the men's game. * Since 2020 a '45 has been worth 2 points if it goes straight over without a deflection, otherwise it is worth 1 point.

References

{{Women's sports Gaelic games Women's sports Women's team sports Sports originating in Ireland