Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. Ladies' football is organised by the

Ladies' Gaelic Football Association The Ladies' Gaelic Football Association () 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 Football League. Foundation Th ...

. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball towards goals at each end of a grass pitch. The sport is an all island sport played in all 4 provinces of Ireland ( Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht), where the two main competitions are the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship and the Ladies' National Football League. 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

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. 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 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Historically Cork and Kerry have been the sport's most successful counties.

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

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

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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

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. 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

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