The 1998 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 112th edition of the GAA's premier Gaelic football competition. The championship began on 3 May 1998 and ended on 27 September 1998.
Galway's 1–14 to 1–10 victory over Kildare in the All-Ireland final meant that the Sam Maguire Cup returned to the county and the province of Connacht for the first time since 1966. This was Galway's eighth All-Ireland triumph in all. Kildare, managed by Mick O'Dwyer, had defeated the 1995 champions Dublin and the 1996 champions Meath to win their first Leinster title since 1956, before defeating the 1997 champions Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Format
The Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht championships were conducted as straight knock-out competitions. The Munster football championship for the 2nd year running had Kerry, Cork and Clare as byes to the semi-finals while Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford played a lone-first-round game with the bye team in a lone quarter final. The winners of each provincial competition went on to play in the All Ireland semi-finals.
Results
Connacht Senior Football Championship
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Finals
Leinster Senior Football Championship
First round
Second round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Munster Senior Football Championship
First round
Quarter-final
Semi-finals
Final
Ulster Senior Football Championship
Preliminary round
Quarter-finals
Semi-final
Final
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Semi-finals
Final
Championship statistics
Miscellaneous
Kildare win the Leinster Championship for the first time since 1956, and reach their first All Ireland final since 1935. The Galway-Derry All Ireland semi-final was the first meeting of them. Galway won the All Ireland title for 1st in 32 years also were the first Connacht team since then to do so.
Top scorers
Overall
Rank Player County Tally Total Matches Average1Declan BrowneTipperary2–293548.752Eddie LohanRoscommon1–273047.503Pádraic JoyceGalway1–242764.504Pádraic GravenKildare1–202363.835Maurice FitzgeraldKerry1–182137.00Niall FinneganGalway1–182163.507Ger HeavinWestmeath2–142036.668Dessie BarryLongford1–161936.339Paul TaylorSligo0–171735.6610Pádraic DavisSligo0–161635.33Jarlath FallonGalway0–161662.66
Single game
Rank Player County Tally Total Opposition1Declan BrowneTipperary1-0710ClareMaurice FitzgeraldKerry0–1010Tipperary3Declan BrowneTipperary1-069LimerickEddie LohanRoscommon1-069SligoDessie BarryLongford0-099WexfordDeclan BrowneTipperary0-099Waterford7Ger HeavinWestmeath1-058CarlowDeclan DarcyDublin1-058KildareGer HeavinWestmeath1-058LongfordColin KellyLouth1-058WicklowPaul TaylorSligo0-088RoscommonEddie LohanRoscommon0-088GalwayEddie LohanRoscommon0-088GalwayPádraic DavisLongford0-088WexfordDeclan SmythMonaghan0-088DerryPádraic JoyceGalway0-088Derry
Roll of Honour Kerry – 31 (1997) Dublin – 22 (1995) Galway – 8 (1998) Meath – 6 (1996) Cork – 6 (1990) Down – 5 (1994) Wexford – 5 (1918) Cavan – 5 (1952) Kildare – 4 (1928) Tipperary – 4 (1920) Offaly – 3 (1982) Louth – 3 (1957) Mayo – 3 (1951) Roscommon – 2 (1944) Limerick – 2 (1896) Donegal – 1 (1992) Derry – 1 (1993)