The 2001 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 115th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 6 May 2001 and ended on 23 September 2001.
The format of the championship saw the biggest change in over 100 years with the introduction of the All-Ireland qualifiers. This system saw teams who were defeated in the provincial championships enter a secondary championship and the chance to qualify for the All-Ireland series. The Leinster Championship abandoned its group stage and returned to a straight knockout system. London declined to field a team in the championship due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. They were initially scheduled to host Mayo at Ruislip on the last Sunday of May but Connacht council first postponed the fixture and then outright cancelled the game. The previous fixture between the teams was in 1996 and the next after was in 2006.
Kerry entered the championship as the defending champions, however, they were defeated by Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final.
On 23 September 2001, Galway won the championship following an 0–17 to 0–8 defeat of Meath in the All-Ireland final. This was their ninth All-Ireland title and their first in three championship seasons. The first year of the "back-door" system, as it popularly became known, appropriately finished with the first All-Ireland winner not to win a provincial title. Galway came through the Qualifiers after losing the Connacht Semi-final to Roscommon. They beat Wicklow, Armagh and Cork in the Qualifiers, followed by a win in the re-match with Roscommon in the All Ireland Quarter-final. Their semi-final guaranteed that at least one "back-door" team would contest the All-Ireland final as opponents Derry entered the Qualifiers in the second round alongside Galway after losing the Ulster semi-final to Tyrone.
Galway's Pádraic Joyce was the championship's top scorer with 3–45. He was also named as the Texaco Footballer of the Year, while Declan Meehan was chosen as the All Stars Footballer of the Year.
Format The provincial championships in Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht ran as usual on a "knock-out" basis. But for the first time, these provincial games were then followed by the "Qualifier" system: Round 1 of the qualifiers included all the counties that did not qualify for the Provincial Semi-finals, except for New York. Sixteen teams were paired in an open draw. 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 playing each other in an open draw format. 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 Leinster football championship, previously held as a group stage before proceeding to knock-outs, returned to a straight knock-out format.
In the All-Ireland Quarter-finals, each of the four Provincial Champions played one of the four winners from Round 4. The All-Ireland Semi-final draw at this time was seeded on a provincial rotation schedule, initially determined by the Central Council. If a Provincial Championship winning team was defeated in its Quarter-final, the team that defeats it took its place in the semi-final.
Provincial championships
Connacht Senior Football Championship Due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK, London did not take part in the Connacht Senior Football Championship in 2001. The Connacht Council decided to cancel their home Quarter-final game against Mayo.
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Munster Senior Football Championship
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
2001 Ulster Senior Football Championship
Preliminary round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Leinster Senior Football Championship
First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
All-Ireland qualifiers Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The provincial champions and the winners of round 4 contested the quarter-finals. The quarter final matches were held at neutral sites and pitted each provincial champion against a round 4 winner.
Quarter-finals Three of the quarter-finals involved teams who had previously met in their respective provinces. The exception was Dublin v Kerry, which in itself was exceptional in that it was held at Semple Stadium in Thurles.
Semi-finals
Final
Championship statistics
Scoring
Overall
Rank Player County Tally Total Matches Average1Pádraic JoyceGalway3–455486.752Ger HeavinWestmeath2–323884.753Joe FallonWestmeath0–292983.674Ollie MurphyMeath4–152773.85Dara Ó CinnéideKerry1–242764.506Johnny CrowleyKerry3–152464.00Trevor GilesMeath1–212473.438Rory GallagherFermanagh0–232345.759Dessie SloyanSligo1–192245.50Pádraig BrennanKildare0–222245.50
Single game
Rank Player County Tally Total Opposition1Pádraic JoyceGalway3-0312Leitrim2Leigh O'BrienWexford0–1111Westmeath3Pádraic JoyceGalway0–1010Meath4Dara Ó CinnéideKerry0-099Cork5Gerry LohanRoscommon2-028MayoFionán MurrayCork2-028WaterfordOllie MurphyMeath2-028WestmeathJohnny CrowleyKerry2-028DublinPádraig DavisLongford1-058DublinStephen MaguireFermanagh1-058DonegalPádraig DavisLongford1-058LouthGer HeavinWestmeath1-058MeathTrevor GilesMeath1-058KildareKeith ByrneWicklow1-058LongfordBrendan DevenneyDonegal1-058KildareColin CorkeryCork0-088KerryPaddy LoganAntrim0-088DerryRory GallagherFermanagh0-088MonaghanPádraig BrennanKildare0-088CarlowPaddy LoganAntrim0-088LeitrimJoe FallonWestmeath0-088WexfordGer HeavinWestmeath0-088LimerickDessie SloyanSligo0-088Kildare
Miscellaneous The foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the neighbouring island of Britain caused London to withdraw from the championship. Louth defeated Tipperary by two points in the first ever All-Ireland Qualifier. Galway become the first county to win the All-Ireland by coming through the Back Door.
References
External links "2001 — Remembering first back-door season 20 years on", RTÉ, 2021