 Teams representing Germany and Belgium at the Gaelic Euro 2017 – International Football Cup | |
| Highestgoverning body | Ladies' Gaelic Football Association |
|---|---|
| First played | 1926 |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Limited |
| Team members | 15 on each team |
| Type | Team sport,ball sport |
| Glossary | Glossary of Gaelic games terms |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland |
Ladies' Gaelic football (Irish:Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent ofGaelic football.[1] Ladies' football is organised by theLadies' Gaelic Football Association. 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 theAll-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship and theLadies' National Football League. Both competitions feature teams representing the traditionalGaelic games counties.[2][3] The2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final was the best attended women's sports final of2017.[4][5] The2019 final, after the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, was the second largest attendance at any women's sporting final during2019.[6][7][8][9] HistoricallyCork andKerry have been the sport's most successful counties.Waterford,Monaghan andMayo have also experienced spells of success.[3][10] In more recent years, 2017 to 2020,Dublin have been the dominant team.[8][9][11][12][13]
Ladies' Gaelic football is also played inAfrica,Asia,Great Britain,Canada,Europe,South America, theUnited States,New Zealand and Australia. Outside of Ireland it is mainly, although not exclusively, played by members of theIrish diaspora.[2][3][14] There is also a seven-a-side version of the sport.
| Year | Key events |
|---|---|
| 1926 | A parish league is organised inCooraclare,County Clare. |
| c.1964 | In a tournament inCounty Offaly a team representingBallycommon defeat a team representing the Marian Hostel fromTullamore in the final. |
| June1968 | TheDungarvan Gala Festival organise a tournament. |
| July1969 | TheClonmel Nationalist carries a report of a match featuring teams representingClonmel Post Office andTipperary County Council. The following week Clonmel Post Office play a team from theCarrick-on-Suir Exchange. The success of these two fixtures led to the formation of an eight team league. Clonmel Post Office are the inaugural champions. |
| 1970 | A league featuring teams fromSouth Tipperary andWest Waterford is played on a double round basis. |
| 1971 | Tipperary andWaterford organise Ladies' Football championships. |
| 3 October1971 | Tipperary take onWaterford in what was (possibly) the first ever game of inter–county ladies' football.[15][16] Tipperary won by a couple of points. |
| 2 September1973 | In the firstCork Ladies' Football championship final, Knockscovane defeat Ballydaly by 3–4 to 2–3 atBanteer. |
| 1973 | During a carnival atBanteer,Kerry playCork in an inter-county game. Kerry won by 5–10 to 4–11 withMary Geaney scoring 2–6. The match was refereed byDinny Long, theCork senior men's footballer. |
| 18 July1974 | TheLadies' Gaelic Football Association was founded at a meeting held at theHayes' Hotel inThurles,County Tipperary, almost ninety years after theGaelic Athletic Association was founded in the same hotel. |
| 13 October1974 | InDurrow, County Laois,Tipperary defeatOffaly by 2–3 to 2–2 in the first everAll-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final. |
| 10 October1976 | Mary Geaney captainsKerry to their firstAll-Ireland title. Inthe final they defeatOffaly by 4–6 to 1–5. With 3–2, Geaney was also the top scorer in the final. She also scores the first ever hat-trick in an All-Ireland final. |
| 1977 | Mullahoran win the inauguralAll-Ireland Ladies' Club Football Championship.[17] |
| 1979 | Tipperary win the inauguralLadies' National Football League title.[18] |
| 1980 | TheLGFA introduce theirAll Star awards.[19][20] |
| 1982 | TheLGFA is recognised by theGaelic Athletic Association |
| 3 October1982 | Kerry win their secondAll-Ireland title. They subsequently go on to dominate the championship during the 1980s, winning nine successive titles between 1982 and1990. Between 1980 and 1991 Kerry also win elevenLadies' National Football League titles. |
| 12 October1986 | Kerry defeatWexford by 1–11 to 0–8 in the firstAll-Ireland final played atCroke Park. |
| 1987 | Mary Immaculate College defeatUniversity College Cork in the inauguralO'Connor Cup final.[21][22][23] |
| 1987 | A team representingBallymacarbry,County Waterford win theAll-Ireland Ladies' Club Football Championship for the first time. Between 1987 and 1998 they win the title on ten occasions. The club also provides the nucleus of a very successfulWaterford team. |
| 11 November1990 | Kerry defeatLaois by 1–9 to 0–6 to complete a nine-in-a-row ofAll-Ireland titles. |
| 13 October1991 | Waterford defeatLaois by 5–8 to 3–7 as they win their firstAll-Ireland title. As of 2019, this is the highest number of goals scored in a final. Between1991 and2000, Waterford reached nine All-Ireland finals, winning five titles. Between 1992 and 2002, they also won fiveLadies' National Football League titles. |
| 6 October1996 | Monaghan, featuringNiamh Kindlon, defeatLaois by 2–11 to 1–9, after a replay, as they win their firstAll-Ireland title. Between1994 and1998, Monaghan played in five successive All-Ireland finals, winning two titles. |
| 3 October1999 | Mayo, featuringCora Staunton, defeatWaterford by 0–12 to 1–8 as they win their firstAll-Ireland title. Between 1999 and2003, Mayo play in five successive All-Ireland finals, winning four titles. |
| 30 September2001 | Laois defeatMayo by 2–14 to 1–16 as they win their firstAll-Ireland title. Between1985 and1996, Laois had played in seven All Ireland finals, finishing as a runner up on each occasion. This was also the first All-Ireland final broadcast live byTG4.[24][25][26] |
| 2 October2005 | Cork defeatGalway by 1–11 to 0–8 as they win their firstAll-Ireland title. This marked the beginning of Cork's dominance of the sport. Between2005 and2009, Cork were All-Ireland champions five consecutive seasons. They then achieved an All-Ireland six consecutive titles between2011 and2016. During this era they also won eleven consecutiveLadies' National Football League titles. |
| 2006 | AnIreland team selected by theLGFA plays againstAustralia in anInternational rules series. Ireland won the series, winning the first test by 134–15 and the second test by 39–18.[14][27][28] |
| 26 September2010 | Dublin win their firstAll-Ireland title, briefly interrupting theCork monopoly. Inthe final they defeatTyrone by 3–16 to 0–9. |
| December2014 | TheCork senior ladies' football team win theRTÉ Sports Team of the Year Award after winning their ninthAll-Ireland title. They were the first female team to win the award. They received 27% of the vote, beating theIreland men's national rugby union team, winners of the2014 Six Nations Championship, by 11%.[29][30][31] |
| December2015 | DualCork football andcamogie players,Rena Buckley andBriege Corkery, were named joint winners ofThe Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year Award after they both broke the record for most individual All-Ireland medals, overtaking the 15 won by theDublin camogie player,Kathleen Mills.[32] |
| 24 September2017 | Dublin win their secondAll-Ireland title, defeatingMayo inthe final by 4–11 to 0–11. The attendance of 46,286 was a record for an All-Ireland final. It was also the best attended women's sports final of2017. The second best attended final was the2017 FA Women's Cup Final which had an attendance of 35,271.[4][5] It was also the best attended women's sporting event inEurope during 2017.[33] ABBC Northern Ireland report declared it was "the highest attended women's sporting event in the world in 2017".[34] |
| 15 September2019 | Dublin complete a three-in-a-row ofAll-Ireland titles, after defeatingGalway inthe final by 2–3 to 0–4. The 2019 final was watched by a record breaking attendance of crowd of 56,114. After the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final with 57,900, it was second largest attendance at any women's sporting event during2019. For the seventh consecutive season attendance increased, with the figures more than doubling since2013.[6][7][8][9] It was also claimed that the record attendance was the largest ever attendance at a women's amateur sporting event inEurope.[35] |
| Pos | County | All-Ireland titles | League titles | Total titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cork | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| 2 |  Kerry | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| 3 |  Dublin | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 |  Waterford | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 |  Mayo | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Monaghan | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 |  Meath | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Most of the rules of ladies' Gaelic football are the same as those for themen's game. The main differences are:
You can't ... deny what you've seen, you can't pretend you don't notice the gulf in physical prowess. This applies across the board, internationally and domestically, where camogie and women's Gaelic football also suffer by comparison to the physical drama contained in the male versions.
