1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The 1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is the first edition of GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament, played between 12 counties of Ireland. The tournament featured club teams who represented their respective counties after their county championship. The 21 a-side final was between Commercials of Limerick and Young Irelands of Louth. The final was played in Beech Hill, Donnybrook on April 29, 1888, with Commercials winning by 1-4 to 0-3. Unlike later All-Irelands, there were no provincial championships and it was an open draw.[1]

1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
All-Ireland Champions
Winning teamLimerick (1st win)
CaptainDenis Corbett
All-Ireland Finalists
Losing teamLouth
Provincial Champions
MunsterNot played
LeinsterNot played
UlsterNot played
ConnachtNot played
Championship statistics
1888

Format

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The 1887 championship was the only to be held as an open-draw knockout tournament, without provincial championships.

Representative clubs

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From 1887 until 1891 the club champions represented the whole county. In the very first All-Ireland championship the participating counties were represented by the following clubs:

County Club
Clare
Cork Lees
Kilkenny Kilmacow
Limerick Commercials
Louth Dundalk Young Irelands
Meath Dowdstown
Tipperary
Waterford Ballyduff Lower
Wexford Castlebridge

Results

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First round

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First round
Louth1-8-2 – 0-4-1Waterford
Charles McAlester (goal) [2]
Elm Park, Merrion, Dublin
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Willie Halpin (Clare)

First round
Limerick3-2 – 0-2Meath
[2]
Elm Park, Merrion, Dublin
Attendance: 10,000

First round
Kilkenny0-4 – 0-0Cork
[2]

First round
Tipperaryw/o – scr.Dublin
[2]

First round
Wexfordw/o – scr.Galway

First round
Clarew/o – scr.Wicklow
[2]

Second round

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Second round
Louth0-7-3 – 0-5-3Wexford
[2]
St. Patrick’s club grounds, Kilmainham
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: J.K. Bracken (Tipperary)

Second round
Tipperary1-2 – 0-2Clare
Bansha, Tipperary

Second round
Limerick1-10 – 1-10Kilkenny
[2]
St. Patrick’s club grounds, Kilmainham
Attendance: 5,000

Second Round Replay
Limerick1-3 – 0-5Kilkenny
[2]

Semi-final

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Semi-final
Limerick1-1 – 0-0Tipperary
[2]


  • Louth received a Bye into the All-Ireland final

Final

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Final
Limerick1-4-0 – 0-3-0Louth
[2]
Referee: John Cullinane (Tipperary)

Miscellaneous

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  • No Provincial championships in the first year of the championship.

References

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  1. ^ Montague, Trevor (2004). A to Z of Sport: The Compendium of Sporting Knowledge. Little Brown. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-316-72645-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mulligan, John (2008) 1887 All-Ireland Championship Dundalk Young Irelands Gaelic Football Club