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Ulster Senior Football Championship

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Inter-county , is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) terminology which refers to competitions or matches between counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term can also be used to describe the players on the teams.

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45-745: The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county and cross-border competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster . It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is played in May, but, traditionally, was usually played on the third Sunday in July. All nine Ulster counties participate. It

90-420: A draw may be settled in extra time and eventually by a penalty shootout or by replaying the fixture. Another perceived disadvantage is that most competitors are eliminated after relatively few games. Variations such as the double-elimination tournament allow competitors a single loss while remaining eligible for overall victory. However, losing one game requires the competitor to win more games in order to win

135-456: A match between the losers of the semifinal matches called third place playoffs , the winner therein placing third and the loser fourth. Many Olympic single-elimination tournaments feature the bronze medal match if they do not award bronze medals to both losing semifinalists. The FIFA World Cup has long featured the third place match (since 1934 ), though the UEFA Euro has not held one since

180-500: A possible match-up with the top seed until one round later. MLS' format is identical, except that the conference quarterfinals is a best-of-three series. In some situations, a seeding restriction may be implemented; from 1975 until 1989 in the NFL , and from 1994 until 2011 in MLB there was a rule where at the conference or league semifinal, should the top seed and last seed (wild card) be from

225-437: A quarter-final from the previous year . Sometimes the remaining competitors in a single-elimination tournament will be "re-seeded" so that the highest surviving seed is made to play the lowest surviving seed in the next round, the second-highest plays the second-lowest, etc. This may be done after each round, or only at selected intervals. In American team sports, for example, the NFL employs this tactic, but MLS , NHL and

270-695: Is 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5, for example this is used for 16 seeds in the World Snooker Championship and 32 seeds in the World Darts Championship . Some tournaments stray from this, for example it is not the procedure that is followed in most tennis tournaments, where the 1 and 2 seeds are placed in separate brackets, but then the 3 and 4 seeds are assigned to their brackets randomly, and so too are seeds 5 through 8, and so on. This may result in some brackets consisting of stronger players than other brackets, and since only

315-666: Is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion(s). Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in North American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine

360-545: Is available for students going on a J-1 visa , which allows a temporary transfer to Canada , New York or North America . Inter-county travel is movement from one county to another. It became a feature during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland when restrictions (including a travel ban) were imposed. Single elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout , or sudden-death tournament

405-489: Is currently no seeding. Each match is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn there is a period of extra time, however, if both sides are still level at the end of extra time a replay takes place and so on until a winner is found. (8 teams) (4 teams) (2 teams) The Ulster SFC is contested by the nine traditional counties in the Irish province of Ulster . The province comprises the six counties of Northern Ireland , plus

450-533: Is first - for example, if sorting the numbers 1-4 ascending, if 4 and 3 meet in the first round, 3 and 1 will lose in the first round and 2 will lose in the second, selecting 4 as the largest number in the set, but insufficient comparisons have been performed to determine which is greater, 1 or 3. Despite this, the candidate that loses in the final round is commonly considered to have taken second place (in this case, 2). When matches are held to determine places or prizes lower than first and second, these typically include

495-517: Is rare in English itself, with noticeable use in American debate tournaments. The round before the round of sixteen is sometimes called round of thirty-two in English. Terms for this in other languages generally translate as "sixteenth final". Earlier rounds are typically numbered counting forwards from the first round, or by the number of remaining competitors. If some competitors get a bye ,

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540-587: Is regarded as hardest to win of the four provincial football championships. At a referee conference in January 2015, David Coldrick said about officiating in the competition: "Ulster makes or breaks you. It can be a graveyard. The games are different. There is an extra dimension and intensity, and you must be at your best. If you aren't prepared physically and mentally, the chances are you will be caught out. But when you are appointed for your first Ulster championship match, that's making progress". The winners receive

585-410: Is shown (in brackets). The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Ulster SFC titles, is as follows: No county teams have appeared in the final, being victorious on all occasions. On the opposite end of the scale, one team has appeared in the final, losing on each occasion: Although not an officially recognised achievement, a number of teams have achieved the distinction of winning

630-421: The 1980 edition . Sometimes, contests are also held among the losers of the quarterfinal matches to determine fifth to eighth places. In one scenario, two "consolation semifinal" matches may be conducted, with the winners of these then facing off to determine fifth and sixth places and the losers playing for seventh and eighth; those are used often in qualifying tournaments where only the top five teams advance to

675-573: The NBA do not (and neither does the NCAA college basketball tournament ). Although MLB does have enough teams (12) in its playoff tournament where re-seeding would have made a large difference in the matchups; only the WNBA's at the minimum, which is at least four from each conference for a total of 8. The NBA's format calls for the winner of the first-round series between the first and eighth seeds (within each of

720-778: The National Hurling League , though Fingal (part of Dublin) recently did. London also competes in the hurling and Gaelic football championships and leagues, winning the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship once in 1901, Warwickshire competes in the hurling championship only, while New York competes in the Men's Football Championship; in the past they also competed in the Hurling Championship. The British Provincial Council organises inter-county competitions for

765-796: The All-Ireland finals are the most watched. and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event in Ireland's sporting calendar. Usually each of the 32 GAA counties in Ireland participates in the inter-county leagues and in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship ; Kilkenny does not compete in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship , and Cavan does not currently compete in

810-645: The Anglo-Celt Cup, which was presented to the Ulster Council in 1925 by John F. O'Hanlon, who was editor of The Anglo-Celt newspaper based in Cavan. Cavan have won the most championships (40). Donegal are the title holders, defeating Armagh on penalties in the 2024 final . Cavan are the most successful team in Ulster SFC history, having won the competition on 40 occasions. Cavan maintain

855-593: The Ulster SFC title winner contested the All-Ireland SFC. Qualifiers did not occur from 2020–2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games . They are no longer held, with weaker teams, such as Cavan , Fermanagh and Antrim , moving aside, to instead play in the Tailteann Cup . Bold indicates years team reached the final. Legend For each year, the number of competing teams

900-593: The Ulster SFC, the All-Ireland SFC and the National Football League all in the same season. As of 3 June 2008, according to the BBC. Updated list (2012) Notes: As of 15 June 2008, according to the Sunday Tribune . Notes: * Scores only include Ulster SFC. All-Ireland SFC and SFC Qualifiers are not included. Managers in the Ulster SFC are involved in the day-to-day running of

945-497: The Ulster Senior Football Championship is considered one of the toughest provinces to compete in. Ulster teams have gained considerable dominance on the All-Ireland scene, having won three All-Irelands from four in the early 2000s, including in 2003 when for the first time ever, the All-Ireland football final was competed for by two teams from one province. The Ulster SFC final is normally played on

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990-537: The best players from the clubs within the county, a practice which began in 1892. Before 1892 the winner of each counties club championship would represent the county in the All-Ireland championships. The inter-county season begins in January with each province 's warm-up competition and ends in September with the All-Ireland final. The GAA's inter county competitions are the organisation's most attended competitions and are Ireland's most attended sporting events, while

1035-453: The competition, seeding is often used to prevent this. Brackets are set up so that the top two seeds could not possibly meet until the final round (should both advance that far), none of the top four can meet prior to the semifinals, and so on. If no seeding is used, the tournament is called a random knockout tournament. Standard seeding pairs the highest and lowest, then second highest and second lowest and so on, for an 8 seed tournament this

1080-529: The concept of a manager in the 1970s, teams were usually managed by a team of selectors with one member acting as chairman. * = joint managers In the late 1990s, matches were broadcast in Northern Ireland by UTV , before moving to BBC Northern Ireland . Inter-county The first inter-county competitions the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship took place in 1887. County teams select

1125-469: The counties of Cavan , Donegal and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland . It is the only provincial championship with most participating teams being from Northern Ireland. Nine counties will compete in the 2025 Ulster Senior Football Championship : Below is a record of each county's performance following the introduction of the qualifier system to the All-Ireland series in 2001. Before 2001 only

1170-405: The final (Donegal that year) since 1933 when Cavan won, and the second highest score ever. It also had the highest Ulster SFC final score for the losing team ever (Cavan on this occasion). The Ulster Senior Football Championship is a single elimination tournament . Each team is afforded only one defeat before being eliminated from the championship. Pairings for matches are drawn at random and there

1215-443: The lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament , there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progresses to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs . In English ,

1260-399: The next round; or some method of ranking the four quarterfinal losers might be employed, in which case only one round of additional matches would be held among them, the two highest-ranked therein then playing for fifth and sixth places and the two lowest for seventh and eighth. The number of distinct ways of arranging a single-elimination tournament (as an abstract structure, prior to seeding

1305-414: The opportunity to face every other player/team. Also, if the competitors' performance is variable, that is, it depends on a small, varying factor in addition to the actual strength of the competitors, then not only will it become less likely that the strongest competitor actually wins the tournament, in addition the seeding done by the tournament organizers will play a major part in deciding the winner. As

1350-541: The other provinces were usually much stronger and more competitive. Before 1990, only Cavan in 1933, 1935, 1947, 1948 and 1952, and Down in 1960, 1961 and 1968, had won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title. In the 1990s however, a significant sea change took place, as the Ulster Champions won the All-Ireland in four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994. Since then Ulster has produced more All-Ireland winning teams than any other province. Currently

1395-604: The other. If a small number of teams play in a single elimination tournament, sometimes a consolation bracket is included to allow the eliminated teams to play more than once. This was the format of the Little League World Series until 1992. The format is less suited to games where draws are frequent. In chess , each fixture in a single-elimination tournament must be played over multiple matches, because draws are common , and because white has an advantage over black. In association football , games ending in

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1440-587: The players into the tournament) is given by the Wedderburn–Etherington numbers . Thus, for instance, there are three different arrangements for five players: However, the number of arrangements grows quickly for larger numbers of players and not all of them are commonly used. Opponents may be allocated randomly (such as in the FA Cup); however, since the "luck of the draw" may result in the highest-rated competitors being scheduled to face each other early in

1485-486: The record for consecutive appearances in Ulster Finals. During the 1930s and 1940s, they appeared in and won seven consecutive Ulster SFC titles. Fermanagh remain the only team not to have won an Ulster SFC title. The Ulster Senior Football Championship celebrated its 125th year in 2013. For many decades, winning the Ulster Senior Football Championship was considered as much as a team from Ulster could hope for, as

1530-571: The regular season (or did not take place, in some cases). In international fencing competitions, it is common to have a group stage . Participants are divided in groups of 6–7 fencers who play a round-robin tournament, and a ranking is calculated from the consolidated group results. Single elimination is seeded from this ranking. The single-elimination format enables a relatively large number of competitors to participate. There are no "dead" matches (perhaps excluding "classification" matches), and no matches where one competitor has more to play for than

1575-446: The round at which they enter may be named the first round , with the earlier matches called a preliminary round , qualifying round , opening round , or the play-in games . Examples of the diverse names given to concurrent rounds in various select disciplines: Notes: The knockout round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament: Without any additional matches, the only position a single-elimination tournament can reliably determine

1620-520: The round in which only eight competitors remain is generally called (with or without hyphenation) the quarter-final round; this is followed by the semi-final round, in which only four are left, the two winners of which then meet in the final or championship round . The round before the quarterfinals has multiple designations. Often it is called the round of sixteen , last sixteen , or (in South Asia) pre-quarterfinals . In many other languages

1665-399: The same division, they cannot play each other; in that case, the top seed plays the worst division champion; the second-best division champion plays the wild card team. This is due to the scheduling employed for the regular season, in which a team faces any given divisional opponent more often than any given non-divisional opponent – the tournament favors match-ups that took place fewer times in

1710-552: The seven counties under its control on the island of Britain . The British Provincial Council is the only area outside Ireland to organise regular inter-county matches. Changing clubs between counties is known as an inter-county transfer and is regulated by the Provincial council if the clubs are in the same province, or by the central council of the GAA when the transferring between clubs in different provinces. A special transfer

1755-413: The team, including the training, team selection, and sourcing of players from the club championships. Their influence varies from county-to-county and is related to the individual county boards. From 2018, all inter-county head coaches must be Award 2 qualified. The manager is assisted by a team of two or three selectors and an extensive backroom team consisting of various coaches. Prior to the development of

1800-1060: The term for these eight matches translates to eighth-final (e.g., in these European languages: "huitième de finale" in French , "achtste finale" in Dutch, octavos de final in Spanish , Achtelfinale in German , åttondelsfinal in Swedish , ottavi di finale in Italian , oitavos-de-final in Portuguese , optimi de finală in Romanian , osmifinále in Czech , osemfinále in Slovak , and osmina finala in Serbo-Croatian ), though this term

1845-593: The third Sunday in July, usually at St Tiernach's Park in Clones . From 2004 until 2006, it was staged at Croke Park in Dublin . The 2007 final—contested by Monaghan and Tyrone —marked a return to Clones, with Tyrone emerging victorious. The Athletic Grounds in Armagh hosted the 2020 final, as the fixture was played behind closed doors due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games . The final

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1890-476: The top 32 players of 128 are seeded in Tennis Grand Slam tournaments, it can happen that the 33rd-best player in a 128-player field could end up playing the top seed in the first round. An example of this occurring was when World No. 33 Florian Mayer was drawn against, and defeated by, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships , in what was also a rematch of

1935-470: The tournament. In a single-elimination tournament without any seeding, awarding the second place to the loser of the final is unjustified: any of the competitors knocked out before getting to play the losing finalist might have been stronger than the actual losing finalist. In general, it is only fair to use a single-elimination tournament to determine first place. To fairly determine lower places requires some form of round-robin in which each player/team gets

1980-438: The two conferences the league has) to face the winner of the first-round series between the fourth and fifth seeds in the next round, even if one or more of the top three seeds had been upset in their first-round series; critics have claimed that this gives a team fighting for the fifth and sixth seeding positions near the end of the regular season an incentive to tank (deliberately lose) games, so as to finish sixth and thus avoid

2025-612: Was last played in Belfast in 1971. In the 2000s, Armagh were a dominant force in Ulster, winning six titles in eight years between 1999 and 2006. Donegal won consecutive Ulster SFC titles from the preliminary round in 2011 and 2012 (a feat achieved by no other county) and added the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2012 . The 2019 final had the highest score for the winning team in

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