Several historic events of note occurred in the 2013 Championship. London won a Connacht Championship game for the first time in 36 years by defeating the Sligo side in the first round of the Connacht Senior Football Championship.[3][4][5] They went on to reach the Connacht Final which they lost to Mayo, before progressing to play at Croke Park in a Round 4 All-Ireland Qualifier at which point they exited after the longest Championship run in their history.[6][7]
Hawk-Eye was introduced for Championship matches at Croke Park and was first used to confirm that Offaly substitute Peter Cunningham's attempted point had gone wide 10 minutes into the second half of a game against Kildare.[8][9] 2013 also brought the first Friday night game in the history of the Championship – a first round qualifier between Carlow and Laois.[10]
The game of the Championship was the second All-Ireland semi-final, contested by Dublin and Kerry. The game featured six goals, three of which were scored by Kerry in the first half, two of these in the first eleven minutes of the game. Dublin also scored three goals, one in the first half and two in the second half, the second half goals coming in the final moments, to send them through to an All-Ireland final against Mayo, despite having been behind for much of the game.[11] Many people hailed it as the greatest game of the modern era.[12][13]
Teams
A total of 33 teams contested the championship. These included 31 teams from Ireland, as well as London and New York. As in previous years, Kilkenny decided not to field a team.
Referees
Ahead of the 2013 Championship, one referee was dropped for his incompetence: Michael Collins, the 2001 All-Ireland final referee, of Cork. Syl Doyle of Wexford had also chosen to step away the previous January. Their replacements were David Gough, who refereed the 2013 All-Ireland U21 final, of Meath and Fergal Kelly of Longford.
Padraig Hughes of Armagh remained injured after running into Eamonn Doherty and collapsing during live play in the NFL Division 1 clash between Donegal and Dublin in Ballybofey. Ciarán Brannigan of Down took the place of Hughes until his return to fitness.[14]
Against New York, Leitrim record their easiest win in history.
Mayo’ had their easiest win over Galway in championship history and in an odd coincidence the scoreline is the same as when Galway inflicted their largest defeat on Mayo in the 1956 Connacht Q’Final, 17 points being the difference in both games
Championship format
The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship of 2013 was run on a provincial basis as usual. It was a knockout tournament with pairings drawn at random in the respective provinces – there were no seeds.
Each match was played as a single leg. If a match was drawn there was a replay. If that match ended in a draw a period of extra time was played; however, if both sides were still level at the end of extra time another replay would have taken place.
Connacht Championship
Quarter-finals: (3 matches) These were three matches between six of the Connacht teams drawn first. The three winning teams advanced to the semi-finals, while the three losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Semi-finals: (2 matches) The winners of the three quarter-final games joined the other two Connacht teams to make up the semi-final pairings. The two winning teams advanced to the final, while the two losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Final: (1 match) The winners of the two semi-finals contested this game. The winning team advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final, while the losing team entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Leinster Championship
Preliminary Round: (3 matches) These were three matches between six of the Leinster teams drawn first. The three winning teams advanced to the quarter-finals, while the three losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Quarter-finals: (4 matches) The winners of the three preliminary round games joined the other five Leinster teams to make up four quarter-final pairings. The four winning teams advanced to the semi-finals, while the four losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Semi-finals: (two matches) The four winners of the quarter-finals made up the semi-final pairings. The two winning teams advanced to the final, while the two losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Final: (one match) The winners of the two semi-finals contested this game. The winning team advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final, while the losing team entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Munster Championship
Quarter-finals: (two matches) These were two matches between four of the Munster teams drawn first. The two winning teams advanced to the semi-finals, while the two losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Semi-finals (two matches): The winners of the two quarter-final games joined the other two Munster teams to make up the semi-final pairings. The two winning teams advanced to the final, while the two losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Final (one match): The winners of the two semi-finals contested this game. The winning team advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final, while the losing team entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Ulster Championship
Preliminary Round: (1 match) This was a lone match between two of the Ulster teams drawn first. The winning team advanced to the quarter-finals, while the losing team entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Quarter-finals: (4 matches) The winners of the lone preliminary round game joined the other seven Ulster teams to make up four quarter-final pairings. The four winning teams advanced to the semi-finals, while the four losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Semi-finals: (2 matches) The four winners of the quarter-finals made up the semi-final pairings. The two winning teams advanced to the final, while the two losing teams entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Final: (1 match) The winners of the two semi-finals contested this game. The winning team advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final, while the losing team entered the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Qualifiers
The qualifiers gave teams defeated in the provincial championships another chance at winning the All-Ireland title.
Round 1 (8 matches): the sixteen teams who failed to reach a provincial semi-final entered the qualifiers at this stage (New York do not compete). An open draw was made to determine the eight match pairings.
Round 2 (8 matches): the eight teams who failed to progress from their provincial semi-finals entered the qualifiers at this stage. They were paired with the eight winners from round 1 of the qualifiers. An open draw was made to determine the eight match pairings.
Round 3 (4 matches): the eight teams from round 2 of the qualifiers were paired against each other. An open draw was made to determine the four match pairings.
Round 4 (4 matches): the four teams who lost their provincial finals entered the qualifiers at this stage. They were paired with the four winners from round 3 of the qualifiers. An open draw was made to determine the four match pairings. The four winners advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
All-Ireland Series
Quarter-finals: (4 matches) the four teams from round 4 of the qualifiers were paired against the four provincial winners. An open draw was made to determine the four match pairings. The four winning teams advanced to the semi-finals, while the two losing teams were eliminated from the championship.
Semi-finals: (2 matches) The four winners of the quarter-finals make up the semi-final pairings. The two winning teams advanced to the final, while the two losing teams were eliminated from the championship.
Final: (1 match) The winners of the two semi-finals contested this game.
C Cooper 1-03 (3f), J O'Donoghue 0-03, Declan O'Sullivan 0-02, B Kealy (1f), M O'Sé, P Crowley, A Maher, J Buckley (1f), P Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan and B Sheehan (1f) 0-01 each
The first round consisted of all teams that failed to reach their respective provincial semi-finals. The following 16 teams entered the first round of the qualifiers.
R O'Neill 1-2, D McCurry 0-8 (3f), S Cavanagh 0-6 (5f), Mattie Donnelly 0-3, C McAliskey, Mark Donnelly, C Clarke 0-2 each, C McGinley, K Coney (f) 0-1 each.
B Donaghy (0-01), M Shields (0-02), S Harold (0-01), C Rafferty (0-02), K Dyas (0-01), E Rafferty (0-01), J Clarke (2-03, 1-00 pen), T Kernan (0-05, 3f), E McVerry (0-04, 1f), S Campbell (0-01).
R Munnelly 1-3 (2fs), J O'Loughlin, D Conway 1-1 each, D Strong 0-3, C Begley, D Kingston (1f) 0-2 each, P Clancy, K Lillis, C Meredith, E Costello (f), T Shiels (f) 0-1 each.
J Doyle (2f) 0-05, T O'Connor 1-00, E O'Flaherty 0-03, M Conway (2f) 0-02, H McGrillen, P Cribbin, E Bolton, Daryl Flynn, P O'Neill, N Kelly, P Brophy, A Smith, S Johnston 0-01 each
M Dunne 1-03 (2f), F Flanagan, N McDermott (2f) 0-02 each, C Gilsenan (1 '45'), M Reilly, R Flanagan, D O'Reilly, D Givney, C Mackey, E Keating 0-01 each
The third round saw the teams that had made it through Round 2 play against each other. The draw for the third-round games took place on Monday 15 July and, as with the Round 1 draw, was aired on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland.[19][20]
The fourth round was contested by all the teams that made it through the third round and the beaten finalists of each provincial championship. The beaten finalists were;
The draw for Round 4 took place on Monday 15 July along as with the Round 3 draw, with the teams in Round 3 knowing who they would face if they progressed.[19][20]
D Goulding 0-5 (4f), A Walsh 1-0, C Sheehan 0-2, B Hurley 0-2 (2f), P O’Neill 0-2, J Loughrey 0-1, J O’Rourke 0-1, A Walsh 0-1, D Cahalane 0-1 (1 ’45), M Collins 0-1, M Shields 0-1
The draw for the quarter-finals took place live draw on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday 27 July, immediately after the last of the Round 4 Qualifiers concluded.[21][22]
C O'Connor 3-04 (0-2f, 0-1 45), D Vaughan 1-00, A Dillon, A Freeman 0-02 each; C Boyle, A Moran, K McLoughlin, C Boyle, L Keegan, S O'Shea, K Keane, E Varley, C Barrett, R Feeney 0-01 each.
R Hennelly (0-1f), C Barrett (0-2); L Keegan (0-2), A O'Shea (0-1), K McLoughlin (0-1f), A Dillon (0-2); C O'Connor (0-1f), A Freeman (1-4, 1-0 pen, 0-3f), E Varley (0-1), C Carolan (0-1)..
B Brogan 0-6 (0-2f), D Connolly 0-4 (0-1f), P Mannion, K McManamon, E O'Gara 1-0 each, D Rock 0-2, S Cluxton (0-1f), MD Macauley, C O'Sullivan, C Kilkenny, P Andrews, P McMahon 0-1 each.
The Sunday Game team of the year was picked on 22 September, the night of the final and included six of Dublin's winning team.[29]
Dublin's Michael Darragh MacAuley was named as the Sunday Game player of the year.[30]
In December 2013, SAM 13 a double DVD was released containing highlights of the 2013 football championship season along with full match coverage of the final and Dublin v Kerry semi-final.[32]
^"Qualifiers include first ever Friday night game". RTÉ Sport. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013. Carlow will play Laois on 28 June in Dr Cullen Park, the first time a Championship game will take place on a Friday night.
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