2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
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.
| Championship details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 May – 23 September 2001 |
| Teams | 32 |
| All-Ireland Champions | |
| Winning team | Galway (9th win) |
| Captain | Gary Fahey |
| Manager | John O'Mahony |
| All-Ireland Finalists | |
| Losing team | Meath |
| Captain | Trevor Giles |
| Manager | Seán Boylan |
| Provincial Champions | |
| Munster | Kerry |
| Leinster | Meath |
| Ulster | Tyrone |
| Connacht | Roscommon |
| Championship statistics | |
| No. matches played | 63 |
| Goals total | 122 (1.94 per game) |
| Points total | 1490 (23.65 per game) |
| Top Scorer | Pádraic Joyce (3-45) |
| Player of the Year | Pádraic Joyce Declan Meehan |
← 2000 2002 → | |
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. There were initially scheduled to host Mayo but Connacht council decided to post phone the fixture a fortnight before the game was to take place.
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. Galway also became the first county to win the All Ireland by coming through the Qualifiers after losing the Connacht Semi-final to Roscommon, they beat Wicklow, Armagh and Cork in the Qualifiers where they again met Roscommon in the All Ireland Quarter-final. This time they got revenge by beating them. Beating Derry in the All Ireland Semi-final and Meath in the final to claim their ninth All Ireland Title.
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.