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.
| All-Ireland Champions | |
|---|---|
| Winning team | Limerick (1st win) |
| Provincial Champions | |
| Championship statistics | |
1888 → | |
Format
The 1887 championship was the only to be held as an open-draw knockout tournament, without provincial championships.
Representative clubs
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
Final
Winning Team
- R. Breen
- E. Casey
- W. Cleary
- D. Corbett
- T. Fitzgibbon
- P. Kelly
- J. Hyland
- P.J. Corbett
- T. Keating
- T. Kennedy
- J. Kennedy
- W. Gunning
- P. Keating
- W. Spain
- R. Normoyle
- M. O'Brien
- E. Nicholas
- T. McNamara
- M. Slattery
- J. Mulqueen
- P. Reeves
Championship statistics
Miscellaneous
- No Provincial championships in the first year of the championship.