The 1979 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 93rd staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 13 May 1979 and ended on 16 September 1979.
Kerry entered the championship as the defending champions.
On 16 September 1979, Kerry won the championship following a 3–13 to 1–8 defeat of Dublin in the All-Ireland final. This was their 25th All-Ireland title and their second in succession.
Kerry's Mikey Sheehy was the championship's top scorer with 6–18. He was also named as the Texaco Footballer of the Year.
Leinster Championship format change
The second round of the Leinster football championship is dropped this year after 1 year.
Results Connacht Senior Football Championship
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Leinster Senior Football Championship
First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Munster Senior Football Championship
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Ulster Senior Football Championship
Preliminary round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Semi-finals
Final
Championship statistics
Top scorers
Overall
Rank Player County Tally Total Matches Average1Mikey SheehyKerry6–183649.002Kieran FinlayMonaghan1–212446.003Pat SpillaneKerry3–132245.504Joe McGrathMayo5–621210.50Ger PowerKerry5–62137.00
Single game
Rank Player County Tally Total Opposition1Mikey SheehyKerry3–514Monaghan2Bernard CullenMeath4–012KilkennyPat SpillaneKerry3–312ClareMikey SheehyKerry2–612DublinKieran FinlayMonaghan1–912Donegal6Joe McGrathMayo2–511RoscommonM. MageeWexford2–511Carlow8Eamon CreightonLondon3–110GalwayJoe McGrathMayo3–110LeitrimEamon BarryMeath2–410KilkennyGer PowerKerry2–410CorkMick RyanMeath1–710KildareGay McManusGalway0–1010LondonSeán LowryOffaly0–1010Meath
Miscellaneous
The Munster semi-final between and had the highest score in the history of the Munster championship 9–21 to 1–9. Monaghan's 1–15 to 0–11 defeat of Donegal in the Ulster final gave them their first provincial title since 1938. Roscommon won the Connacht final for the third year in a row, the only time a team not Galway/Mayo have ever done so. As Dublin win their sixth Leinster title in a row they follow Wexford (1913–1918) and Kildare (1926–1931) who had previously done so.
References