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Kerry Senior Football Championship
The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1889 for the top Gaelic football teams in the county of Kerry in Ireland. The series of games are played during the summer and autumn months, with the county final currently being played in either Austin Stack Park or FitzGerald Stadium in October. Initially played as a knock-out competition, the championship currently uses a double elimination format whereby each team is guaranteed at least two games. The Kerry County Championship is an integral part of the wider Munster Senior Club Football Championship. The winners of the Kerry county final join the champion clubs of the other five counties to contest the provincial championship. The winning team of the county championship also has the honour of naming the captain of the Kerry senior team for the following year. The title has been won at least once by 22 different teams. The all-time record-holders are Dr. Crokes who have both won a total of 14 titles, the most recent being in 2024. The winners receive the Bishop Moynihan Cup, named for Denis Moynihan, Catholic Bishop of Kerry in 1952–1969.[1][2][3] FormatThe Championship is contested annually by Kerry's Senior clubs for that year (the teams who compete in the Kerry Club Football Championship) and Kerry's divisional teams (currently 8 teams). The Championship has almost always being played using a knockout type format, with the exception being in 2022 and 2023 when a first round group phase was used to produce 8 quarter-finalists. The knockout type format has returned for 2024 with the first two rounds being a double-elimination format while a single-elimination format applies from then on.[4] Relegation and promotionRelegation from and promotion to the Championship is based on the Kerry Club Football Championship each year. Divisional sides are not affected by relegation. Due to the expansion of the Club Football Championship beginning in 2025, no teams will be relegated from the Senior Championship in 2024 or 2025. Future expansionWith the Kerry Club Football Championship expanding to 9 teams in 2025 and then 10 in 2026, the Kerry SFC will also increase its participants from 16 to 18 over the next two years. In this expanded format, the 8 divisional teams will play a double-elimination preliminary round which will see 6 of those teams join the 9 or 10 club sides in the first round proper of the Championship, which will then use a single-elimination format from then on.[5] Teams2025 Teams17 teams will compete in the 2025 Kerry Senior Football Championship: 9 clubs and 8 divisional teams.
Clubs eligible for divisional teams
Note 1: Kenmare District no longer enter a divisional team so their affiliated clubs play for East Kerry. Note 2: Tralee no longer enter a divisional team so their affiliated clubs play for St Brendan’s. Roll of honourBy club
Performances by division
List of finalsRecords and statisticsTeamsBy decadeThe most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Kerry Senior Football Championship titles, is as follows:
GapsTop ten longest gaps between successive championship titles:
See also
References
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