Derry Senior Football Championship

Derry Senior Football Championship
	Current season or competition:; 2020 Derry Senior Football Championship
Irish	Craobh Sinsear Peile Dhoire
Founded	1907
Trophy	John McLaughlin Cup
Title holders	Slaughtneil(6th)
Most titles	Bellaghy (21 titles)
Sponsors	O'Neills

The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual gaelic football competition between the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship.

Bellaghy have won the competition more than any other club with 21 titles. Bellaghy's Tom Scullion has more senior football championship medals than anyone in Derry, winning 12 medals between 1956 and 1971.

Slaughtneil are the champions after they beat Magherafelt on 4th October 2020 by 0-11 to 1-04 in front of a crowd of 400(?) at Bellaghy.

Bellaghy and Slaughtneil are the only teams to have won 4 consecutive Championship titles. As well as their 4 in a row, Bellaghy have also won 3 consecutive titles on 2 other separate occasions. Ballinderry have also won 3 consecutive Championship titles on 2 separate occasions.

Format

Current Format

In 2016, the championship reverted to its traditional knock-out format. All fixtures are determined by open-draw and are played at neutral venues. The majority of games are played at Owenbeg, near Dungiven. The final is usually played at Celtic Park, Derry.

Historical Formats

Before 1958, three regional tournaments were played to determine the Derry Senior Football Championship finalists - the South Derry Senior Football Championship, the North Derry Senior Football Championship and the Derry City Senior Football Championship. Of the three winners, one received a bye to the final (in alternating years) and the other two played a semi-final to determine who qualified for the Derry Senior Football Championship final.

From 1958 to 2006 the championship took the form of an open-draw knock-out.

From 2007 to 2008 the championship was altered to include a round-robin group stage with the 16 teams divided into four groups. Each club in a group played each other once with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals. From the quarter-finals onwards the competition was knock-out.

In 2009 a "backdoor" system was introduced -

The 16 clubs all played in the first round.
In the second round winners section the eight winning teams from round one played against each other with the four winners going straight into the quarter-finals. In the second round losers section the eight beaten teams from round one played against each other.
In round three (also referred to as the quarter-final qualifiers) the four beaten teams from the round two winners section played the four winning teams from the round two losers section.
In the quarter-finals the four teams who won their first two matches in rounds one and two played the four winners of round three.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final were knock-out.

Trophies

The cup for the winners of the Derry Senior Football Championship is named after John McLaughlin, a former leading official in Derry GAA. He was a native of Innishowen, Co. Donegal, having been born in Fahan. He was for a long time chairman of the North Derry Board and he was elected chairman of the County Board about 1943/44 in succession to Paddy Larkin, a post he held until his death in 1961. The County Board decided to purchase a new cup and present it to the winners of the Senior Championship in the following year. In 1989 the cup was replaced, but it is still called the John McLaughlin Cup.

Since 1988 the player who has scored the most in that year's championship is presented with a trophy.
Since 1989 the man of the match in the final is also presented with a trophy.

Wins Listed By Club

	Team	Wins	Winning Years
1	Bellaghy	21	1956 1958 1959 1960 1961 1963 1964 1965 1968 1969 1971 1972 1975 1979 1986 1994 1996 1998 1999 2000 2005
2	Ballinderry	13	1927 1974 1980 1981 1982 1995 2001 2002 2006 2008 2011 2012 2013
3	Newbridge	10	1937 1940 1945 1948 1950 1955 1966 1967 1970 1989
4	Lavey	9	1938 1943 1944 1954 1977 1988 1990 1992 1993
5	Dungiven	7	1947 1951 1983 1984 1987 1991 1997
6	Magherafelt	6	1939, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1978, 2019
6	Slaughtneil	6	2004, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020
8	Ballinascreen	4	1934, 1935, 1941, 1973
9	Glenullin	3	1928, 1985, 2007
9	An Lúb	3	1936, 2003, 2009
11	Ballerin	2	1957 1976
	Éire Óg	2	1907 1952
	Eoghan Rua, Coleraine	2	2010 2018
14	Ballymaguigan	1	1962
	Clan Chonail	1	1914
	Sarsfield’s*	1	1916
	St Patrick’s	1	1917
	Emmett’s	1	1918
	Derry Guilds	1	1921
	Buncrana	1	1930
	Burt	1	1931
	Desertmartin	1	1953

Notes:

1914 Clan Chonail are a Donegal team.
1916 Sarsfield's are now defunct. They were a Derry City club, a fore-runner to the modern-day Doire Colmcille club.
1930 Buncrana are a Donegal team.
1931 Burt are a Donegal team.

Finals Listed By Year

	Ulster Finalists
	Also won the Ulster Competition in the same season
	Also won the Ulster and All-Ireland Competitions in the same season

Year	Winner	Score	Runners-up	Score	Match report (final)	Venue	Referee	Man of the match	Winning captain	Championship Top Scorer
2020	Slaughtneil	0-11	Magherafelt	1-04		Bellaghy	Barry Cassidy	Chrissy McKaigue		Shane McGuigan (4-47)
2019	Magherafelt	0-12	Glen	0-11	[1] BBC [2] Derry Now	Celtic Park	JJ Cleary	Emmett McGuckin	Danny Heavron	Shane Heavron (0-20)
2018	Eoghan Rua, Coleraine	1-12	Lavey	0-12	[3] Highlights	Celtic Park	Damien Harkin	Liam McGoldrick	Colm McGoldrick	Colm McGoldrick
2017	Slaughtneil	4-12	Ballinascreen	1-11	[4]	Celtic Park	Dan Mullan	Shane McGuigan	Patsy Bradley	Shane McGuigan (3-15)
2016	Slaughtneil	2-11	An Lúb	0-06	[5]	Celtic Park	Benny Quinn	Padraig Cassidy	Francis McEldowney	Shane McGuigan (2-15)
2015	Slaughtneil	1-07	Eoghan Rua, Coleraine	0-09	[6]	Celtic Park	D O'Neill	Paul Bradley	Francis McEldowney
2014	Slaughtneil	1-08	Ballinderry	0-09	[7]	Celtic Park	A Campbell	Patsy Bradley	Francis McEldowney
2013	Ballinderry	3-10	Ballinascreen	2-07	[8]	Celtic Park	B Cassidy	Coilin Devlin	Conor Nevin	Benny Heron
2012	Ballinderry	1-10	Slaughtneil	0-10	[9]	Celtic Park	S Hamill	Enda Muldoon	Ryan Scott	Christopher Bradley
2011	Ballinderry	2-05	Kilrea	0-06	BBC Sport,	Celtic Park	D Loughrey	Martin Harney	Kevin McGuckin	James Kielt
2010	Eoghan Rua, Coleraine	2-11	Ballinderry	0-15		Celtic Park	B Cassidy	Declan Mullan	Richard Carey	Cailen O'Boyle
2009	An Lúb	1-08	Dungiven	0-10		Celtic Park	B Toland	Joe O'Kane	Joe O'Kane	Cathal Grieve
2008	Ballinderry	0-10	Slaughtneil	0-08	BBC Sport Irish Independent	Celtic Park	B Toland	Raymond Wilkinson	Enda Muldoon	Paul Bradley
2007	Glenullin	0-10 1-09	Bellaghy	1-06 1-09*		Celtic Park Celtic Park	B Toland D O'Connor	Gerard O'Kane	Paddy Bradley	Conleith Gilligan (1-26)
2006	Ballinderry	2-11	An Lúb	0-09		Celtic Park	JJ Cleary	Conleith Gilligan	Conleith Gilligan	Conleith Gilligan & Paddy Bradley (0-18)
2005	Bellaghy	2-07	An Lúb	1-06		Celtic Park	S McGuigan	Joe Diver	Joe Cassidy	Joe Cassidy (0-21)
2004	Slaughtneil	1-08	Bellaghy	0-09		Glen	T O'Kane	Padrig Kelly	Shane Kelly	Jim Kelly (3-12)
2003	An Lúb	0-11	Ballinderry	0-07		Celtic Park		Padraig O'Kane	Johnny McBride	Jim Kelly (1-15)
2002	Ballinderry	1-11	An Lúb	0-06		Celtic Park		Conleith Gilligan	Gerard Cassidy	Gerard Cassidy (0-26)
2001	Ballinderry	1-09	Bellaghy	0-11		Ballinascreen	Declan O'Connor	Gerard Cassidy	Adrian McGuckin	Gerard Cassidy & Gavin Diamond (1-26)
2000	Bellaghy	0-09	Ballinderry	0-08		Ballinascreen	Aidan McAlynn	Gareth Doherty	Ciaran McNally	Seanie McGuckin (2-28)
1999	Bellaghy	1-11	Ballinderry	0-11		Ballinascreen	Dessie Kearney	Damian Cassidy	Karl Diamond	Gerard Cassidy (3-22)
1998	Bellaghy	1-13	Lavey	2-04		Celtic Park	Anthony O'Neill	Gavin Diamond	Kevin O'Neill	Gavin Diamond (1-21)
1997	Dungiven	2-09	Castledawson	0-09		Celtic Park	Dessie Kearney	Joe Brolly	Emmett McKeever	Joe Brolly (1-25)
1996	Bellaghy	2-11	Dungiven	0-07	The Irish News	Celtic Park	PJ Cassidy	David O'Neill	Gareth Doherty	Éamonn Burns (2-24)
1995	Ballinderry	1-08	Bellaghy	0-08		Glen	Anthony O'Neill	Gerard Cassidy & Adrian McGuckin	Raymond Bell	Karl Diamond (1-18)
1994	Bellaghy	2-10	Ballinascreen	0-08		Swatragh	Phonsey Guyler	Damian Cassidy	Danny Quinn	Karl Diamond (0-24)
1993	Lavey	3-05	Swatragh	0-08		Glenullin	Matt Armstrong	Colm McGurk	Anthony Scullion	Anthony Tohill (2-26)
1992	Lavey	2-06	Ballinascreen	0-09		Bellaghy	Owen Roe O'Neill	Seamus Downey	Anthony Scullion	Eamonn Burns (2-17)
1991	Dungiven	3-05	Newbridge	0-04		Ballinascreen	Noel McGurk	Shane Heavern	Plunkett Murphy	Damian Cassidy (4-6)
1990	Lavey	3-14	Ballinascreen	1-07		Magherafelt	F. Connolly	Brian McCormick	Johnny McGurk	Eamonn Burns (0-24)
1989	Newbridge	3-04	Castledawson	0-09		Ballinascreen	Billy McKeever	Liam Devlin	Damian Barton	Fergal Kearney (1-14)
1988	Lavey	0-11	Newbridge	0-06		Glen	Kevin Cassidy		Henry Downey	Hugh Martin McGurk (1-19)
1987	Dungiven				NO FINAL				Liam McElhinney
1986	Bellaghy	3-05	Ballinderry	1-06		Ballinascreen	Anthony O'Neill		Tommy Doherty
1985	Glenullin	1-09	Ballinderry Shamrocks	1-05		Ballinascreen	John Diamond		Dermot McNicholl
1984	Dungiven	0-09	Castledawson	0-08		Greenlough	Murty Higgins		Plunkett Murphy
1983	Dungiven	1-04	Magherafelt	1-03		Ballinascreen	Sean Bradley		Colm McGuigan
1982	Ballinderry	0-07	Dungiven	0-05		Swatragh	Patsy Mulholland		Dessie Rocks
1981	Ballinderry	0-07	Banagher	0-05		Ballerin	Murty Higgins		Pat McGuckin
1980	Ballinderry	0-07 0-11	Lavey	0-04 1-08*		Magherafelt / Ballinascreen	Patsy Mulholland		Sean McIvor
1979	Bellaghy	0-14 1-05	Magherafelt	0-03 0-08*		Ballinascreen	Bobby Mullan		Hugh McGoldrick
1978	Magherafelt	1-04	Banagher	1-03		Swatragh	Louis Downey		Gerry O'Loughlin
1977	Lavey	1-18	Ballinderry Shamrocks	0-07		Magherafelt	Seamus Mullan		Niall Hurley
1976	Ballerin	0-09	Dungiven	0-03		Magherafelt	Murty Higgins		Eamon Moloney
1975	Bellaghy	1-09 1-05	Magherafelt	0-03 0-08*		Ballinascreen	Patsy Mulholland		Frankie O'Loane
1974	Ballinderry	1-04	Banagher	1-03		Ballerin	Willie Harkin		Sean McGuckin
1973	Ballinascreen	2-14	Bellaghy	1-10		Magherafelt	Dermot Mullan		[10] Tommy McKenna
1972	Bellaghy	0-14	Ballerin	1-08		Dungiven	Tom McFeely		Larry Diamond
1971	Bellaghy	2-12	Lavey	0-05		Magherafelt			Larry Diamond
1970	Newbridge	3-08	Bellaghy	0-13		Magherafelt			Patsy McLarnon
1969	Bellaghy	1-09	Slaughtneil	0-08		Magherafelt			Tom Quinn
1968	Bellaghy	2-03	Newbridge	0-07		Magherafelt			Tom Scullion
1967	Newbridge	0-11	Magherafelt	1-07		Ballinascreen			Brian Devlin
1966	Newbridge	2-10	Dungiven	0-03		Magherafelt			Mickey Gribben
1965	Bellaghy	3-11	Ballerin	0-10		Dungiven	Barry McFadden		Tom Scullion
1964	Bellaghy	2-09	Ballerin	0-10		Magherafelt	Barry McFadden		Tom Scullion
1963	Bellaghy	2-12	Newbridge	2-08		Magherafelt	Jim McGuigan		Tom Scullion
1962	Ballymaguigan	2-10 0-06	Castledawson	1-05 1-03*		Magherafelt	Jim McGuigan / Jim Lynn		Denis McKeever
1961	Bellaghy	W/O	Ballymaguigan						Gerry McCann
1960	Bellaghy	1-05	Dungiven	2-01		Ballinascreen			Gerry McCann
1959	Bellaghy	3-04	Desertmartin	1-03		Ballinascreen			Peter Kearney
1958	Bellaghy	3-06	Ballymaguigan	0-07		Ballinascreen			Peter Kearney
1957	Ballerin	3-08	Ballymaguigan	2-06		Dungiven	Barry McFadden
1956	Bellaghy	2-09	Drum	1-01		Magherafelt
1955	Newbridge	2-09	Dolans	1-04		Celtic Park
1954	Lavey	1-10	Banagher	1-05		Dungiven			Colm Mulholland
1953	Desertmartin	4-09	Ballerin	0-02		Magherafelt
1952	Éire Óg, Derry	1-02	Desertmartin	1-00		Celtic Park
1951	Dungiven	4-03	Bellaghy	1-09		Cashel Green
1950	Newbridge	3-06	Dungiven	0-06		Ballinascreen
1949	Magherafelt	2-08	Eoghan Ruadh	0-06		Celtic Park	Harry Owens
1948	Newbridge	1-06	Dungiven	0-07		Claudy Green
1947	Dungiven	2-08	Lavey	2-03		Magherafelt
1946	Magherafelt	7-07	Dolans	2-06		Celtic Park	Tommy Farran
1945	Newbridge	3-06	Dungiven	0-03		Claudy Green
1944	Lavey	1-05	Mitchels	0-00		Celtic Park
1943	Lavey	3-07	Faughanvale	0-03		Magherafelt
1942	Magherafelt	W/O	Glenullin			Dungiven	Paddy Larkin
1941	Ballinascreen	2-05	O'Connor's Limavady	1-01
1940	Newbridge	beat	Glenullin
1939	Magherafelt	5-07	Dungiven	1-02		Ballinascreen	George Nash
1938	Lavey	1-03	Pearses	0-03		Dungiven
1937	Newbridge	beat	St Patrick's			Brandywell
1936	An Lúb	beat	Park
1935	Ballinascreen				NO FINAL
1934	Ballinascreen				NO FINAL
1933
1932	No championship
1931	Burt	2-04	Wolfe Tones	0-01		Brandywell			John Kavanagh
1930	Buncrana	2-04	St. Patrick's	0-05
1929
1928	Glenullin
1927	Ballinderry	0-03	Glenullin	0-08	(Abandoned)	Magherafelt	J McKenna
1926
1925
1924
1923
1922
1921	Derry Guilds	2-01	St Patrick's	0-02		Brandywell
1920
1919
1918	Emmet's					Celtic Park
1917	St. Patrick's	beat	Glenkeen			Celtic Park
1916	Sarsfield's					Celtic Park
1915
1914	Clann Chonail	1-04	Emmetts	1-02		Celtic Park
1913
1912
1911
1910
1909
1908
1907	Éire Óg, Derry					Unknown