The 2017 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship was the GAA's premier inter-county gaelic football competition for under 18's. 31 county teams from Ireland competed (Kilkenny did not participate).

2017 was the final year of this competition with an under 18 age limit; an under 17 championship with a new format replaced it after a vote at the GAA congress on 26 February 2016.

The winners received the Tom Markham Cup.

Kerry won their fourth minor title in a row, defeating Derry in the final on 17 September 2017 by 6-17 to 1-08. This was the first time that any county had won four minor titles in a row.^[1]

Teams

Thirty one teams contested the championship as Kilkenny withdrew after competing in 2016. New York and London did not participate in this competition.

Format

Provincial Championships

Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster organised four provincial championships. Each province determined the format for deciding their champions and it could have been a league, group, knock-out, double-elimination, etc. or a combination of these. The format for the 2017 championships are explained in the sections below.

All-Ireland

The four provincial winners play the four provincial runners-up in the All-Ireland quarter finals. Two semi-finals and a final follow. The final is normally played before the All-Ireland senior final on the third Sunday in September. All these matches are knock-out.

Provincial championships

Connacht Minor Football Championship

Connacht Format

All five Connacht counties competed in a straight knock-out format.

Connacht Main Draw

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Connacht Final
						Galway		1-13
	Mayo		0-11			Roscommon		1-6
	Galway		3-15								Galway		3-11
											Sligo		0-10
						Sligo		3-12
						Leitrim		3-7

Connacht Quarter-final

Connacht Semi-finals

Connacht final

Leinster Minor Football Championship

Leinster Format

Preliminary round

The eleven participating Leinster teams competed in six matches in the preliminary round of the main draw, with (Offaly) playing two matches due to the odd number of teams.

Losers section

The six beaten teams entered the losers' section and played four play-off matches. Two teams then re-entered the main draw at the quarter-final stage. From the quarter-finals all matches were played under a straight knock-out format.

Leinster Main Draw

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Leinster Final

Offaly

3-18

Wexford

0-6

Rd 1 winner

Offaly

0-13

Westmeath

1-4

QF winner

Longford

1-19

QF winner

Wicklow

3-8

Rd 1 winner

Carlow

0-9

Kildare

2-13

Dublin

1-15 aet

Meath

1-13 aet

Rd 1 winner

Laois

0-15 aet

Louth

2-11 aet

QF winner

QF winner

Rd 1 winner

Leinster Losers' Section Matches

The six beaten teams in the preliminary round of the main draw play-off in three matches. Three teams from the losers' section re-enter the main draw at the quarter-final stage.

Losers Round 1

Leinster Quarter-finalists**

Final

Wexford

2-14

Wicklow

3-7

Quarter-finalist in Main Draw

n/a

Meath

0-10

Quarter-finalist in Main Draw

n/a

Laois

0-11

Westmeath

0-17

Carlow

2-12

Quarter-finalist in Main Draw

n/a

Leinster First round

Leinster Losers Section

Leinster Quarter-finals

Leinster Semi-finals

Leinster final

Munster Minor Football Championship[edit] Munster Format[edit] All six Munster teams competed in the three quarter-finals of the main draw. The three beaten teams entered the play-off section and, after two play-off matches, one team re-entered the main draw at the semi-final stage. From the semi-finals all matches followed a knock-out format. Munster Main Draw[edit] Quarter-finals Semi-finals Munster Final Tipperary 1-8 Cork 3-21 Cork 1-10 Kerry 2-16 Kerry 2-17 Clare 1-6 Kerry 2-21 Clare 0-3 Limerick 0-12 Limerick 1-10 Clare 3-13 Waterford 0-9 Munster Playoff Rounds 1 and 2[edit] The three beaten teams in the quarter-finals of the main draw competed in a play-off in two matches. The winning team from the play-offs re-entered the main draw at the semi-final stage. Playoff 1 Playoff 2 Clare 5-11 Waterford 0-6 Clare 0-10 Tipperary 0-5 Munster Quarter-finals[edit] 12 April 2017 Quarter-final Tipperary 1-8 - 3-21 Cork Semple Stadium Referee: Richard Moloney (Limerick) Report 12 April 2017 Quarter-final Kerry 2-16 - 1-6 Clare Austin Stack Park Referee: David Murnane (Cork) Report 12 April 2017 Quarter-final Limerick 1-10 - 0-9 Waterford Gaelic Grounds Referee: David Grogan (Tipperary) Report Munster Semi-finals[edit] 10 May 2017 Semi-final Cork 1-10 - 2-17 Kerry Pairc Ui Rinn Report 10 May 2017 Semi-final Limerick 0-12 - 3-13 Clare Gaelic Grounds Report Munster final[edit] 2 July 2017 1:00 pm Final Kerry 2-21 - 0-3 Clare Report Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney Referee: David Murnane (Cork) Ulster Minor Football Championship[edit] Ulster Format[edit] All nine Ulster teams competed with the fixtures mirroring the senior fixtures i.e. if Derry are drawn to play Tyrone in their first match in the senior championship then Derry minors play Tyrone minors in their first match. Often the minor teams played immediately before the seniors. All matches followed a knock-out format. The winners receive the Fr. Murray Cup. Ulster Main Draw[edit] Preliminary round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Ulster Final Donegal Antrim Derry 3-17 Antrim 0-9 Derry 0-18 Tyrone 1-14 Derry 2-22 Cavan 1-12 Down Armagh Down 2-7 Cavan 0-15 Cavan Monaghan Monaghan Fermanagh Ulster Preliminary round[edit] First round Monaghan 1-17 - 2-7 Fermanagh St. Tiernach's Park Referee: Stephen Campbell Ulster Quarter-finals[edit] 21 May 2017 Quarter-final Donegal 2-14 - 0-21 Antrim MacCumhaill Park Referee: Paul McKeever 28 May 2017 Quarter-final Derry 0-18 - 1-14 Tyrone Celtic Park Report 28 May 2017 Quarter-final Cavan 3-14 - 1-15 Monaghan Breffni Park 4 June 2017 Quarter-final Down 2-13 - 2-11 Armagh Páirc Esler Ulster Semi-finals[edit] 18 June 2017 12:00 pm Semi-final Derry 3-17 - 0-9 Antrim St Tiernach's Park, Clones 24 June 2017 Semi-final Cavan 0-15 - 2-7 Down Ulster final[edit] 16 July 2017 Noon Final Derry 1-22 - 2-12 Cavan St Tiernach's Park, Clones Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan) Man of the Match: Padraig McGrogan Ben McCarron 1-3, Lorcan McWillians 0-6 (0-3f), Paddy Quigg 0-4 (0-1f), Declan Cassidy 0-3, Conleth McShane, Padraig McGrogan, Oisin McWilliams (0-1f), Tiarnan McHugh, Fergal Mortimer, Alex Doherty 0-1 each Report Philip Rogers 1-2, James Smith 1-0, Cian Madden and Oisin Pierson (0-2f) 0-3 each, Patrick Lynch (0-1f) and John Cooke 0-2 each All-Ireland[edit] All-Ireland Main Draw[edit]   Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final                                                                                                                 l All-Ireland Quarter-finals[edit] The four provincial champions played the four beaten finalists from the provincial championships. 5 August Quarter-final Cavan 1-11 – 0-11 Galway Report Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon 5 August 2:00 pm Quarter-final Derry 1-13 – 0-15 Sligo MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey 5 August Quarter-final Kerry 1-22 - 2-9 Louth Report O'Moore Park, Portlaoise 7 August Quarter-final Dublin 2-11 – 0-10 Clare Report O'Moore Park, Portlaoise All-Ireland Semi-finals[edit] There was no draw for the semi-finals as the fixtures are pre-determined on a three yearly rotation. This rotation ensures that a provinces's champions play the champions of all the other provinces once every three years in the semi-finals, if they each win their quarter-finals. If a provincial winner loses their quarter final, then the provincial runner-up who beat them take their place in the semi-final. 20 August 1:30 pm Semi-final Kerry 2-22 - 2-10 Cavan Croke Park, Dublin Man of the Match: David Clifford (Fossa) Report 27 August 2:00 pm Semi-final Dublin 0-14 - 0-17 Derry Croke Park, Dublin Referee: Sean Lonergan Man of the Match: Lorcan McWilliams (Swatragh) James Doran 0-6, David Lacey 0-5 (0-4f), Ross McGarry 0-2, Sean Hawshaw 0-1 Report Paddy Quigg (0-4f) and Lorcan McWilliams (0-4f) 0-5 each, Ben McCarron 0-3 (0-2f), Oisin McWilliams, Richie Mullan, Mark McGrogan, Jon Paul Devlin 0-1 each All-Ireland final[edit] 17 September 1:15 pm Final Kerry 6-17 – 1-8 Derry David Clifford 4-4, Fiachra Clifford 2-0, Brian Friel 0-5 (0-1f), Dónal O’Sullivan 0-3, Jack Griffin 0-2, Adam Donoghue, Donnchadh O’Sullivan, Eddie Horan 0-1 each. Report Patrick Quigg 1-1 (1-0 pen), Lorcan McWilliams (0-1f), Mark McGrogan, Oisin McWilliams 0-2 each, Richie Mullan 0-1. Croke Park, Dublin Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow) Miscellaneous[edit] Kerry win a fourth consecutive All-Ireland minor title. This is the first time this has been achieved since the beginning of the Minor Championship. Kerry set a new record of 24 consecutive wins since their last defeat in the 2013 All-Ireland Quarter-final defeat to Tyrone. See also[edit] 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2017 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship References[edit] ^ "Unstoppable David Clifford announces his true brilliance in Kerry stroll". RTE Sport. 17 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.