2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
| Event | 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||||||
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| Date | 28 September 2003 | ||||||
| Venue | Croke Park, Dublin | ||||||
| Referee | Brian White | ||||||
| Attendance | 79,391 | ||||||
The 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 116th final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, a Gaelic football tournament. It was held on 28 September 2003 at Croke Park, Dublin and featured defending champions Armagh against Tyrone. The counties are both in the province of Ulster and share a boundary – this was the first All-Ireland Football Final between sides from the same province. Tyrone won their first title after the match finished 0–12 – 0–09 in their favour. Many commentators were critical of the game's entertainment value.
Each of the 32 traditional counties of Ireland is represented by a county side. Apart from Kilkenny, they all participated in the 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The "overseas counties" of London and New York also participated. Every county in Ireland is located in a province; London and New York were in Connacht for the purpose of the championship. It began with four provincial championships – knock-out competitions between sides in the same province. The four winners progressed to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The remaining sides, apart from New York, entered the All-Ireland qualifiers to determine the other four teams to contest the quarter-finals. These were followed by the semi-finals and the All-Ireland final.
This was the first final between two counties from the same province; in this case, Ulster. This was only possible because of the qualifying system introduced in the 2001 championship. Previously, the All-Ireland Championship was only contested by the four winners of the provincial championships, so a final between two counties from the same province was impossible.
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