| Championship details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 May – 23 September 2001 |
| Teams | 32 |
| All-Ireland Champions | |
| Winning team | Galway (9th win) |
| Captain | Gary Fahey |
| Manager | John O'Mahony |
| All-Ireland Finalists | |
| Losing team | Meath |
| Captain | Trevor Giles |
| Manager | Seán Boylan |
| Provincial Champions | |
| Munster | Kerry |
| Leinster | Meath |
| Ulster | Tyrone |
| Connacht | Roscommon |
| Championship statistics | |
| No. matches played | 63 |
| Goals total | 122 (1.94 per game) |
| Points total | 1490 (23.65 per game) |
| Top Scorer |  Pádraic Joyce (3-45) |
| Player of the Year | Pádraic Joyce Declan Meehan |
← 2000 2002 → | |
The 2001 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 115th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 6 May 2001 and ended on 23 September 2001.
The format of the championship saw the biggest change in over 100 years with the introduction of the All-Ireland qualifiers. This system saw teams who were defeated in the provincial championships enter a secondary championship and the chance to qualify for the All-Ireland series. The Leinster Championship abandoned its group stage and returned to a straight knockout system. London declined to field a team in the championship due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. There were initially scheduled to host Mayo at Ruislip on the last Sunday of May but Connacht council decided to post phone the fixture a fortnight before the game was to take place.
Kerry entered the championship as the defending champions, however, they were defeated by Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final.[1]
On 23 September 2001, Galway won the championship following an 0–17 to 0–8 defeat of Meath in the All-Ireland final. This was their ninth All-Ireland title and their first in three championship seasons. Galway also became the first county to win the All Ireland by coming through the Qualifiers after losing the Connacht Semi-final to Roscommon, they beat Wicklow, Armagh and Cork in the Qualifiers where they again met Roscommon in the All Ireland Quarter-final. This time they got revenge by beating them. Beating Derry in the All Ireland Semi-final and Meath in the final to claim their ninth All Ireland Title.
Galway's Pádraic Joyce was the championship's top scorer with 3-45. He was also named as the Texaco Footballer of the Year, while Declan Meehan was chosen as the All Stars Footballer of the Year.
- ^ "Fay: 'Meath football started showing an arrogance and it's never recovered from it'". The 42. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2016.