ACFL Division 1

The modern-day All County Football League (ACFL) competition was first introduced on February 10th 1980 and spanned three divisions, with Leader Cup for Division 1, Michael Moran Cup for Division 2 and Patsy Reilly Cup for Division 3. It was the first time that a common league competition encompassed all clubs in the county. The Leader Cup was awarded to the winner of a knock-out series involving the top teams in Division 1 at the time. In 1990 it was decided to introduce a title and cup for finishing top of ACFL Division 1 table at the end of all rounds of games (prior to knockout stage for Leader Cup). Fr. Manning Gaels and Mullinalaghta St. Columbas are the only two clubs to have achieved three-in-a-row of ACFL Division 1 titles, with Fr. Manning Gaels the only club to have completed five-in-a-row of Division 1 titles in the 1990’s. In the years from 1990 to 2001, the Bertie Allen Cup was the ACFL Division 1 trophy. It was replaced by the Johnny Skelly Cup from 2002.

The ACFL Division 1 title is distinct and different from the Senior Football League (Leader Cup) title in the same way that the team topping Division 1 of the National Football League is different from the National Football League winner. In some years, Division 1 was split into groups of A and B or North and South or 1A and 1B, and in those instances the ACFL Division 1 title was decided between the top team in each group/section. It is worth noting that cups are also presented to those finishing top of the other divisions in the ACFL. In recent times there has been a recurring conflation between ACFL Division 1 and Senior Football League (Leader Cup). For the avoidance of doubt, the Senior Football League trophy in Longford is the Leader Cup. The Johnny Skelly Cup is the Division 1 Cup.