2018 All-Ireland Under 20 Football Championship
The 2018 Inter-County Under 20 Football Championship was the 55th edition of the competition, and the first since the competition was re-graded from Under 21 to Under 20. It was sponsored by Eirgrid, and known as the EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Championship for sponsorship purposes. 31 counties played in the tournament (Kilkenny did not participate). The competition began with a preliminary round game in Ulster on 25 May 2018, and ended with the final on 5 August 2018. Competition Format. Player eligibility Players under 20 years of age can not play for a county's senior and under-20 championship teams. This rule was introduced to prevent player burnout and to allow the senior and under-20 championships to be scheduled in the same summer months with separate panels of players. If an under-20 player plays for a county's senior championship team, he is ineligible to play for their under-20 team. This rule results in some county under-20 county teams playing without their best under-20 footballers. For example, Sean O'Shea and David Clifford played for the Kerry senior championship team in 2018 and therefore were not allowed to play for  the Kerry under-20 team which meant that the under-20 team was weakened. Provincial Championships format Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster each organise a provincial championship. Each province decides the format for their championship – the format can be straight knockout, double-elimination, a league, groups, etc. or a combination. All-Ireland format The four provincial winners meet in two semi-finals, with the winners of those matches playing in the All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship Final. Provincial Championships. Leinster Championship. Group Stage. Group 1. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Group 2. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Group 3. Round  1 Round 2 Round 3 Ulster Championship. The Ulster championship is organised on a random draw. All matches are straight knockout. The winners receive the Danny Murphy Cup which was commissioned in 2018 in honour of the former Ulster Chief Executive Officer and Secretary.