Format
Before 1958, three regional tournaments were played to help determine the Derry Senior Football Championship finalists - the South Derry Senior Football Championship, the North Derry Senior Football Championship and the Derry City Senior Football Championship. Of the three winners, one would get a bye to the final (on alternating years) and the other two would play a semi-final to see who would meet them in the Derry Senior Football Championship final. 1957 was the last year of this system and from 1958 on the championship took the structure of an open-draw knock-out.
Since the 2007 Championship, the championship was altered to include a round robin, group structure with the 16 teams divided into four groups (since 2008 the groups have been seeded by the previous year's finishing league positions. Each club in a group plays each other once with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals. From the quarter-finals onwards the competition takes the format of a knock-out.
The format will be changed once again for the 2009 Championship. The Derry Competitions Control Committee accepted a proposal to scrap the group stage and introduce a "backdoor" system. The 16 clubs will play in the first round. In the second round the eight first round winners will be drawn against each other, with the four winners going into bowl A for the quarter-finals. The eight first round losers will also be drawn against each other and the four winners will advance to the quarter-finals (in bowl B). Teams in bowl A will be drawn out against teams from bowl B to make up the quarter-final draw. From there on the competition will be an open-draw knock-out.
All matches in the competition are played at neutral venues.
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