Galway entered the championship as defending champions; however, they were beaten by Mayo in the Connacht final.
On 26 September 1999, Meath beat Cork by 1-11 to 1-8 in the All-Ireland final, thus winning their second All-Ireland title in four years and their seventh in all. In the process, they denied Cork the Double, the hurlers having claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup two weeks previously.
Format
The provincial championships were run on a knock-out basis as usual, with the provincial winners going on to contest the All-Ireland semi finals. The Leinster Senior Football Championship consisted of 2 preliminary rounds to determine the 8th team in the Leinster quarter finals.
The usual knock-out four-province setup was used. New York played in the Connacht Senior Football Championship for the first time. Normal format is back for the Munster championship with two quarter-finals and semi-finals.