It is the highest inter-county Gaelic football competition in the province of Munster, and has been contested every year, bar one, since the 1888 championship.

The winners and runners-up of the Munster SFC, like their counterparts in Connacht, Leinster and Ulster, are rewarded by advancing directly to the All-Ireland group stage.

Each of the other defeated teams, depending on their league ranking, advance to the All-Ireland SFC, or to the second-tier Tailteann Cup.

The championships were open to all affiliated clubs who would first compete in county-based competitions, to be run by local county committees.

Cork and Tipperary contested the first match on Sunday 27 May 1888, as part of a hurling-football double-header between the counties at Buttevant.

Postponements, disqualifications, objections, withdrawals and walkovers were regular occurrences during the initial years of the championship.

The championship has been dominated by Kerry, and to a lesser extent Cork, who have won the title every year since 1936, with the exception of victories by Tipperary in 2020 and Clare in 1992.

The first 15 years of the Munster SFC saw the most equitable era in its history with five of the six participating teams claiming the title.

In winning the 1903 Munster SFC final, Kerry claimed the first of a new record of three successive titles and set in train a level of championship dominance that continues to the present day.

This record was bested in each of the following decades with Kerry winning four-a-in-a-row between 1912 and 1915, five-in-a-row between 1923 and 1927, six-in-a-row between 1929 and 1934, seven-in-a-row between 1936 and 1942 and eight-in-a-row between 1958 and 1965.

Since the turn of the 20th century, Cork had claimed titles in almost every decade, including several back-to-back successes, but had never enjoyed a prolonged period of dominance.

[3] For the first time in 100 years, Cork ended the nineties as the "team of the decade" after winning five Munster SFC titles in total.

The dominance of Kerry and, to a lesser extent, Cork led to both these teams being seeded on opposite sides of the championship draw.

The Munster Council abandoned the open draw and returned to a system of seeding both Cork and Kerry on opposite sides before the 2008 championship.

[5] The policy of seeding Cork and Kerry returned once again in 2013, however, it was abandoned after just one season and the open draw has remained in place ever since.

Waterford no Munster SFC final since 1960 hold the longest record and weakest team in the province to this day.

The Munster SFC champion and runner-up qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship group stage.

The other eight spots in the All-Ireland SFC are allocated to the Tailteann Cup holders and the seven highest ranked counties in the National Football League that have not qualified.

Teams that fail to reach the Munster SFC final and are not ranked high enough in the league qualify for the Tailteann Cup.

Munster SFC matches were traditionally played at neutral venues or at a location that was deemed to be halfway between the two participants; however, all of the teams eventually came to home and away agreements.

Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for the Munster Council and for the teams involved.