1979–80 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1979–80 National Football League was the 49th staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

1979–80 National Football League

League details
Dates	October 1979 – 27 April 1980
League champions
Winners	Cork (3rd win)
Captain	Christy Ryan
Manager	Billy Morgan
League runners-up
Runners-up	Kerry
Captain	Jimmy Deenihan
Manager	Mick O'Dwyer
← 1978–79 1980–81 →

Cork defeated Kerry in an all-Munster final.[1][2][3][4]

Format

Divisions

• Division One: 12 teams. Split into two regional groups of 6 (North and South)
• Division Two: 20 teams. Split into two 10 team regional sub-divisions of North and South, which were divided into five teams each.

Titles

Teams in both divisions competed for the National Football League title.

There was also a separate National Football League Division Two title.

Knockout stage qualifiers

• Division One (North): top 3 teams[5]
• Division One (South): top 3 teams
• Division Two (North): winners
• Division Two (South): winners

Promotion and Relegation

This was the last season of the present league format. For the 1980–81 season, the 32 counties were divided into four divisions of eight teams. The teams were not placed into the new structure entirely in line with their placings in the 1979–80 league.[6]

Group stage

Division One (North) Play-Offs

10 February 1980 For 1st Place

Armagh

0-10 — 1-4

Down

Coalisland[7]

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Armagh	5	4	0	1	8	Qualified for Knockout Stages
Down	5	4	0	1	8
Roscommon	5	3	0	2	6
Mayo	5	2	0	3	4	Relegated to Division Two of the 1980–81 NFL
Tyrone	5	2	0	3	4
Cavan	5	0	0	5	0	Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL

[8]

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Galway	5	4	1	0	9	Qualified for Knockout Stages and relegated to Division Two of the 1980–81 NFL
Kerry	5	3	1	1	7	Qualified for Knockout Stages
Cork	5	2	1	2	5
Kildare	5	2	0	3	4
Dublin	5	1	1	3	3
Offaly	5	1	0	4	2

[9]

Division Two (North) Final

24 February 1980 Final

Fermanagh

2-6 — 1-4

Antrim

Coalisland[10]

Group A table Team Pld W D L Pts Notes Antrim 8 5 2 1 12 Derry 8 5 1 2 11 Monaghan 8 4 1 3 9 Louth 8 3 1 4 7 Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Westmeath 8 0 1 7 1 Relegated to Division Four of the 1980–81 NFL [11]

Group B table Team Pld W D L Pts Notes Fermanagh 8 6 1 1 13 Qualified for Knockout Phase and relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Longford 8 5 0 3 10 Relegated to Division Four of the 1980–81 NFL Donegal 8 3 3 2 9 Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Leitrim 8 2 1 5 3 Relegated to Division Four of the 1980–81 NFL Sligo 8 1 1 6 3 Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL [12]

Division Two (South) Final

2 March 1980 Final

Wexford

1-14 — 0-7

Clare

Croke Park, Dublin[13]

Group A table Team Pld W D L Pts Notes Clare 8 5 2 1 12 Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Laois 8 5 1 2 11 Meath 8 5 0 3 10 Tipperary 8 3 1 4 7 Relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Limerick 8 0 0 8 0 Relegated to Division Four of the 1980–81 NFL [14]

Group B table Team Pld W D L Pts Notes Wexford 8 8 0 0 16 Qualified for Knockout stage and relegated to Division Three of the 1980–81 NFL Carlow 8 4 0 4 8 Relegated to Division Four of the 1980–81 NFL Wicklow 8 4 0 4 8 Waterford 8 3 0 5 6 Kilkenny 8 1 0 7 2 [15]

Knockout stage

Quarter-Finals

23 March 1980

Armagh	1-8 – 2-5	Wexford

Croke Park, Dublin[16]

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30 March 1980
Replay

Armagh	0-13 – 0-5	Wexford

Croke Park, Dublin[17]

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23 March 1980

Galway	1-12 – 0-10	Fermanagh

Carrick-on-Shannon[18]

---

23 March 1980

Kerry	1-8 – 1-5	Roscommon

Gaelic Grounds, Limerick[19]

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23 March 1980

Cork	3-6 – 0-6	Down

Croke Park, Dublin[20]

Semi-Final

6 April 1980

Kerry	1-11 – 1-6	Armagh

Croke Park, Dublin[21]

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13 April 1980

Cork	1-16 – 1-6	Galway

Croke Park, Dublin[22]

Attendance: 11,410

Final

27 April 1980

3:30 p.m.

Cork	0-11 – 0-10	Kerry

Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork

Attendance: 39,139[23]

Referee: Tommy Moran (Leitrim)

Division Two Final

6 July 1980 'Home' Final

Wexford

5-14 — 0-10

Fermanagh

Croke Park, Dublin[24]

30 August 1980 Final

Wexford

7-17 — 1-7

Warwickshire

Coventry[25]

References

1. GAA Final Teams
2. Terrace Talk 1980
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-19. Retrieved 2015-07-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. GAA Archive 1980
5. "How They Stand", Irish Press, 04/02/1980, p. 11
6. "New line-up for National League", Ulster Herald, 17 May 1980, p. 3
7. "Toner miss boost for Armagh", Irish Independent, 11/02/1980, p. 11
8. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
9. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
10. "Cool Fermanagh surprise Antrim", Irish Independent, 25/02/1980, p. 11
11. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
12. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
13. "Wexford make it third time lucky", Irish Independent, 03/03/1980, p. 11
14. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
15. "GAA Results and Tables", Irish Independent, 04/02/1980, p. 10
16. "Magee to the rescue", Irish Press, 24/03/1980, p. 16
17. "Armagh always in control but waste chances", Irish Independent, 31/03/1980, p. 13
18. "Galway Masters", Irish Press, 24/03/1980, p. 16
19. "Goalkeeper turns poacher!", Irish Press, 24/03/1980, p. 16
20. "Down fall to Cork", Irish Press, 24/03/1980, p. 16
21. http://www.terracetalk.com/kerry-football/year/1980/League
22. "Cork canter into decider", Irish Press, 14/04/1980, p. 16
23. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151
24. "Furlong hits four goals", Irish Press, 6 July 1980, p. 10
25. "Wexford take Div 2 title", Irish Independent, 31 August 1980, p. 8

See also

• Cork–Kerry Gaelic football rivalry