The 2019 National Hurling League is the 88th season of the
National Hurling League
The National Hurling League is an annual inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the league system. ...
for
county team
A county is a geographic region within Gaelic games, controlled by a county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the 32 counties of Ireland as they were in 1884. While the administrative geography of Ireland has ...
s.
Kilkenny were the defending champions, having won the
2018 league.
The GAA announced a new broadcast agreement on 10 January 2019 that runs from 2019 until 2022.
Eir Sport
Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republi ...
and
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
provide live TV coverage of the league on Saturday nights.
TG4
TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond.
TG4 was formerly known ...
broadcast Sunday afternoon games. The highlights programmes are
RTÉ2
RTÉ2 is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel.
History
In the 1970s, the Iri ...
's ''League Sunday'' on Sunday evenings, TG4's ''GAA 2019'' on Monday evenings and Eir Sport's Allianz Leagues Reloaded on Wednesday evenings.
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
won their first league title since
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
after a 1-24 to 0-19 win against
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
in the final on 31 March.
Redistribution of the top 12 teams for 2020
In November 2018, the GAA's Central Council decided to reorganise Divisions 1A and 1B before the start of the 2020 National Hurling League. As a result there was no relegation from 1A to 1B in 2019.
In 2019 the teams ranked 1 to 6 competed in Division 1A and the teams ranked 7 to 12 competed in Division 1B. Following the 2019 League the top twelve teams were redistributed into two groups of approximately equal strength. The two new groups were based on their finishing positions in 2019 and were expected to be redrawn after two years.
On completion of the five rounds on 10 March 2019 and a playoff on 16 March 2019, the two groups in 2020's Division 1 were determined as –
2020 Division 1 Group A
Limerick
Tipperary
Cork (winners of 5th v 6th Division 1A playoff in 2019)
Waterford
Galway
Westmeath
2020 Division 1 Group B
Wexford
Clare
Kilkenny (losers of 5th v 6th Division 1A playoff in 2019)
Dublin
Laois
Carlow
GAA President John Horan was of the opinion that the new Division 1 group structure would give managers "an opportunity to actually play players in a developmental manner" as team selections and tactics are likely to be more experimental if the teams do not have to avoid relegation.
Competition format
League structure
Thirty-five teams compete in the 2019 NHL – six teams in the top five divisions (Divisions 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A) and five teams in Division 3B. All thirty-two county teams from Ireland take part.
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
and
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
complete the lineup.
Each team plays all the other teams in their division once, either home or away. Two points are awarded for a win, and one for a draw.
The Division 1 hurling quarter-finals and semi-finals will finish on the day the games are played. If a quarter-final or semi-final is level after the initial seventy minutes, still level after two ten minute periods of extra time played each way, and still level after two further five minute periods of extra time, the outcome will be decided by a
free-taking competition
The following is an alphabetical list of terms and jargon used in relation to Gaelic games. See also list of Irish county nicknames, and these are very interesting.
Abbreviations
Competitions usually have long names, so an abbreviation system ...
. This means the winner of quarter-finals and semi-finals will determined without requiring a replay and allow the league finals to be held on the scheduled date.
Tie-breaker
* If only two teams are level on league points, the team that won the head-to-head match is ranked ahead. If this game was a draw, score difference (total scored minus total conceded in all games) is used to rank the teams.
* If three or more teams are level on league points, score difference is used to rank the teams.
Finals, promotions and relegations
Division 1A
* The top four teams qualify for the Division 1 quarter-finals
* No relegation
Division 1B
* The top four teams qualify for the Division 1 quarter-finals
* The bottom two teams meet in a relegation play-off, with the losers being relegated to Division 2A
Division 2A
* The top two teams meet in Division 2A final, with the winners being promoted to Division 1
* The bottom team is relegated to Division 2B
Division 2B
* The top two teams meet in Division 2B final, with the winners being promoted to Division 2A
* The bottom two teams meet in a relegation play-off, with the losers being relegated to Division 3A
Division 3A
* The top two teams meet in Division 3A final, with the winners being promoted to Division 2B
* The bottom team is relegated to Division 3B
Division 3B
* The top two teams meet in Division 3B final, with the winners being promoted to Division 3A
Division 1A
Division 1 Format
In 2019 the 12 teams in Division 1 were organised into two further divisions - teams ranked one to six in Division 1A and teams ranked seven to twelve in Division 1B. In 2020 the twelve top teams were redistributed into two divisions of approximately equal strength which were expected to be redrawn every two years.
Each team played all the other teams in their group once. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. The top four teams in both 1A and 1B advanced to the league quarter-finals with the top team in 1A playing the fourth team in 1B, the second team in 1A playing the third in 1B, etc. Two semi-finals and a final followed.
Division 1A
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 1A at gaa.ie
Division 1A Table
Division 1A Rounds 1 to 5
=Division 1A Round 1
=
=Division 1A Round 2
=
=Division 1A Round 3
=
=Division 1A Round 4
=
=Division 1A Round 5
=
Division 1B
Division 1B Table
Division 1B Rounds 1 to 5
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 1B at gaa.ie
Division 1B Round 1
Division 1B Round 2
Division 1B Round 3
Division 1B Round 4
Division 1B Round 5
Division 1 Knockout
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 1 at gaa.ie
Division 1 Quarter-Finals
The hurling quarter-finals finish on the day the games are played, avoiding the need for replays. If the score is level after the initial seventy minutes, still level after two ten minute periods of extra time played each way, and still level after a further two five minute periods of extra time, a free-taking competition is held. Each team nominates five players to take frees from their chosen position on a sixty five metre line selected by the referee and without defenders. The nominated players from each team take alternate turns. If the teams score an equal number of the five frees, the outcome of the match is decided by sudden death frees using the same nominated players in the same order.
The fixtures are 1st in Division 1A plays 4th in Division 1B, 2nd in Division 1A plays 3rd in Division 1B, etc. Home advantage is decided by whichever team has played fewer home games in their five league games, with a coin toss taking place if the number of home games played is the same for both teams.
Division 1 Semi-Finals
The hurling semi-finals finish on the day the games are played, avoiding the need for replays. If the score is level after the initial seventy minutes, still level after two ten minute periods of extra time played each way, and still level after a further two five minute periods of extra time, a free-taking competition is held. Each team nominates five players to take frees from their chosen position on a sixty five metre line selected by the referee and without defenders. The nominated players from each team take alternate turns. If the teams score an equal number of the five frees, the outcome of the match is decided by sudden death frees using the same nominated players in the same order.
Division 1 Final
The final was postponed from 24 March to 31 March 2019 as three of the round five fixtures were called off due to bad weather on the weekend of 2–3 March.
Division 1A Play-Off
This playoff between the teams ranked 5th and 6th in 2019's Division 1A was used to determine which of the two groups the teams were allocated to in 2020's restructured Division 1. Brian Cody, the Kilkenny manager, described it as "a futile match really".
Division 1B Relegation Play-Off
Division 1 scoring statistics
;Top scorers overall
;Top scorers in a single game
Division 2A
Division 2A Table
Division 2A Rounds 1 to 5
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 2A at gaa.ie
Division 2A Round 1
Division 2A Round 2
Division 2A Round 3
Division 2A Round 4
Division 2A Round 5
Division 2A Final
Division 2A Relegation Play-Off
Division 2A scoring statistics
;Top scorers overall
;Top scorers in a single game
Division 2B
Division 2B Table
Division 2B Rounds 1 to 5
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 2B at gaa.ie
Division 2B Round 1
Division 2B Round 2
Division 2B Round 3
Division 2B Round 4
Division 2B Round 5
Division 2B Final
Division 2B Relegation Play-Off
Division 2B scoring statistics
;Top scorers overall
;Top scorers in a single game
Division 3A
Division 3A Table
Division 3A Rounds 1 to 5
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 3A at gaa.ie
Division 3A Round 1
Division 3A Round 2
Division 3A Round 3
Division 3A Round 4
Division 3A Round 5
Division 3A Final
Division 3B
Division 3B Table
Division 3B Rounds 1 to 5
For official fixtures and results se
National Hurling League Division 3B at gaa.ie
Division 3B Round 1
Division 3B Round 2
Division 3B Round 3
Division 3B Round 4
Division 3B Round 5
Division 3B Final
References
External links
Full Fixtures and Results
{{GAA 2019
National Hurling League seasons