The 1999 National Hurling League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Church & General National Hurling League, was the 68th edition of the

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, 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 l ...

(NHL), an annual

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

competition for the

GAA county teams 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 ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

won the league, beating

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

by 1–14 to 1–10 in the final.

Structure

There are 14 teams in Division 1, divided into 1A and 1B. Each team plays all the others once, either home or away. Teams earn one point for a draw and two for a win. The top teams in 1A and 1B play each other in the NHL final. The bottom teams in each group play each other in a relegation playoff. There are 10 teams in Division 2. The top two play each other in the final, with the winner promoted. The bottom team is relegated. There are 9 teams in Division 3. The top two play each other in the final, with the winner promoted.

Division 1

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

came into the season as defending champions of the 1998 season.

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

and Down entered Division 1 as the promoted teams. On 2 May 1999,

won the title following a 1-14 - 1-10 win over

in the final. It was their first league title since 1993-94 and their 17th National League title overall. Down, who lost all of their group stage matches, were relegated from Division 1 after losing the relegation play-off to Kerry by 2-13 to 0-12. Galway's

Eugene Cloonan Eugene Cloonan (born 22 December 1978) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a full-forward for the Galway senior team. Born in Athenry, County Galway, Cloonan first played competitive hurling whilst at school at Athenry Vocational Schoo ...

was the Division 1 top scorer with 7-49.

Group 1A table

Group stage

Group 1B table

Group stage

Relegation play-off

Knock-out stage

Semi-finals Final

Scoring statistics

;Top scorers overall ;Top scorers in a single game

Division 2

Division 2 table

Knock-out stage

Division 3

Knock-out stage

External links

1999 National Hurling League results

References

{{National Hurling Leagues

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

National Hurling League seasons