The 2018

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, known for sponsorship reasons as the Allianz National Football League, was the 87th staging of the

(NFL), an annual

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

tournament for

Gaelic Athletic Association county 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 ...

teams. Thirty-one county teams from the island of Ireland, plus

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, compete. Kilkenny do not participate. The first six rounds in all four divisions were scheduled to have been played before 24 March 2018, allowing the final round seven matches to be played on that date. Due to poor winter weather, some fixtures in Division 2 (round 6) and Division 4 (rounds 5 and 6) had not been played by that date. The GAA decided to proceed with the final round seven matches in the four divisions before the completion of the earlier rounds. This decision proved controversial - for instance, in the rescheduled Division 2 match between Louth and Meath which was played on 31 March 2018, Meath needed to win to avoid relegation while Louth had nothing to play for as they were already relegated irrespective of the result. Meath beat Louth by 1-12 to 0-07, thereby ensuring that Down were relegated.

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

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 ...

provide live TV coverage of the league on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons respectively. 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 and TG4's ''GAA 2018'' on Monday evenings. The league concluded on 1 April 2018 with Dublin defeating

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 ...

in the division 1 final. It was their fifth Division 1 title in six years.

Format

League structure

The 2018 National Football League consists of four divisions of eight teams. Each team plays every other team in its division once, usually four home and three away or three home and four away. Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw.

Tie-breaker

If only two teams are level on league points - * The team that won the head-to-head match is ranked first * If this game was a draw, score difference (total scored minus total conceded in all games) is used to rank the teams * If score difference is identical, total scored is used to rank the teams * If still identical, a play-off is required If three or more teams are level on league points, score difference is used to rank the teams.

Finals, promotions and relegations

Division 1

The top two teams in Division 1 contest the National Football League final. The bottom two teams are relegated to Division 2.

Division 2, Division 3 & Division 4

The top two teams in Divisions 2, 3 and 4 are promoted and contest the finals of their respective divisions. The bottom two teams in Divisions 2 and 3 are relegated.

Division 1

Division 1 table

Division 1 Rounds 1 to 7

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Division 1 Final

Division 2

Division 2 table

Division 2 Rounds 1 to 7

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Division 2 Final

Division 3

Division 3 table

Division 3 Rounds 1 to 7

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Division 3 Final

Division 4

Division 4 table

Division 4 Rounds 1 to 7

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Division 4 Final

League statistics

*All scores correct as of 3 April 2018

Top scorer: Overall

Top Scorer: Single game

Scoring events

*Widest winning margin: 14 **

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

2-17 – 0-09

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

(Division 3) ** Meath 0-21 – 0-07 Clare (Division 2) **

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 ...

2-17 – 0-09

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

(Division 2) *Most goals in a match: 8 **

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

4-12 – 4-16

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

(Division 2 final) *Most points in a match: 35 **

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

0-20 – 0-15

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

(Division 1) *Most goals by one team in a match: 4 **

4-12 – 4-16

(Division 2 final) ** Meath 4-14 – 1-14 Down (Division 2) * Highest aggregate score: 52 points **

4-12 – 4-16

(Division 2 final) *Lowest aggregate score: 14 points **

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...

0-07 – 0-07

(Division 3)

References

External links

Full Fixtures and Results
{{GAA 2018 , state=expanded

National Football League (Ireland) seasons