The 2019

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 88th 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 ...

, competed; Kilkenny do not participate. The GAA announced a new broadcast agreement on 10 January 2019, expected to run 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 language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

provided 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 were

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.

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

were the winners, defeating

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 Count ...

in the final.

Experimental rules

On 24 November 2018, the GAA Central Council approved five experimental changes to the football playing rules which were amended slightly and trialled in the 2018–19 early season competitions organised by the four provincial councils ( FBD League - Connacht, O'Byrne Cup - Leinster, McGrath Cup - Munster and McKenna Cup - Ulster). The rules trialled were – # The maximum number of consecutive handpasses allowed is three. # A sideline free must be kicked forward except when it is inside the opposing team's 20 metre line. # An advanced mark (sometimes also referred to as an attacking mark, inside mark or offensive mark) may be taken where the ball is kicked in the area outside the opposing team's 45 metre line, travels more than 20 metres, and is caught cleanly without touching the ground in the area inside the opposing team's 45 metre line by an attacker or a defender. Up to fifteen seconds are allowed for the free resulting from the mark to be taken. # Ten minutes in a sin bin without replacement is imposed on a player who commits a black card offence. The offending player can re-enter the game or be substituted after the ten minutes have elapsed. # Kickouts must be taken from the 20 metre line but are not required to travel beyond the 45 metre line. The effectiveness of the new rules was reviewed by Central Council on 19 January 2019. Although one of the key aims of the experiment was to reduce the number of handpasses in Gaelic football, they voted 25-23 to not continue with the rule that restricted the number of consecutive handpasses to three (which was previously trialled in the 1989 National Football League and quickly abandoned). This decision followed an almost universal campaign by GAA county team managers in the media against its permanent introduction The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) were also strongly against the three handpass rule. Experimental rules 2 to 5 (see above) were trialled in the 2019 National Football League, beginning on 26 January 2019 and ending on 31 March 2019. There was little criticism of the four rules in the league games though Jim Gavin, the Dublin manager, said the decision to experiment in the league, the GAA's second tier inter-county competition, was "disrespectful". GAA rules only allow changes to the ''playing'' rules in years divisible by five which means that, at the earliest, the experimental playing rules could only be approved by Congress 2020 for implementation in the 2020 Championship. A Special Congress was held on 19 October 2019. Three rules were passed and were introduced beginning in 2020 – * The Advanced Mark (passed by 68.9%) * The Sin Bin (passed by 73.8%) * Kick-outs from the centre of the 20m line (passed by 83.1%)

Competition format

League structure

The 2019 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

Division 1 Round 1

Division 1 Round 2

Division 1 Round 3

Division 1 Round 4

Division 1 Round 5

Division 1 Round 6

Division 1 Round 7

Division 1 Final

Division 2

Division 2 table

Division 2 Rounds 1 to 7

Division 2 Round 1

Division 2 Round 2

Division 2 Round 3

Division 2 Round 4

Division 2 Round 5

Division 2 Round 6

Division 2 Round 7

Division 2 Final

Division 3

Division 3 table

Division 3 Rounds 1 to 7

Division 3 Round 1

Division 3 Round 2

Division 3 Round 3

Division 3 Round 4

Division 3 Round 5

Division 3 Round 6

Division 3 Round 7

Division 3 Final

Division 4

Division 4 table

Division 4 Rounds 1 to 7

Division 4 Round 1

Division 4 Round 2

Division 4 Round 3

Division 4 Round 4

Division 4 Round 5

Division 4 Round 6

Division 4 Round 7

Division 4 Final

League statistics

*All scores correct as of 16 April 2019

Top scorer: Overall

Top scorer: Single game

Scoring events

*Widest winning margin: 15 **

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 ...

5-16 – 0-16

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) *Most goals in a match: 7 **

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

3-21 – 4-16

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

(Division 4) *Most points in a match: 37 **

3-21 – 4-16

(Division 4) *Most goals by one team in a match: 5 **

5-16 – 0-16

(Division 3) **

0-12 – 5-04

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 ...

(Division 4) *Most goals without winning: 4 **

3-21 – 4-16

(Division 4) * Highest aggregate score: 58 points **

3-21 – 4-16

(Division 4) *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 ...

0-08 – 0-06

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

(Division 2) **

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...

0-08 – 0-06

(Division 4)

References

External links

Results Archive
– Hoganstand.com {{GAA 2019

National Football League (Ireland) seasons