1925–26 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1925–26 National Football League was the 1st staging of the National Football League, a Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

1925–26 National Football League

League details
Dates	1925 – 19 September 1926
League champions
Winners	Laois (1st win)
Captain	Dick Miller
League runners-up
Runners-up	Dublin
1927–28 →

The inaugural NFL was won by Laois, captained by Dick Miller. They defeated Sligo in the semi-final after a lost game was ordered replayed, and beat Dublin in a low-scoring final despite losing two players, Paddy Lenihan and Bill Keeley, to emigration shortly before the final.^[1][2][3]

Format

The league was organised on a provincial basis with a separate league for each province: three leagues for Leinster due to the large number of counties. The six league winners played a knockout tournament to decide the National Football League. It is mentioned that the three Leinster Group winners played off (Longford scratching, Laois beating Dublin) for a gold medal, but this does not seem to have formed part of the league proper.^[4][5]

Knockout stage qualifiers

• Leinster: 3 teams
• Munster: 1 team
• Connacht: 1 team^[6]
• Ulster: 1 team

Group stage

Connacht (Connacht Railway Cup)

Results

Roscommon v Leitrim

7 June 1925 Semi-final	Roscommon	1-5 — 0-7	Leitrim	Palace Grounds, Strokestown[7]
				Referee: P. Kilduff Mayo

Sligo v Mayo

21 June 1925 Semi-final	Sligo	1-4 — 1-1	Mayo	Ballaghaderreen[8]
				Referee: C. Flynn Leitrim

Sligo v Roscommon

25 October 1925 Final

Sligo

5-2 — 0-2

Roscommon

Tubbercurry, Sligo[9]

Leinster I

Results

Kildare v Meath

13 September 1925 Round 1

Kildare

5-1 — 3-1

Meath

Navan[10]

Louth v Dublin

11 October 1925 Round 1

Louth

1-5 — 3-3

Dublin

Dundalk[11]

Dublin v Meath

18 October 1925 Round 2

Dublin

0-7 — 1-2

Meath

Croke Park, Dublin[12]

Kildare v Louth

25 October 1925 Round 2

Kildare

3-3 — 1-2

Louth

Newbridge[13]

Dublin v Kildare

8 November 1925 Round 3

Dublin

2-5 — 1-3

Kildare

Croke Park, Dublin[14]

Meath v Louth

8 November 1925 Round 3

Meath

1-7 — 3-5

Louth

Navan[15]

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Dublin	3	3	0	0	6	Advance to Knockout stage
Kildare	3	2	0	1	4
Louth	3	1	0	2	2
Meath	3	0	0	3	0

Leinster II

Results

Westmeath v Offaly

12 July 1925 Round 1	Westmeath	1-7 — 1-3	Offaly	Mullingar[16]
				Referee: Joe Curran, Meath

Wicklow v Longford

11 October 1925 Round 1	Wicklow	0-3 — 2-7	Longford	Bray[17]
				Referee: Mr. O'Brien, Dublin

Longford v Westmeath

25 October 1925 Round 2	Longford	2-6 — 0-3	Westmeath	Longford[18]
				Referee: Mr. J. Kelly

Wicklow v Westmeath

15 November 1925 Round 3

Wicklow

5-8 — 1-3

Westmeath

Naas[19]

Longford v Offaly

15 November 1925 Round 3

Longford

1-8 — 1-2

Offaly

Longford Park

Offaly v Wicklow

22 November 1925 Round 2

Offaly

1-3 — 1-4

Wicklow

Tullamore[20]

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Longford	3	3	0	0	6	Advance to Knockout stage
Wicklow	3	2	0	1	4
Westmeath	3	1	0	2	0
Offaly	3	0	0	3	0

Westmeath forfeited the points from their win v Offaly due to being late on the field^[21]

Leinster III

Results

Wexford v Carlow

2 August 1925

Wexford

5-6 — 1-3

Carlow

Enniscorthy[22]

Carlow v Laois

20 September 1925

Carlow

1-4 — 2-5

Laois

Graiguecullen, Laois[23]

Kilkenny v Wexford

11 October 1925	Kilkenny	1-2 — 3-5	Wexford	St James's Park, Kilkenny[24]
				Referee: J Delaney

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Laois	3	3	0	0	6	Advance to Knockout stage
Wexford	3	2	0	1	4
Carlow	2	0	0	2	0
Kilkenny	2	0	0	2	0

Munster (Munster Football League)

Won by Kerry.

Clare v Kerry

11 October 1925 1

Clare

1-4 — 3-6

Kerry

Milltown Malbay[25]

Cork v Kerry

15 November 1925 2

Cork

0-0 — 2-8

Kerry

Macroom[26]

Waterford v Limerick

15 November 1925 2

Waterford

2-1 — 1-2

Limerick

Tipperary

Waterford v Kerry

22 November 1925 3

Waterford

1-0 — 0-12

Kerry

Waterford[27]

Kerry v Limerick

29 November 1925 4

Kerry

3-4 — 2-0

Limerick

Listowel[28]

Waterford v Cork

29 November 1925 4

Waterford

1-2 — 2-3

Cork

Dungarvan[29]

Cork v Limerick

28 February 1926 5

Cork

0-4 — 1-0

Limerick

Fermoy[30]

Tipperary v Clare

7 March 1926 5

Tipperary

2-5 — 1-4

Clare

Clonmel[31]

Kerry v Tipperary

13 June 1926 5

Kerry

0-5 — 0-2

Tipperary

Austin Stack Park, Tralee[32]

Ulster (Dr McKenna Cup)

North-West Group

Regulation games

Cavan v Fermanagh

8 November 1925	Cavan	4-3 — 2-3	Fermanagh	Belturbet,[33]
				Referee: J. Murphy Monaghan

Tyrone v Fermanagh

29 November 1925	Tyrone	1-1 — 0-2	Fermanagh	Enniskillen,[34]
				Referee: G. McGovern Cavan

Donegal v Cavan

29 November 1925

Donegal

6-5 — 3-5

Cavan

Ballyshannon,[35]

Donegal v Fermanagh

20 December 1925

Donegal

1-5 — 2-1

Fermanagh

Stranorlar,[36]

Cavan v Tyrone

20 December 1925

Cavan

4-2 — 2-0

Tyrone

Dungannon,[37]

Tyrone v Donegal

17 January 1926	Tyrone	3-6 — 2-2	Donegal	Donaghmore,[38]
				Referee: Mr. Cleary Antrim

Play-Offs

Donegal v Tyrone

28 February 1926 Play-Off (2nd Place)	Donegal	4-3 — 3-6	Tyrone	Omagh,[39]
				Attendance: 2,000

Donegal v Tyrone

14 March 1926 Play-Off (2nd Place) Replay	Donegal	4-4 — 2-3	Tyrone	Omagh,[40]
				Attendance: 6,000

Cavan v Donegal

28 March 1926 Play-Off (1st Place)

Cavan

4-8 — 2-4

Donegal

Ballyconnell,[41]

North-East Group

Regulation games

Antrim v Monaghan

1 November 1925

Antrim

0-7 — 0-5

Monaghan

Clones[42]

Armagh v Monaghan

6 December 1925

Armagh

2-6 — 3-1

Monaghan

Castleblaney,[43]

Antrim v Down

13 December 1925	Antrim	1-6 — 2-2	Down	Castlewellan,[44]
				Referee: P. Murray Armagh

Armagh v Down

24 January 1926

Armagh

3-0 — 2-0

Down

Hilltown

Play-Offs

Antrim v Armagh

7 March 1926 For 1st place (replay)	Antrim	1-4 — 0-3	Armagh	Newry[45]
				Referee: P McGivern Down

Final

Antrim v Cavan

11 April 1926 Final	Antrim	2-5 — 0-5	Cavan	Belfast,[46]
				Referee: J. Cooney Armagh

Final standings

North-West Group Team Pld W D L Pts Status Cavan 3 2 0 1 4 Donegal 3 2 0 1 4 Tyrone 3 2 0 1 4 Fermanagh 3 0 0 3 0

North-East Group Team Pld W D L Pts Status Antrim 3 2 1 0 5 Advance to Knockout stage Armagh 3 2 1 0 5 Monaghan 2 0 0 2 0 Down 2 0 0 2 0

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

14 February 1926

Sligo	3-1 – 0-5	Longford

Longford

---

21 March 1926

Laois	1-6 – 1-5	Kerry

Croke Park, Dublin

Semi-finals

25 April 1926
Semi-final

Dublin	0-8 – 0-5	Antrim

Dundalk^[47]

Referee: T. Burke, Drogheda

---

9 May 1926
Semi-final

Sligo	3-5 – 2-6	Laois

Croke Park, Dublin

An objection was successfully made and a replay ordered.

---

27 June 1926
Semi-final replay

Laois	4-6 – 1-4	Sligo

Roscommon^[48]

Final

19 September 1926

Laois	2-1 – 1-0	Dublin
Jack Brown 2-0, Tom Costello 0-1		Peter Stynes 1-0

Barrett's Park, New Ross

Referee: P McCullagh (Wexford)

Leinster League inter-group ties

Longford v Dublin

29 November 1925 Game 1

Longford

2-2 — 2-2

Dublin

Longford[49]

• The game was initially awarded to Longford as Dublin failed to finish owing to a disputed decision. Later, the Leinster Council declared the result void and ordered a replay.^[50]

Dublin v Longford

31 January 1926 Game 1 replay

Dublin

3-5 — 0-4

Longford

Mullingar[51]

• Match was abandoned with seven minutes remaining. The game was awarded to Dublin

Laois v Dublin

20 December 1925 Game 2

Laois

1-3 — 1-2

Dublin

Croke Park, Dublin[52]

Laois v Longford

31 January 1926 Game 3

Laois

w/o — scr.

Longford

Portlaoise[53]

• Longford did not play in protest at the fact that Game 1 replay versus Dublin was awarded to Dublin

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Laois	2	2	0	0	4	Leinster League winners
Dublin	2	1	0	1	2
Longford	2	0	0	2	0

Laois won the Leinster Football League. This would appear to have been a separate competition, and this ties did not form part of the National Football League proper.