1982–83 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1982–83 National Football League was the 52nd staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

1982–83 National Football League

League details
Dates	October 1982 – 24 April 1983
League champions
Winners	Down (4th win)
Captain	Mark Turley
Manager	James McCartan
League runners-up
Runners-up	Armagh
Captain	Jim McKerr
← 1981–82 1983–84 →

Down defeated Armagh in the final.^[1][2]

Format

Group stage

Division One

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Armagh	7	5	2	0	12	Qualified for Knockout Stages
Down	7	4	3	0	11
Cork	7	4	1	2	9
Dublin	7	3	1	3	7
Kerry	7	3	1	3	7
Offaly	7	3	0	4	6
Derry	7	2	0	5	4	Relegated to Division Two of the 1983–84 NFL
Mayo	7	0	0	7	0

^[3]

Division Two

Play-Off

Cavan v Wicklow

30 April 1983 For 6th Place	Cavan	1-9 — 1-8	Wicklow	Pairc Tailteann, Navan[4]
				Referee: P Kavanagh Meath

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Kildare	7	6	0	1	12	Qualified for Knockout Stages and promoted to Division One of the 1983–84 NFL
Meath	7	5	1	1	11
Galway	7	4	2	1	10
Roscommon	7	4	1	2	9
Tyrone	7	3	0	4	6
Cavan	7	2	0	5	4
Wicklow	7	2	0	5	4	Relegated to Division Three of the 1983–84 NFL
Antrim	7	0	0	7	0

^[5]

Division Three

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Louth	7	6	0	1	12	Qualified for National League Cup and promoted to Division Two of the 1983–84 NFL
Wexford	7	5	0	2	10
Laois	7	4	1	2	9
Clare	7	4	0	3	8
Donegal	7	3	1	3	7
Monaghan	7	3	0	4	6
Fermanagh	7	2	0	5	4	Relegated to Division Four of the 1983–84 NFL
Longford	7	0	0	7	0

^[6]

Division Four

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
Westmeath	7	7	0	0	14	Qualified for National League Cup and promoted to Division Three of the 1983–84 NFL
Carlow	7	6	0	1	12
Leitrim	7	4	1	2	9
Limerick	7	2	2	3	6
Sligo	7	3	0	4	6
Tipperary	7	2	1	4	5
Waterford	7	2	0	5	4
Kilkenny	7	0	0	7	0

^[7]

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

10 April 1983

Down	1-9 – 0-4	Kildare

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 15,123

---

10 April 1983

Armagh	2-8 – 1-7	Meath

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 15,123

Finals

24 April 1983
Final

Down	1-8 – 0-8	Armagh

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 24,500^[8]

Referee: Weeshie Fogarty (Kerry)^[9]

National League Cup

Semi-finals

10 April 1983

Westmeath	1-8 – 0-5	Wexford

Portarlington

---

10 April 1983

Louth	2-10 – 1-5	Carlow

Portarlington

Final

24 April 1983^[10][11]

Westmeath	1-08 - 1-07	Louth
Tone (0-4), Coyne (1-0), Fahy (0-2f), W. Lowry (0-1), Tynan (0-1)		O'Kane (1-0), Dawe (0-3f), McDonnell (0-2), McCarragher (0-1), Quinn (0-1)

Páirc Tailteann, Navan

Referee: P. Kavanagh (Meath)

GK 1 Matt Scally (Athlone) (c) RCB 2 Michael McEnroe (Athlone) FB 3 Padraic McGowan (Athlone) LCB 4 Pat Murray (Moate All-Whites) RHB 5 Eddie Tynan (Shandonagh) CHB 6 Michael Lowry (St Malachy's) LHB 7 Michael Fagan (Mullingar Shamrocks) MF 8 Tommy McCormack (Maryland) MF 9 Christy Flanagan (Tang) RHF 10 Séamus Coyne (Milltownpass) CHF 11 Willie Lowry (St Malachy's) LHF 12 Rory Fahy (Athlone) RCF 13 Pat Brady (St Mary's Rochfortbridge) FF 14 Frank Tone (Rosemount) LCF 15 Michael Greene (Mullingar Shamrocks) Substitutes: 16 Michael Clarke (Mullingar Shamrocks) for Brady 17 Séamus Conroy (The Downs) for Flanagan

GK 1 Gerry Farrell (Cooley Kickhams) RCB 2 Séamus Haughey (Dundalk Young Irelands) FB 3 Matt McDermott (St Fechin's) LCB 4 Frank Taaffe (Oliver Plunketts) RHB 5 Dessie Callaghan (Newtown Blues) CHB 6 Aidan Wiseman (Clan na Gael) LHB 7 Michael McCabe (Dundalk Young Irelands) MF 8 Pat Matthews (Oliver Plunketts) MF 9 Paul Reneghan (Geraldines) RHF 10 Tony McCarragher (Cooley Kickhams) CHF 11 Jimmy McDonnell (Geraldines) (c) LHF 12 Benny McKeever (Clan na Gael) RCF 13 Ray Quinn (Kilkerley Emmets) FF 14 J.P. O'Kane (St Joseph's) LCF 15 Kevin Dawe (Dreadnots) Substitutes: 16 Pat McConnon (Dundalk Young Irelands) for Matthews