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.
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.
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.Laois GAA History, 1920-29
Knockout stage qualifiers Leinster: 3 teams Munster: 1 team Connacht: 1 team"National League", Irish Independent, 07/05/1926, p. 10 Ulster: 1 team
Group stage
Connacht (Connacht Railway Cup)
Results
Leinster I
Results
Table TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 3 3 0 0 6 Advance to Knockout stage 3 2 0 1 4 3 1 0 2 2 3 0 0 3 0
Leinster II
Results
Table TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 3 3 0 0 6 Advance to Knockout stage 3 2 0 1 4 3 1 0 2 0 3 0 0 3 0 Westmeath forfeited the points from their win v Offaly due to being late on the field"League Figures" Irish Independent, Friday 20 November 1925
Leinster III
Results
Table TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 3 3 0 0 6 Advance to Knockout stage 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0
Munster (Munster Football League) Won by .
Ulster (Dr McKenna Cup)
North-West Group
Regulation games
Play-Offs
North-East Group
Regulation games
Play-Offs
Final
Final standings
North-West Group TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 3 2 0 1 4 3 2 0 1 4 3 2 0 1 4 3 0 0 3 0
North-East Group TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 3 2 1 0 5 Advance to Knockout stage 3 2 1 0 5 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
An objection was successfully made and a replay ordered.
Final
Leinster League inter-group ties
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."Unpleasant incident". Sunday Independent, 13/12/1923, p. 7
Match was abandoned with seven minutes remaining. The game was awarded to Dublin
Longford did not play in protest at the fact that Game 1 replay versus Dublin was awarded to Dublin
Table TeamPldWDLPtsStatus 2 2 0 0 4 Leinster League winners 2 1 0 1 2 2 0 02 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.
References