The 1975–76 National Hurling League was the 45th season of the National Hurling League.
Division 1
Galway came into the season as defending champions of the 1974-75 season. Westmeath entered Division 1 as the promoted team.
On 20 June 1976, Kilkenny won the title after a 6–14 to 1–14 win over Clare in the final. It was their 4th league title overall and their first since 1965-66.
Westmeath were relegated from Division 1 after just one season in the top flight. They were defeated by Antrim in a relegation play-off.
Kilkenny's Eddie Keher was the Division 1 top scorer with 11–58.
Structure
The 14 teams in Division 1 were divided into two groups of seven teams named Division 1A and Division 1B. Each team played all the others in its group once. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. The first two teams in Division 1A advanced to the league semi-finals. The third and fourth-placed teams in Division 1A joined the first two teams in Division 1B in the quarter-finals. The bottom-placed team in Division 1A was relegated to Division 1B with the Division 1B champion gaining promotion. The bottom-placed team in Division 1B was relegated to Division 2.
Division 1A table
PosTeamPldWDLPtsNotes1 Wexford 640282 Cork 640283 Clare 63127 Division 1 runners-up4 Kilkenny 62226 Division 1 champions5 Dublin 613256 Tipperary 621357 Galway 61142 Relegated to Division 1B
Group stage
Division 1B table
PosTeamPldWDLPtsNotes1 Limerick 660012 Promoted to Division 1A2 Waterford 6501103 Kildare 630364 Offaly 630365 Laois 620446 Antrim 610527 Westmeath 61052 Relegated to Division 2
Group stage
Play-off
Knock-out stage
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Finals
Scoring statistics
Top scorers overall
Rank Player Team Tally Total Matches Average1Eddie KeherKilkenny11-5891118.272Colm HonanClare1-4548114.363Ned BuggyWexford2-32384Mick BrennanKilkenny4-2234Johnny WalshKildare3-25346Éamonn CreganLimerick9-05327Éamonn O'DonoghueCork7-09308Joe TowellDublin9-0027Eddie DonnellyAntrim3-182710Jim McNamaraClare0-2525
Top scorers in a single game
Rank Player Team Tally Total Opposition1Ned BuggyWexford1-1114Clare2Paddy BatesLaois3-0413Kildare3Joe TowellDublin4-0012WexfordEddie KeherKilkenny3-0312Cork5Mick ButlerWexford3-0211ClareEddie KeherKilkenny2-0511LimerickPaddy KellyLimerick1-0811OffalyJohn GalvinWaterford1-0811Laois9Jim GreeneWaterford3-0110LaoisÉamonn CreganLimerick3-0110WestmeathJohnny WalshKildare1-0710WestmeathEddie KeherKilkenny1-0710Clare
Division 2
On 7 March 1976, Wicklow won the title after a 2–9 to 0–7 win over Down in a play-off.
Division 2 table
PosTeamPldWDLPtsNotes1 Wicklow 54018 Division 2 champions2 Down 540183 Meath 530264 Kerry 530265 Carlow 510426 Roscommon 50050
Group stage
Play-off
References