The 1998–99 National Football League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Church & General National Football League, was the 68th staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.
Cork beat Dublin in the final.GAA Final Teams The tournament introduced yellow and red cards to Gaelic football for the first time. It also had an experimental rule forbidding goalkeepers from handpassing the ball — this latter rule was not continued.
Format The top 16 teams are drawn into sections 1A and 1B. The other 17 teams are drawn into sections 2A and 2B. Each team plays all the other teams in its section once: either home or away. Teams earn 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.
Titles Teams in both divisions competed for the National Football League title.
Knockout stage qualifiers Eight teams qualify for the NFL quarter-finals: The top three teams in each of sections 1A and 1B The first-placed teams in each of sections 2A and 2B
Promotion and relegation
Division One (A): bottom 2 teams demoted to Division Two Division One (B): bottom 2 teams demoted to Division Two Division Two (A): top 2 teams promoted to Division One. Division Two (B): top 2 teams promoted to Division One.
Group stage Division One Final standings Group A TeamPldWDLFAAverPtsNotes Armagh7 5 1 1 11-68 6-67 1.188 11 Advance to Knockout stage Cork7 4 1 2 7-65 4-64 1.132 9 Dublin7 3 2 2 4-90 4-69 1.259 8 Tyrone7 3 2 2 3-67 4-60 1.056 8 Galway7 3 1 3 8-78 5-76 1.121 7 Donegal7 3 0 4 4-70 3-64 1.123 6 Offaly7 2 2 3 5-59 5-62 0.961 6 Relegated to Division Two of the 1999–2000 NFL Leitrim7 0 1 6 6-47 17-82 0.489 1
Group B TeamPldWDLFAAverPtsNotes Meath7 4 1 2 8-56 1-41 1.818 9 Advance to Knockout stage Kildare7 4 1 2 3-61 2-58 1.094 9 Derry7 3 2 2 4-62 3-51 1.233 8 Mayo7 3 2 2 8-58 9-46 1.123 8 Clare7 3 1 3 6-51 2-55 1.131 7 Down7 3 1 3 5-55 6-67 0.824 7 Monaghan7 3 1 3 1-57 6-63 0.741 7 Relegated to Division Two of the 1999–2000 NFL Laois7 0 1 6 2-48 6-67 0.593 1
Division two Final standings Group A TeamPldWDLFAAverPtsNotes Kerry8 7 0 1 10-97 3-54 2.016 14 Advance to Knockout stage; Promoted to Division One of the 1999–2000 NFL Roscommon8 7 0 1 12-85 2-58 1.891 14Promoted to Division One of the 1999–2000 NFL Westmeath8 6 0 2 15-89 5-64 1.696 12 Wicklow8 6 0 2 7-84 2-64 1.500 12 Louth8 4 0 4 7-82 6-56 1.392 8 Antrim8 2 0 6 7-79 9-86 0.885 4 Limerick8 2 0 6 6-60 10-83 0.690 4 London8 2 0 6 2-64 10-79 0.642 4 Kilkenny8 0 0 8 2-24 21-120 0.164 0
Group B TeamPldWDLFAAverPtsNotes Sligo7 5 1 1 7-71 4-55 1.373 11 Advance to Knockout stage; Promoted to Division One of the 1999–2000 NFL Fermanagh7 4 2 1 7-71 2-62 1.353 10Promoted to Division One of the 1999–2000 NFL Carlow7 5 0 2 7-67 7-59 1.100 10 Wexford7 4 0 3 8-72 5-68 1.157 8 Cavan7 4 0 3 7-77 9-70 1.010 8 Longford7 3 0 4 8-71 9-80 0.888 6 Tipperary7 1 1 5 7-62 6-68 0.965 3 Waterford7 0 0 7 4-51 13-80 0.529 0
Knockout stage Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Finals
References