1997–98 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1997–98 National Football League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Church & General National Football League, was the 67th staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

1997–98 National Football League

League details
Dates	19 October 1997 – 26 April 1998
Teams	33
League champions
Winners	Offaly (1st win)
Captain	Finbarr Cullen
Manager	Tommy Lyons
League runners-up
Runners-up	Derry
Captain	Kieran McKeever
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The Kerry v Cavan Round 1 game was played at the Polo Grounds, New York City, to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1947 All-Ireland Final.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The then Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani threw the ball in ahead of the game.^[6]

Offaly won their first and only league title.^[7][8]

Format

The teams are in four sections, three of 8 teams and one of 9. Each team plays all the other teams in its division once: either home or away. Teams earn 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. The top two teams in each section contest the NFL quarter-finals.^[9]

Results

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Mayo	7	6	0	0	13	Advance to knockout stage and moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Galway	7	5	2	0	12
Laois	7	4	2	1	10	Moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Leitrim	7	4	1	2	9
Louth	7	3	0	4	6	Moved to Division Two of the 1998–99 NFL
Fermanagh	7	1	1	5	3
Carlow	7	1	1	5	3
Kilkenny	7	0	0	7	0

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Donegal	7	6	1	0	13	Advance to Knockout stage and moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Derry	7	5	1	1	11
Armagh	7	5	0	2	10	Moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Meath	7	4	1	2	9
Longford	7	3	0	4	6	Moved to Division Two of the 1998–99 NFL
Westmeath	7	2	1	4	5
Antrim	7	1	0	6	2
London	7	0	0	7	0

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Offaly	7	6	1	0	13	Advance to knockout stage and moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Monaghan	7	4	1	2	9
Dublin	7	4	0	3	8	Moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Tyrone	7	4	0	3	8
Sligo	7	3	2	2	8	Moved to Division Two of the 1998–99 NFL
Kerry	7	3	0	4	6
Cavan	7	2	0	5	4
Wexford	7	0	0	7	0

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Down	8	6	0	2	12	Advance to quarter-finals and moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Cork	8	6	0	2	12
Kildare	8	6	0	2	12	Moved to Division One of the 1998–99 NFL
Clare	8	4	1	3	9
Wicklow	8	4	1	3	9	Moved to Division Two of the 1998–99 NFL
Tipperary	8	4	0	4	8
Roscommon	8	2	2	4	6
Limerick	8	1	1	6	3
Waterford	8	0	1	7	1

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

5 April 1998

Derry	1-9 – 0-10	Mayo

Markievicz Park, Sligo

---

5 April 1998

Offaly	1-11 – 0-10	Galway

Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon

---

5 April 1998

Donegal	2-14 – 1-9	Cork

Croke Park, Dublin

---

5 April 1998

Monaghan	2-6 – 1-8	Down

Croke Park, Dublin

Semi-finals

12 April 1998

Offaly	3-10 – 1-14	Donegal

Croke Park, Dublin

---

12 April 1998

Derry	1-12 – 0-8	Monaghan

Croke Park, Dublin

Finals

26 April 1998
Final

Offaly	0-9 – 0-7	Derry

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 22,531 ^[10]

Referee: Niall Barrett (Cork) ^[11]

References

1. . Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
2. . Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
3. Kerry photos
4. 1997 Kerry v Cavan NFL game in New York Photos
5. Terrace Talk 1997
6. McManus, Ray (18 October 1997). "Mayor of New York City Rudolph Guiliani throws the ball in before the game watched by Joe McDonagh, President of the GAA and Referee Brian White ahead of the Church and General National Football League match".
7. . Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
8. GAA Archive 1998^{[permanent dead link]}
9. Gaelic Games website
10. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151
11. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151