1980–81 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1980–81 National Football League was the 50th staging of the National Football League (NFL), an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

Galway defeated Roscommon in an all-Connacht final.

Format

Titles

Teams in all four divisions competed for one league title.

Divisions

Division One: 8 teams
Division Two: 8 teams
Division Three: 8 teams
Division Four: 8 teams

Round-robin format

Each team played every other team in its division once, either home or away.

Points awarded

2 points were awarded for a win and 1 for a draw.

Knockout stage qualifiers

Division One: top 4 teams
Division Two: top 2 teams
Division Three: top team
Division Four: top team

Knockout phase structure

In the Preliminary quarter-finals, the match-ups were as follows

Preliminary Quarter-final 1: Fourth-placed team in Division One v First-placed team in Division Four
Preliminary Quarter-final 2: Second-placed team in Division Two v First-placed team in Division Three

In the quarter-finals, the match-ups were as follows

Quarter-final 1: Winner Preliminary Quarter-final 1 v First-placed team in Division Two
Quarter-final 2: Winner Preliminary Quarter-final 2 v Third-placed team in Division One

The semi-final match-ups are:

Semi-final 1: First-placed team in Division One v Winner Quarter-final 1
Semi-final 2: Second-placed team in Division One v Winner Quarter-final 2

Separation of teams on equal points

In the event that teams finish on equal points, then a play-off will be used to determine group placings if necessary, i.e. where to decide relegation places or quarter-finalists.