1975–76 National Hurling League
# 1975–76 National Hurling League

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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wexford | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | Cork | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Clare | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | Division 1 runners-up |
| 4 | Kilkenny | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | Division 1 champions |
| 5 | Dublin | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | Tipperary | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | Galway | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | Relegated to Division 1B |

### Division 1B table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Limerick | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Promoted to Division 1A |
| 2 | Waterford | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Kildare | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Offaly | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Laois | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | Antrim | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Westmeath | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | Relegated to Division 2 |

### Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finals

### Scoring statistics

**Top scorers overall**

| Rank | Player | Team | Tally | Total | Matches | Average |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Eddie Keher | Kilkenny | 11-58 | 91 | 11 | 8.27 |
| 2 | Colm Honan | Clare | 1-45 | 48 | 11 | 4.36 |
| 3 | Ned Buggy | Wexford | 2-32 | 38 | | |
| 4 | Mick Brennan | Kilkenny | 4-22 | 34 | | |
| 4 | Johnny Walsh | Kildare | 3-25 | 34 | | |
| 6 | Éamonn Cregan | Limerick | 9-05 | 32 | | |
| 7 | Éamonn O'Donoghue | Cork | 7-09 | 30 | | |
| 8 | Joe Towell | Dublin | 9-00 | 27 | | |
| 8 | Eddie Donnelly | Antrim | 3-18 | 27 | | |
| 10 | Jim McNamara | Clare | 0-25 | 25 | | |

**Top scorers in a single game**

| Rank | Player | Team | Tally | Total | Opposition |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ned Buggy | Wexford | 1-11 | 14 | Clare |
| 2 | Paddy Bates | Laois | 3-04 | 13 | Kildare |
| 3 | Joe Towell | Dublin | 4-00 | 12 | Wexford |
| 3 | Eddie Keher | Kilkenny | 3-03 | 12 | Cork |
| 5 | Mick Butler | Wexford | 3-02 | 11 | Clare |
| 5 | Eddie Keher | Kilkenny | 2-05 | 11 | Limerick |
| 5 | Paddy Kelly | Limerick | 1-08 | 11 | Offaly |
| 5 | John Galvin | Waterford | 1-08 | 11 | Laois |
| 9 | Jim Greene | Waterford | 3-01 | 10 | Laois |
| 9 | Éamonn Cregan | Limerick | 3-01 | 10 | Westmeath |
| 9 | Johnny Walsh | Kildare | 1-07 | 10 | Westmeath |
| 9 | Eddie Keher | Kilkenny | 1-07 | 10 | Clare |

## 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wicklow | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | Division 2 champions |
| 2 | Down | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Meath | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | Kerry | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Carlow | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Roscommon | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
