1945–46 National Football League (Ireland)

The 1945–46 National Football League was the 15th staging of the National Football League, an annual Gaelic football tournament for the Gaelic Athletic Association county teams of Ireland.

1945–46 National Football League

League details
Dates	November 1945 – April 1946
League champions
Winners	Meath (2nd win)
Captain	Matt O'Toole
League runners-up
Runners-up	Wexford
← 1940–41 1946–47 →

The NFL returned after the four-year gap due to The Emergency / Second World War. Meath won, beating Wexford in the final.^[1][2][3][4]

Format

There were four divisions – Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western. Division winners played off for the NFL title.

League-phase results and tables

Group one (Dr Lagan Cup)

Down, Tyrone, Armagh, Derry, Antrim

Group two

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Meath	4	4	0	0	8	Qualified for knockout phase
Louth	4	2	0	2	4
Monaghan	4	2	0	2	4
Longford	4	2	0	2	4
Fermanagh	4	0	0	4	0

^[5]

Group three

Wexford won, from Waterford, Carlow and Cork

Group four

Cavan won, from Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon

Group five

Results

Tipperary v Kerry

4 November 1945 Round 1

Tipperary

1-7 — 2-1

Kerry

Clonmel[6]

Galway v Clare

4 November 1945 Round 1

Galway

2-11 — 3-4

Clare

Galway[7]

Kerry v Galway

18 November 1945 Round 2

Kerry

0-12 — 1-8

Galway

Austin Stack Park, Tralee[8]

Clare v Tipperary

18 November 1945 Round 2

Clare

0-5 — 3-7

Tipperary

Milltown Malbay[9]

Tipperary v Galway

3 March 1946 Round 3

Tipperary

3-5 — 2-5

Galway

Clonmel[10]

Clare v Kerry

10 March 1946 Round 3[11]

Clare

scr — scr

Kerry

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Status
Tipperary	3	3	0	0	6	Qualified for knockout phase
Galway	3	1	0	2	2
Kerry	2	1	0	1	2
Clare	2	0	0	2	0

Group Six

Dublin won, from Kildare, Laois, Wicklow, Offaly

Knockout phase

Inter-group play-offs

Wexford	1-8 – 1-7	Tipperary

7 April 1946

Wexford Park, Wexford^[12]

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Meath	3-9 – 2-5	Cavan

31 March 1946

Breffni Park, Cavan^[13]

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Semi-final

Meath	3-4 – 1-10	Antrim

14 April 1946

Navan^[14]

---

Meath	0-11 – 0-9	Antrim

28 April 1946
Replay

Corrigan Park, Belfast^[15]

---

Wexford	5-6 – 1-2	Dublin

14 April 1946

Enniscorthy^[16]

Final

Meath	2-2 – 0-6	Wexford
Bill Halpenny 1-0, Jim Clarke 1-0, Frankie O'Neill 0-1, Paddy Meegan 0-1[17]		Des O'Neill 0-2, Paddy Kehoe 0-2, Nicky Rackard 0-1, Tom O'Leary 0-1[18]

26 May 1946

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 18,215^[19]

Referee: J Dowling (Kildare)^[20]

References

1. Mayo results archive
2. "GAA Final Teams". Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
3. "Croke Park archive page". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
4. Paddy Meegan obituary
5. "National Football League", Meath Chronicle, 09/03/1946, p. 3
6. "Our footballers disappoint", The Kerryman, 10/11/1945, p. 4
7. "Other football league games", Irish Press, 05/11/1945, p. 4
8. "Galway has promising football material", The Connacht Tribune, 24/11/1945, p. 7
9. "Other league games", Irish Press, 19/11/1945, p. 4
10. "Tipperary won despite rally", Irish Independent, 04/03/1946, p. 6
11. "Five have hopes of reaching final", Irish Press, 06/03/1946, p. 6
12. "Wexford beat Tipperary", Irish Independent, 07/04/1946, p. 7
13. "Meath defeat Cavan in inter-group game", Cork Examiner, 01/04/1946, p. 4
14. "Long whistle saves Meath", Meath Chronicle, 20/04/1946
15. "Meath's two points win in thrilling game of swaying fortunes", Irish Press. 29/04/1946, p. 8
16. "Dashing Wexford had easy path to final", Irish Press, 15/04/1946, p. 8
17. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151
18. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151
19. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151
20. "For The Record, A History of the National Football and Hurling League Finals", Tom Morrison, Collins Press, 2002, ISBN 9781903464151