Teams 32 Captain Diarmuid O'Sullivan Runners-up Waterford | Winners Cork (14th win) Manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy | |
Dates 8 March – 25 July, 1998 | ||
The 1998 National Hurling League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Church & General National Hurling League, was the 66th edition of the National Hurling League (NHL), an annual hurling competition for the GAA county teams. Cork won the league, beating Waterford by 2-14 to 0-13 in the final.
Format change
At a meeting of the GAA's Central Council in August 1997 it was agreed to change the structure of the National League. It was decided to revert to the "mixed ability" format which was used in the football league five years earlier. In that format two counties from each of the previous season's four hierarchical divisions were placed in four new divisions - each of which thus had eight teams with two representatives from each of the present four divisions.
The top two in each division qualified for both the quarter-finals and the following season's Division One. Second and third-placed teams were ranked Division Two and so on down to the end of the table.
It was also decided to revise the National Hurling League programme, which switched to a calendar year for the 1997 National League.