1981–82 National Hurling League

The 1981–82 National Hurling League was the 51st season of the National Hurling League.

Division 1

Cork came into the season as defending champions of the 1980-81 season. Carlow entered Division 1 as the promoted team.
On 18 April 1982, Kilkenny won the title after a 2-14 to 1-11 win over Wexford in the final. It was their 5th league title overall and their first since 1975-76.

Division 1A table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
1	Waterford	6	5	0	1	10	-
2	Cork	6	4	0	2	8	-
3	Tipperary	6	4	0	2	8	-
4	Galway	6	3	0	3	6	-
5	Offaly	6	3	0	3	6	-
6	Clare	6	2	0	4	4	-
7	Laois	6	0	0	6	0	-

Division 1B table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
1	Kilkenny	7	7	0	0	14	Division 1 champions
2	Wexford	7	6	0	1	12	Division 1 runners-up
3	Limerick	7	5	0	2	10	-
4	Dublin	7	4	0	3	8	-
5	Westmeath	7	3	0	4	6	-
6	Antrim	7	1	0	6	2	-
7	Kerry	7	1	0	6	2	-
8	Carlow	7	1	0	6	2	-

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
'''Final'''

Scoring statistics

;Top scorers overall

Rank	Player	Team	Tally	Total	Matches	Average
1	Christy Heffernan	Kilkenny	13-07	46	10	4.60
2	Billy Fitzpatrick	Kilkenny	2-39	45	9	5.00
3	Pádraig Horan	Offaly	3-31	40	7	5.71
4	Johnny Walsh	Kildare	1-33	36	5	7.20
5	Martin Brophy	Laois	3-27	36	6	6.00
6	Danny McNaughton	Antirm	3-26	35	7	5.00
7	Ned Buggy	Wexford	3-24	33	5	6.60
8	M. Murphy	Carlow	0-30	30	7	4.28
9	P. J. Molloy	Galway	2-22	28	8	3.50
10	Kieran Brennan	Kilkenny	3-18	27	11	2.45

Division 2

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Notes
1	Wicklow	6	6	0	0	12	Division 2 champions
2	Meath	6	4	1	1	9	-
3	Kildare	6	3	0	3	6	-
4	Mayo	5	3	0	2	6	-
5	Down	6	1	2	3	4	-
6	Roscommon	5	1	0	4	2	-
7	Armagh	6	0	0	6	0	-