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 Group stage Division 1B table Group stage Play-off Knock-out stage Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals Scoring statistics ;Top scorers overall ;Top scorers in a single game ==Division 2==