Season | 2012–13 |
---|---|
Champions | Cliftonville 1st Premiership title 4th Irish title (inc. 1 shared) |
Relegated | Donegal Celtic Lisburn Distillery |
Champions League | Cliftonville |
Europa League | Glentoran (via Irish Cup) Crusaders Linfield |
Matches played | 228 |
Goals scored | 684 (3 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Liam Boyce (29 goals) |
Biggest home win | Glenavon 7–0 Ballymena United Glenavon 7–0 Lisburn Distillery |
Biggest away win | Ballymena United 0–8 Cliftonville |
Highest scoring | Glentoran 4–5 Crusaders |
Highest attendance | 5,458[1] Linfield 2–1 Glentoran (26 December 2012) |
Lowest attendance | 39[1] Donegal Celtic 2–1 Dungannon Swifts (16 April 2013) |
Average attendance | 828[1] |
← 2011–12 2013–14 → |
The 2012–13 IFA Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 112th season of Irish league football overall.
Cliftonville were champions, winning the league for the 4th time.
Summary
[edit]The season began on 11 August 2012 and ended on 27 April 2013. This was the last season of the league under the control of the Irish Football Association. From the following season onwards, the league became part of the newly created Northern Ireland Football League.[2]
Linfield were the defending champions after winning their third consecutive title – their 51st league title overall last season.[3] This season however, Cliftonville were the champions for the fourth time overall and the first time since the 1997–98 season.[4] It was also the first time in eleven years that neither Linfield or Glentoran had won the title, with the previous occasion being 2001–02 when Portadown won their fourth title.
Lisburn Distillery finished bottom of the table and were relegated to Championship 1 after a 2–0 defeat to Ballymena United on 16 April 2013. The club had participated in all 112 seasons of senior football so far, and at the time were one of only four clubs to have done so; the others being Cliftonville, Linfield and Glentoran. The club had not been outside the top division since winning the 2001–02 Irish League First Division title, which at the time was the second tier of senior football. However, the restructuring of the league system in 2003 consolidated senior football into one division, which meant that this was the first time in the club's history that they had been relegated to intermediate football. This brought an end to both their 123-year stay in senior football, and their 11-year stay in the top flight.[5] 11th-placed Donegal Celtic joined them in Championship 1, after losing on the away goals rule to Warrenpoint Town in the Promotion/relegation play-off following a 2–2 draw on aggregate.[6] This was the first time since the 2005–06 season that two clubs had been promoted to, and relegated from the top flight.
Teams
[edit]2011–12 Championship 1 winners Ballinamallard United were promoted to this season's Premiership after successfully gaining the required Championship Club Licence from the IFA.[7] Last season's bottom-placed Premiership club Carrick Rangers replaced them in Championship 1 after only one season in the top flight.[8][9]
Championship 1 runners-up Newry City lost out on promotion, as last season's 11th placed club Lisburn Distillery defeated them 3–2 on aggregate in the Promotion/relegation play-off.[10]
Stadia and locations
[edit]Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity[11][12][13] |
---|---|---|---|
Ballinamallard United | Ferney Park | Ballinamallard | 2,000 (250 seated) |
Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,050 (all seated) |
Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 2,530 (all seated) |
Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 2,496 (1,106 seated) |
Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,383 (all seated) |
Donegal Celtic | Donegal Celtic Park | Belfast | 2,330 (650 seated) |
Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 5,000 (600 seated) |
Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 4,160 (4,000 seated) |
Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 5,056 (3,991 seated) |
Linfield | Windsor Park | Belfast | 12,342 (all seated) |
Lisburn Distillery | New Grosvenor Stadium | Ballyskeagh | 7,000 (540 seated) |
Portadown | Shamrock Park | Portadown | 3,940 (2,740 seated) |
League table
[edit]Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cliftonville (C) | 38 | 29 | 4 | 5 | 95 | 38 | +57 | 91 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
2 | Crusaders | 38 | 26 | 5 | 7 | 82 | 41 | +41 | 83 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a] |
3 | Linfield | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 69 | 48 | +21 | 62 | |
4 | Glentoran | 38 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 63 | 44 | +19 | 57 | |
5 | Ballinamallard United | 38 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 49 | 43 | +6 | 53 | |
6 | Coleraine | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 50 | 57 | −7 | 53 | |
7 | Portadown | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 55 | 55 | 0 | 55[b] | |
8 | Ballymena United | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 54 | 68 | −14 | 46 | |
9 | Glenavon | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 64 | 62 | +2 | 42 | |
10 | Dungannon Swifts | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 42 | 58 | −16 | 40 | |
11 | Donegal Celtic (R) | 38 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 32 | 80 | −48 | 27 | Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off |
12 | Lisburn Distillery (R) | 38 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 29 | 90 | −61 | 19 | Relegation to NIFL Championship 1 |
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- ^ Glentoran also qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2012–13 Irish Cup.
- ^ After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the number of points earned during matches 34–38.
Results
[edit]Matches 34–38
[edit]During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once. As this was the fourth time that teams played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that they played each other twice at home and twice away.
Promotion/relegation play-off
[edit]Donegal Celtic played Warrenpoint Town, the runners-up of the 2012–13 IFA Championship 1 in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's NIFL Premiership. Warrenpoint Town won the tie on the away goals rule to reach the top flight for the first time in the club's history. Donegal Celtic were relegated to next season's Championship 1.[6]
Warrenpoint Town | 1 – 0 | Donegal Celtic |
---|---|---|
Hughes ![]() |
Report |
Donegal Celtic | 2 – 1 | Warrenpoint Town |
---|---|---|
McVeigh ![]() Miskimmin ![]() |
Report | McCabe ![]() |
2–2 on aggregate. Warrenpoint Town won on away goals rule and were promoted. Donegal Celtic were relegated.
Top scorers
[edit]Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[15] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
Cliftonville | 29 |
2 | ![]() |
Glentoran | 20 |
3 | ![]() |
Portadown | 18 |
4 | ![]() |
Coleraine | 17 |
![]() |
Cliftonville | 17 | |
6 | ![]() |
Crusaders | 16 |
7 | ![]() |
Crusaders | 15 |
8 | ![]() |
Crusaders | 13 |
9 | ![]() |
Ballymena United | 11 |
![]() |
Linfield | 11 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Irish League Supporters Forum – Attendances". Irish League Supporters Forum. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- ^ "NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE". NIFL Premiership.
- ^ "Linfield beat Portadown to secure Premiership crown". BBC Sport. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Cliftonville beat Linfield to secure Irish Premiership title". BBC Sport. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
- ^ "Tim McCann sacked as manager as Lisburn Distillery are relegated". BBC Sport. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
- ^ a b "Warrenpoint Town overcome Donegal Celtic in Premiership play-off". BBC Sport. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ "CLUB LICENSING DECISIONS ANNOUNCED". Irish Football Association. irishfa.com. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ "Ballinamallard win Championship title as Newry lose". BBC Sport. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Donegal Celtic 3–5 Carrick Rangers". BBC Sport. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Newry City 2–3 Lisburn Distillery". BBC Sport. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ "Sport NI Annual review 2009/10" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ "DC back in automatic relegation picture after points deduction". BBC Sport. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
- ^ "IFA PREMIERSHIP – TOP GOAL SCORERS". ifapremiership.com. Retrieved 8 December 2012.