2008 League of Ireland

League of Ireland
Season	2008
	← 2007 2009 →

The clubs competing in the 2008 FAI eircom League of Ireland

The 2008 League of Ireland season consisted of both Premier and First Division, as well as the newly introduced 'A' Championship. The season kicked off in March and the 'A' Championship commenced in June. In order to prepare for the 'A' Championship, competing clubs were offered the opportunity to compete in a Shield competition, which began in March.^[1]

The season was a transitional one in order to reduce the number of clubs in the Premier Division to ten and increase the number in the First Division to twelve. As a result there was no playoffs with just the three bottom clubs in the Premier Division automatically relegated to the First Division and the First Division champions automatically promoted to the Premier Division.

There was a playoff between the bottom placed side in the First Division and an 'A' Championship qualifier to determine who would participate in 2009 in the First Division. Bohemians ended the season as premier division champions, with a record winning margin of nineteen points.

Pre-season developments

Managerial changes

Several League of Ireland clubs changed their managers during pre-season. Alan Mathews resigned as manager of recently relegated Longford Town. The First Division club have since promoted Mathews' assistant at the club, Aaron Callaghan, to replace him as manager of the club.^[2] Pat Fenlon was also back in management after his brief reign in charge of Derry City in the early stage of the previous season. He was manager of Bohemians after they sacked Sean Connor.^[3] Back at Derry City they re-appointed former manager Stephen Kenny after he had left the eircom league club the season before previous to take over the reins of then SPL side Dunfermline Athletic. Kenny was sacked by the Scottish club this season.^[4] Another manager without a job was Damien Richardson after he and Cork City reached a settlement for him to leave the club.^[5] The 2007 FAI Cup winners have since appointed Alan Mathews as their new manager.^[6]

Kilkenny City withdraw from League

Shortly before the league issued fixtures for the new season Kilkenny City issued a statement saying they were withdrawing from the League due to financial and inadequate support.^[7] Sporting Fingal, who were due to take part in the inaugural 'A' Championship, were offered Kilkenny's place in the First Division.^[8]

'A' Championship

The 'A' Championship was a new league introduced in order to provide a link between non-league soccer in the Republic of Ireland and the eircom League. It gave clubs the opportunity to win promotion to the league for the first time. It has been decided that this championship would not kick off until June but a Shield competition, starting in March, was put in place in order to give the 'A' Championship participants a chance to prepare. The league contained reserve sides of the eircom League clubs also. The previous December four new clubs were accepted for entry into the championship. These clubs were Mervue United, Salthill Devon (both from Galway), Tullamore Town from Offaly and newly formed Dublin club Sporting Fingal who have since been elevated to the First Division.^[1]

Television coverage

For the first time in the history of the league the national broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann started showing highlights of every Premier Division game played on its new show Monday Night Soccer. This show was presented by Con Murphy. This replaced eircom League Weekly which had run on TV3 on Monday nights from 2002-07. The final season of live weekly radio coverage was provided by national broadcaster RTÉ with live reports and commentary on match nights, which was dropped from the end of 2008. Live games were shown by RTÉ, Setanta Sports and TG4's Sacar Beo.

Clubs information

Team	Base	Manager	Main sponsor	Kit supplier	Stadium	Capacity
Athlone Town	Athlone, Co. Westmeath	Place, Brendan	Ganly's Hardware	O'Neills	Athlone Town Stadium	2,000
Bohemians	Dublin	Fenlon, Pat	Des Kelly Interiors	Umbro	Dalymount Park	8,500
Bray Wanderers	Bray, Co. Wicklow	Gormley, Eddie	Hard Metal	Umbro	Carlisle Grounds	7,000
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh, Co. Cork	Henderson, Stephen	Goodyear	Uhlsport	St. Colman's Park	5,000
Cork City	Cork	Mathews, Alan	Beamish	Hummel	Turners Cross	8,000
Derry City	Derry	Kenny, Stephen	MeteorElectrical.com	O'Neills	The Brandywell	7,700
Drogheda United	Drogheda, Co. Louth	Doolin, Paul	Hunky Dorys	Jako	United Park	5,400
Dundalk	Dundalk, Co. Louth	Connor, Sean	Shop Dundalk	Umbro	Oriel Park	6,000
Finn Harps	Ballybofey, Co. Donegal	Hegarty.Paul	Donegal Creameries	Masita	Finn Park	7,900
Galway United	Galway	Foster, Ian	O'Connell Drylining LTD	Rival	Terryland Park	5,000
Kildare County	Newbridge, Co. Kildare	Somerville, John	Cill Dara Betting	O'Neills	Station Road	2,500
Limerick 37	Limerick	Kerley, Michael	Limerick's Live 95FM	Jako	Jackman Park	8,000
Longford Town	Longford	Gough, Alan	Flancare	Umbro	Flancare Park	4,500
Mervue United	Galway	Glynn, Johnny	Atlantic Developments		Fahy's Field
Monaghan United	Monaghan	Cooke, Mick	The Squeeling Pig	Nike	Century Homes Park	3,000
Salthill Devon	Galway	Long, Emlyn	FCS	Umbro	Drom Clubhouse	2,000
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin	O'Neill, Michael	Woodie's DIY	Umbro	Tolka Park	9,700
Shelbourne	Dublin	Keely, Dermot	Cab 2000	Umbro	Tolka Park	9,700
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	Cook, Paul	Toher's	Jako	The Showgrounds	5,500
Sporting Fingal	Dublin	Buckley, Liam	Keelings	O'Neills	Morton Stadium	10,000
St. Patrick's Athletic	Dublin	Kenna, Jeff	Paddy Power	Umbro	Richmond Park	5,500
Tullamore Town	Offaly	Colsh, Keith			Leah Victoria Park	4,000
UCD	Dublin	Mahon, Pete	Budweiser	O'Neills	UCD Bowl	3,000
Waterford United	Waterford	Cronin, Gareth	Hutchison 3G	Azzurri	Waterford Regional Sports Centre	8,000
Wexford Youths	Crossabeg, Co. Wexford	Wallace, Mick	Wallace Construction	O'Neills	Ferrycarraig Park	5,000

League

Rules

Procedure

There were twelve participating clubs in the Premier Division and ten participating clubs in the First Division for 2007. During the course of the 2008 season (which lasted from March to November) each Premier club played the respective others three times. A pre-season draw decided which clubs will have the benefit of two home games in these matches. First Division sides played each other four times throughout the season - two games at home and two games at the stadium of the opposition. Each team in the Premier Division played 33 matches in total during the season, while those in the First Division played 36 games. The 'A' League Championship contained three clubs and reserve sides from Premier Division and some First Division clubs. The Championship was divided into two sections or groups. This didn't start until June with a Shield competition taking place before that.

Teams received three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points were awarded for a loss. Teams were ranked by total points, then goal difference and then goals scored. If there is equality in points, goal difference and goals for tallies, the clubs involved must partake in a play-off to decide their finishing positions. At the end of the season, the club with the most points in their division were crowned as champion of that division. The three lowest placed teams in the Premier were automatically relegated into the First Division and the top team from the First Division was automatically promoted to the Premier Division. In addition, the 2007 winner of the First Division had a once-off play-off with the winners of the FAI League Cup for a Setanta Cup place. The team that finished last in the First Division participated in a promotion/relegation playoff. The winners of the playoff between the highest placed non-reserve sides in both 'A' League Championship groups, provided that they both finished in the top four in their respective group, would have challenged the team that finished last in the First Division for their place in a promotion/relegation playoff. However, since only one of the 'A' League Championship groups had a non-reserve side in the top four then this team automatically faced the club that finished last in the First Division in a promotion/relegation playoff. If eircom League reserve sides had occupied the top four positions in both 'A' League Championship sections then no promotion/relegation playoff would have taken place and the team that finished last in the First Division would not have been relegated.

Qualification for 2009–10 European competitions

The top team in the Premier League qualified for the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round and must win three two-legged knockout ties against higher seeded and stronger opposition with progression in order to enter the group phase.

There were also three spots reserved in newly formed UEFA Europa League, two through league positions and one through domestic cup. The second-placed and third-placed team should have qualified for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round while the cup winners should have qualified for the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. However, since Bohemians won both the cup and the league, Europa League spot went to cup runners-up. Because they qualified for Europe through league, fourth-placed team were also awarded with a spot in the Europa League. The spot were thereby given to teams according to league positions. League runners-up and third-place team were given spots in the second, while the fourth-placed team was given a spot in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Prize funds

The trend of increasing prize funds for the league has continued this season. Between the National League, FAI Cup, FAI League Cup and the Setanta Cup a prize fund in excess of €2 million was available. The prize fund for the Premier Division in 2008 has increased with the winners being awarded €250,000. Unlike previous year every team received funds, even the last placed.^[9] The winners of the 'A' Championship were given €20,000.^[1]

Season

Tables

Premier Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bohemians (C)	33	27	4	2	55	13	+42	85	2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round ²
2	St Patrick's Athletic	33	20	6	7	48	24	+24	66	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ^1,2
3	Derry City	33	16	10	7	46	25	+21	58	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ¹
4	Sligo Rovers	33	12	12	9	41	28	+13	48	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ¹
5	Cork City	33	15	11	7	45	28	+17	046³
6	Bray Wanderers	33	11	6	16	28	52	−24	39
7	Shamrock Rovers	33	8	13	12	33	35	−2	37
8	Drogheda United	33	12	9	12	38	32	+6	035³
9	Galway United	33	8	8	17	34	49	−15	32
10	Finn Harps (R)	33	9	4	20	26	53	−27	31	Relegation to First Division 2009
11	Cobh Ramblers (R)	33	6	8	19	27	55	−28	26
12	UCD (R)	33	4	9	20	19	46	−27	21

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Since winners of FAI Cup 2008, Bohemians, also won the league, their spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League went to league runners-up, St Patrick's Athletic. Derry City, as cup runners-up, were guaranteed a spot in the first qualifying round. However, because Derry City finished third (and thereby already securing UEFA place), fourth-placed team Sligo Rovers also earned Europa League spot.
²Team also qualified for Setanta Sports Cup 2009–10.
³Cork City and Drogheda United were both deducted ten points after going into administration.^[10]^[11]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundalk (C)	36	21	8	7	69	30	+39	71	Promotion to Premier Division 2009
2	Shelbourne	36	20	10	6	55	25	+30	70
3	Waterford United	36	18	9	9	55	35	+20	63
4	Sporting Fingal	36	17	11	8	53	32	+21	62
5	Limerick 37	36	15	7	14	49	45	+4	52
6	Monaghan United	36	13	8	15	38	51	−13	47
7	Wexford Youths	36	10	7	19	36	51	−15	37
8	Longford Town	36	9	8	19	36	55	−19	35
9	Athlone Town	36	6	14	16	23	51	−28	32
10	Kildare County	36	6	8	22	34	73	−39	26	Qualification to First Division Play-Off

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

'A' League Championship

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bohemians A	14	11	2	1	34	12	+22	032¹	Qualification to A Championship Final
2	Finn Harps A	14	9	1	4	24	12	+12	28
3	Mervue United (P)	14	6	2	6	24	24	0	20	First Division Play-Off
4	Drogheda United A	14	5	5	4	23	23	0	017¹
5	Shamrock Rovers A	14	4	4	6	23	22	+1	16
6	Sligo Rovers A	14	4	3	7	24	23	+1	15
7	Derry City A	14	4	1	9	16	34	−18	13
8	Salthill Devon	14	3	2	9	13	31	−18	11

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Bohemians A and Drogheda United A were both deducted 3 points for fielding ineligible players.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	UCD A (C)	14	10	3	1	52	8	+44	33	Qualification to A Championship Final
2	Cork City A	14	7	3	4	22	13	+9	24
3	Galway United A	14	6	4	4	20	14	+6	22
4	Bray Wanderers A	14	6	3	5	31	20	+11	21
5	St Patrick's Athletic A	14	5	4	5	16	16	0	19
6	Cobh Ramblers A	14	6	2	6	24	25	−1	017¹
7	Limerick 37 A	14	4	2	8	17	33	−16	14
8	Tullamore Town	14	1	1	12	7	60	−53	4

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Cobh Ramblers A were deducted 3 points for fielding an ineligible player.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Promotion play-off

Kildare County and Mervue United competed in a two-legged playoff for one spot in 2009 First Division. Mervue United won 5–2 on aggregate and thereby secured a place in next year's FAI First Division.

Mervue United v Kildare County

18 November 2008
20:00

Mervue United	2 – 2	Kildare County
Keogh 10' Goldbey 28'		Hughes 54' 76'

Fahy's Field

Kildare County v Mervue United

21 November 2008
19:45

Kildare County	0 – 3	Mervue United
		O'Brien 15' Goldbey 64' 81'

Station Road

'A' Championship play-off

Bohemians 'A' and UCD 'A' competed in a playoff for the inaugural 'A' Championship title. UCD 'A' won 2–1 and therefore became the 2008 'A' Championship winners.

UCD 'A' v Bohemians 'A'

11 November 2008

UCD 'A'	2 – 1	Bohemians 'A'

UCD Bowl

Results

Premier League

Matches 1–22

Home ╲ Away	BOH	BRW	COB	COR	DER	DRO	FHA	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians		1–1	3–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	2–0
Bray Wanderers	0–2		1–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–3	0–2
Cobh Ramblers	0–1	1–2		0–0	0–3	0–4	1–3	1–1	2–0	1–3	0–1	0–0
Cork City	0–1	0–0	5–0		1–1	0–2	3–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0
Derry City	0–0	4–0	1–0	2–3		2–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–3	4–1
Drogheda United	1–2	2–0	3–0	0–1	0–1		1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1
Finn Harps	0–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–3		0–2	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–0
Galway United	0–1	2–3	0–1	1–3	0–4	0–1	2–2		0–2	1–1	2–2	1–2
Shamrock Rovers	0–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	3–1		1–0	0–1	1–1
Sligo Rovers	1–2	3–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	3–2		1–2	0–0
St Patrick's Athletic	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–2	0–1	0–1	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–1		0–0
UCD	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	2–3	1–3	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–3

Source: soccerway.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

Home ╲ Away	BOH	BRW	COB	COR	DER	DRO	FHA	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians		2–1		3–1	0–1		3–0				3–0
Bray Wanderers			3–2		2–1	4–3	0–1				0–1	2–1
Cobh Ramblers	0–2			1–1				4–1	1–0			2–0
Cork City		3–0			1–1	0–0	1–1			0–0		2–0
Derry City			4–2			0–1	1–0	2–0		1–1
Drogheda United	1–2		0–0				1–2	1–1	1–1		0–2
Finn Harps			2–2						2–0	0–2	0–1	2–0
Galway United	0–2	4–0		3–2			3–0		1–1
Shamrock Rovers	1–2	2–2		3–0	1–1						1–3	1–1
Sligo Rovers	0–1	2–0	4–0			3–3		1–1	2–1
St Patrick's Athletic			0–3	0–1	2–1			0–1		1–0		2–0
UCD	0–1				1–2	1–0		0–1		0–1

Source: soccerway.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division

First half of season

Home ╲ Away	ATH	DUN	KIL	L37	LON	MON	SHE	SFI	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		0–3	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	3–1
Dundalk	1–0		6–0	0–2	0–0	3–0	1–3	3–2	1–0	2–1
Kildare County	1–1	1–2		1–2	0–1	4–0	1–3	0–2	1–2	2–0
Limerick 37	0–0	1–2	4–0		2–1	2–2	0–3	1–3	0–3	2–0
Longford Town	3–0	1–2	0–0	1–2		3–0	2–0	5–1	0–2	0–1
Monaghan United	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0		1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2
Shelbourne	2–0	0–0	5–0	0–2	2–0	2–0		1–1	2–0	1–0
Sporting Fingal	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	4–0	0–0		3–1	2–0
Waterford United	1–1	1–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	5–0	1–1	2–0		1–0
Wexford Youths	2–0	0–5	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–2

Source: soccerway.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home ╲ Away	ATH	DUN	KIL	L37	LON	MON	SHE	SFI	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		2–2	3–0	0–3	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0
Dundalk	7–0		4–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–0
Kildare County	1–0	1–6		0–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–2
Limerick 37	0–0	2–0	1–2		1–3	2–1	1–2	1–1	5–1	1–1
Longford Town	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–2		1–3	1–2	0–3	0–3	2–4
Monaghan United	3–0	2–2	3–3	0–2	5–1		2–0	0–2	2–0	1–2
Shelbourne	3–3	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–0	1–0		0–0	0–0	1–0
Sporting Fingal	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–1		3–1	2–3
Waterford United	3–0	0–1	3–1	3–1	4–0	1–1	0–1	2–1		1–0
Wexford Youths	0–0	3–1	0–1	3–0	0–2	1–3	0–3	2–2	1–1

Source: soccerway.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.