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2011–12 IFA Premiership

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IFA Premiership
Season2011–12
ChampionsLinfield
3rd Premiership title
51st Irish title
RelegatedCarrick Rangers
Champions LeagueLinfield
Europa LeaguePortadown
Cliftonville
Crusaders (via Irish Cup)
Matches played228
Top goalscorerGary McCutcheon (27 goals)
Biggest home winLinfield 5–0 Donegal Celtic
Glentoran 6–1 Carrick Rangers
Linfield 5–0 Crusaders
Biggest away winLisburn Distillery 0–5 Glentoran
Dungannon Swifts 0–5 Glentoran
Highest scoringBallymena Utd 3–7 Cliftonville
Highest attendance5,300 Glentoran 1-0 Linfield (Monday 26 December 2011)
Lowest attendance94 Donegal Celtic 3-1 Dungannon Swifts (Tuesday 20 March 2012)

The 2011–12 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 111th season of Irish league football overall.

Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 51st time and the 3rd consecutive season.

Summary

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The season began on 6 August 2011, and ended on 28 April 2012. Linfield were the defending champions, after winning their 50th title last season.[1] They successfully defended their title, to win the league for the sixth time in seven seasons after a 2–1 home win over Portadown on 7 April 2012.[2]

Carrick Rangers were relegated to Championship 1 after only one season in the top flight. Dungannon Swifts' 2–1 win over Donegal Celtic on 21 April 2012 left them bottom of the table by four points, with only one game remaining. Lisburn Distillery retained their Premiership status by defeating Newry City 3–2 over two legs in the promotion/relegation play-off.[3]

Teams

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2010–11 IFA Championship 1 winners Carrick Rangers were promoted to this season's Premiership, with last season's bottom-placed Premiership club Newry City replacing them in Championship 1.[4][5]

Championship 1 runners-up Limavady United were not eligible to take part in a promotion/relegation play-off against last season's 11th-placed Premiership club Donegal Celtic, as they did not attain the required domestic licence.[6]

Stadia and locations

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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2011–12 IFA Premiership
Club Stadium Location Capacity[7]
Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 1,418 (all seated)
Carrick Rangers Seaview Belfast 1,977 (663 seats)1
Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 2,180 (1,878 seats)
Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 2,496 (1,106 seats)
Crusaders Seaview Belfast 1,977 (663 seats)
Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Park Belfast 2,254 (988 seats)
Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 5,000 (600 seats)
Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 5,000 (4,000 seats)
Glentoran The Oval Belfast 5,056 (3,991 seats)
Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 12,342 (all seated)
Lisburn Distillery New Grosvenor Stadium Lisburn 7,000 (540 seats)
Portadown Shamrock Park Portadown 2,227 (all seated)

1 Carrick Rangers played their home matches at Crusaders' Seaview ground.[8]

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Linfield (C) 38 27 4 7 79 29 +50 85 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Portadown 38 22 5 11 72 47 +25 71 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
3 Cliftonville 38 21 6 11 83 62 +21 69
4 Coleraine 38 18 12 8 61 38 +23 66
5 Crusaders 38 18 10 10 63 47 +16 64 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a]
6 Glentoran 38 16 9 13 67 52 +15 57
7 Ballymena United 38 14 8 16 66 71 −5 50
8 Donegal Celtic 38 12 5 21 44 80 −36 41
9 Dungannon Swifts 38 8 11 19 42 71 −29 35
10 Glenavon 38 8 10 20 60 71 −11 34
11 Lisburn Distillery (O) 38 8 8 22 56 84 −28 32 Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
12 Carrick Rangers (R) 38 7 10 21 50 91 −41 31 Relegation to IFA Championship 1
Source: rsssf.com
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; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ 2011–12 Irish Cup runners-up Crusaders qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, as cup winners Linfield had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

Results

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Matches 34–38

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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 had played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that teams played each other twice at home and twice away.

Promotion/relegation play-off

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Lisburn Distillery, the club that finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Newry City, the runners-up of the 2011–12 IFA Championship in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's IFA Premiership.

Lisburn Distillery won the tie 3–2 on aggregate and retained their Premiership status.


Newry City2 – 3Lisburn Distillery
Tierney 33'
Hughes 37'
Report Cushley 19'
Thompson 45'
Liggett 79'

Lisburn Distillery won 3–2 on aggregate and remained in the IFA Premiership

Top goalscorers

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Rank Scorer Club Goals[9]
1 Scotland Gary McCutcheon Ballymena United 27
2 Wales Matthew Tipton Portadown 24
3 Northern Ireland Gary Liggett Lisburn Distillery 22
4 Northern Ireland Curtis Allen Coleraine 20
5 Northern Ireland Kevin Braniff Portadown 17
Northern Ireland Chris Scannell Cliftonville 17
7 Northern Ireland Rory Donnelly Cliftonville 13
8 Northern Ireland Darren Murray Donegal Celtic 12
Northern Ireland David Rainey Crusaders 12
10 Northern Ireland Mark McAllister Linfield 11

References

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  1. ^ "Lisburn Distillery 0-4 Linfield". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  2. ^ "Linfield beat Portadown to secure Premiership crown". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Newry City 2–3 Lisburn Distillery". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Carrick Rangers win league and cup on same night". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  5. ^ "Newry City 0-4 Glenavon". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  6. ^ "CLUB LICENSING COMMITTEE". Irish FA. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  7. ^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  8. ^ CARRICK RANGERS ENTER SHARING ARRANGEMENT WITH CRUSADERS
  9. ^ "IFA PREMIERSHIP - TOP GOAL SCORERS". soccerway.com. Retrieved 2 November 2011.