2019 League of Ireland Premier Division

League of Ireland Premier Division
Season	2019
Dates	15 February – 25 October 2019
Champions	Dundalk (14th title)
Relegated	UCD
Champions League	Dundalk
Europa League	Shamrock Rovers; Bohemians; Derry City
Matches played	180
Goals scored	431 (2.39 per match)
Top goalscorer	Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Bohemians 10–1 UCD; (16 August 2019)
Biggest away win	UCD 0–5 Dundalk; (30 August 2019)
Highest scoring	Bohemians 10–1 UCD; (16 August 2019)
Longest winning run	Dundalk (21 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Dundalk (23 games)
Longest winless run	UCD (12 games)
Longest losing run	UCD (11 games)
Highest attendance	7,021 Shamrock Rovers 1–0 Bohemians; (30 August 2019)
Total attendance	375,705
Average attendance	2,087
	← 2018 2020 → All statistics correct as of 26 October 2019.

The 2019 League of Ireland Premier Division is the 35th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The league began in 15 February 2019 and concluded in 25 October 2019. Fixtures were announced in December 2018.^[3]^[4]

On 23 September, Dundalk won the title after a 3–2 win over Shamrock Rovers.^[5]^[6]

Overview

The Premier Division consists of 10 teams. Each team plays each other four times for 36 matches in the season.

UCD, the 2018 First Division champion, were promoted to the league for the first time since 2014, and Finn Harps, winners of the promotion/relegation playoffs, were promoted to the league, returning after the absence in the previous season.^[7]^[8]

Teams

Stadia and locations

Dublin

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
St Patrick's Athletic
UCD

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Locations of Premier Division teams

Bohemians

St Patrick's Athletic

Shamrock Rovers

UCD

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Locations of Dublin Premier Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Bohemians	Dublin (Phibsborough)	Dalymount Park	3,640
Cork City	Cork	Turners Cross	7,845
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell Stadium	3,700
Dundalk	Dundalk	Oriel Park	4,500
Finn Harps	Ballybofey	Finn Park	6,000
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin (Tallaght)	Tallaght Stadium	8,000
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds	5,500
St Patrick's Athletic	Dublin (Inchicore)	Richmond Park	5,340
UCD	Dublin (Belfield)	UCD Bowl	3,000
Waterford	Waterford	Regional Sports Centre	5,500

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bohemians	Keith Long	Derek Pender	O'Neills	Mr Green Sport
Cork City	Neale Fenn	Conor McCormack	Adidas	University College Cork
Derry City	Declan Devine	Barry McNamee	Adidas	Diamond Corrugated
Dundalk	Vinny Perth	Brian Gartland	CX+ Sport	Fyffes
Finn Harps	Ollie Horgan	Keith Cowan	Joma	KN Group
St Patrick's Athletic	Stephen O'Donnell	Ian Bermingham	Umbro	MIG Insurance Brokers
Shamrock Rovers	Stephen Bradley	Ronan Finn	New Balance	Pepper Money
Sligo Rovers	Liam Buckley	Kyle Callan-McFadden	Joma	Volkswagen
UCD	Maciej Tarnogrodzki	Liam Scales	O'Neills	O'Neills
Waterford	Alan Reynolds	Kenny Browne	Umbro	21Bet

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dundalk	Stephen Kenny	Signed by Republic of Ireland U21	24 November 2018	Pre-season	Vinny Perth	22 December 2018
Cork City	John Caulfield	Mutual consent^[9]	1 May 2019	8th	John Cotter^[10]	2 May 2019
Cork City	John Cotter	Appointed first-team head coach^[11]	30 June 2019	7th	Frank Kelleher^[11]	30 June 2019
UCD	Collie O'Neill	Sacked^[12]	19 August 2019	10th	Maciej Tarnogrodzki^[13]	21 August 2019
St Patrick's Athletic	Harry Kenny	Mutual consent^[14]	24 August 2019	5th	Stephen O'Donnell^[15]	31 August 2019
Cork City	Frank Kelleher	Change of role^[16]	26 August 2019	7th	Neale Fenn^[16]	26 August 2019

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundalk (C)	36	27	5	4	73	18	+55	86	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Shamrock Rovers	36	23	6	7	62	21	+41	75	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round^[a]
3	Bohemians	36	17	9	10	47	28	+19	60
4	Derry City	36	15	12	9	56	34	+22	57
5	St Patrick's Athletic	36	14	10	12	29	35	−6	52
6	Waterford	36	12	7	17	46	53	−7	43
7	Sligo Rovers	36	10	12	14	38	47	−9	42
8	Cork City	36	9	10	17	29	49	−20	37
9	Finn Harps (O)	36	7	7	22	26	64	−38	28	Qualification for relegation play-offs
10	UCD (R)	36	5	4	27	25	82	−57	19	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[17]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Since the winners of the 2019 FAI Cup (Shamrock Rovers) qualified for European competition based on their league position, the final spot awarded to the Cup winner passed to the next best-placed team i.e fourth-placed team.

Results

Matches 1–18

Teams played each other twice (once at home, once away).

Home \ Away	BOH	COR	DER	DUN	FHA	STP	SHM	SLI	UCD	WAT
Bohemians	—	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	0–0
Cork City	2–0	—	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	2–0	0–2
Derry City	0–2	2–0	—	0–2	4–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	3–0	3–2
Dundalk	1–0	1–0	2–2	—	3–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	4–0
Finn Harps	0–1	3–4	2–3	1–1	—	0–2	0–1	1–2	3–0	3–2
St Patrick's Athletic	1–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	0–0	—	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–3
Shamrock Rovers	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	—	3–0	3–1	2–1
Sligo Rovers	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	—	1–0	0–0
UCD	0–2	2–1	0–2	1–3	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	—	4–1
Waterford	0–0	2–0	2–2	0–3	4–0	2–0	1–2	3–3	1–0	—

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Extratime.ie
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 19–36

Teams will play each other twice (once home, once away).

Home \ Away	BOH	COR	DER	DUN	FHA	STP	SHM	SLI	UCD	WAT
Bohemians	—	1–0	0–0	2–1	5–3	3–0	2–1	2–1	10–1	1–2
Cork City	0–0	—	1–4	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	2–4	3–2	1–2
Derry City	0–0	4–0	—	2–2	4–0	1–3	0–2	3–0	0–0	2–0
Dundalk	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	5–0	4–0	3–2	4–0	3–0	3–0
Finn Harps	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–3	—	1–2	0–3	2–0	0–0	1–0
St Patrick's Athletic	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	—	0–2	2–1	0–0	0–2
Shamrock Rovers	1–0	3–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	—	0–0	7–0	2–1
Sligo Rovers	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–2	3–1	1–1	0–0	—	5–1	0–0
UCD	3–0	0–1	1–3	0–5	1–0	0–1	0–3	0–2	—	1–2
Waterford	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–5	2–0	4–2	—

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Promotion/relegation playoff

Finn Harps, who finished ninth in the Premier Division, faced the First Division's Drogheda United to determine which club would participate in the 2020 Premier Division.

28 October 2019	Drogheda United	1–0	Finn Harps	United Park
19:45	Chris Lyons 90+4'	Report		Attendance: 1,400 (Est.) Referee: Rob Hennessey

1 November 2019	Finn Harps	2–0 (a.e.t.) (2–1 agg.)	Drogheda United	Finn Park
19:45	Mark Russell 7' Harry Ascroft 107'	Report		Referee: Neil Doyle

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe	Derry City	14
2	Patrick Hoban	Dundalk	13
3	Michael Duffy	Dundalk	12
4	Danny Mandroiu	Bohemians	11
	David Parkhouse	Derry City	11
	Aaron Greene	Shamrock Rovers	11
	Romeo Parkes	Sligo Rovers	11
8	Aaron McEneff	Shamrock Rovers	10
9	Daniel Kelly	Dundalk	9
10	Georgie Kelly	Dundalk	8
	Jack Byrne	Shamrock Rovers	8
	Graham Cummins	Shamrock Rovers	8
	Ronan Coughlan	Sligo Rovers	8

Last updated: 31 October 2019.
Source: http://www.extratime.ie/topscorers/2031/100/league-of-ireland-premier-division-2019/

Awards

Player of the Month

Month	Player	Club	References
February	Daniel Corcoran	Bohemians	^[18]
March	Jack Byrne	Shamrock Rovers	^[19]
April	James Talbot	Bohemians	^[20]
May	Sean Gannon	Dundalk	^[21]
June	Danny Mandroiu	Bohemians	^[22]
July	Jack Byrne	Shamrock Rovers	^[23]
August	Daniel Cleary	Dundalk	^[24]
September	Michael Duffy	Dundalk	^[25]

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
PFAI Player of the Year	Jack Byrne	Shamrock Rovers
PFAI Young Player of the Year	Danny Mandroiu	Bohemians
PFAI Premier Division Manager of the Year	Vinny Perth	Dundalk

PFAI Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers)
Defenders	Sean Gannon (Dundalk)	Seán Hoare (Dundalk)		Lee Grace (Shamrock Rovers)		Seán Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers)
Midfielders	Danny Mandroiu (Bohemians)		Chris Shields (Dundalk)		Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers)
Forwards	David Parkhouse (Derry City)		Patrick Hoban (Dundalk)		Michael Duffy (Dundalk)