2009 League of Ireland First Division

The 2009 League of Ireland First Division season was the 25th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 12 teams and UCD won the title. Third placed Sporting Fingal also won the 2009 FAI Cup Final, qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League and were promoted to the Premier Division after winning a promotion/relegation play off.

Location of teams in 2009 League of Ireland First Division
Locations of Dublin First Division teams
League of Ireland First Division
Season2009
ChampionsUCD
PromotedSporting Fingal
UEFA Europa LeagueSporting Fingal
Top goalscorerConan Byrne: 21
(Sporting Fingal) [1]
← 2008
2010 →

Clubs
Team Base Manager Stadium
Athlone TownAthlone Brendan PlaceAthlone Town Stadium
Finn HarpsBallybofey James GallagherFinn Park
Kildare CountyNewbridge Joe SomervilleStation Road
LimerickLimerick Pat ScullyJackman Park
Longford TownLongford Gareth CroninFlancare Park
Mervue UnitedGalway Johnny GlynnTerryland Park
Monaghan UnitedMonaghan Mick CookeCentury Homes Park
ShelbourneDrumcondra Dermot KeelyTolka Park
Sporting FingalFingal Liam BuckleyMorton Stadium
UCDBelfield Martin RussellUCD Bowl
Waterford UnitedWaterford Stephen HendersonWaterford RSC
Wexford YouthsCrossabeg Mick WallaceFerrycarraig Park

Overview

This season saw the division expanded from 10 to 12 clubs. This was because the 2009 Premier Division was reduced to 10 clubs. The regular season began on 6 March and concluded on 7 November. Each team played the other teams three times, totaling 33 games. UCD finished as champions and were automatically promoted to the Premier Division. There was no promotion/relegation play-off between the First Division and the A Championship this season. This was only because Kildare County, who finished bottom of the table, withdrew from the League of Ireland before the play-offs could be played.[2][3]

Final table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 UCD (C) 33 23 5 5 62 22 +40 74 Promoted to Premier Division
2 Shelbourne 33 22 7 4 66 31 +35 73 Lost promotion/relegation play off
3 Sporting Fingal[lower-alpha 1] (P) 33 21 6 6 68 28 +40 69 UEFA Europa League/Premier Division
4 Waterford United 33 20 6 7 52 20 +32 66
5 Monaghan United 33 16 7 10 58 48 +10 55
6 Wexford Youths 33 15 5 13 27 31 −4 50
7 Limerick F.C.[lower-alpha 2] 33 12 8 13 50 43 +7 44
8 Finn Harps 33 8 9 16 35 51 −16 33
9 Longford Town 33 8 4 21 46 62 −16 28
10 Athlone Town 33 6 9 18 32 63 −31 27
11 Mervue United 33 6 5 22 28 64 −36 23
12 Kildare County[lower-alpha 3] 33 4 3 26 25 85 −60 15 Withdrew from the league
Source: [2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted.
Notes:
  1. Sporting Fingal qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League after winning the 2009 FAI Cup Final and were promoted to the Premier Division after winning the promotion/relegation play off.
  2. Limerick 37 F.C. changed their name to Limerick F.C..
  3. Kildare County withdrew from league at end of season and did participate in promotion/relegation play off.

Results

Matches 1 to 22
Home \ Away ATH FHA KIL LIM LON MER MON SHE SFI UCD WAT WEX
Athlone Town 2–2 3–1 0–2 2–5 2–2 2–3 2–2 1–2 0–1 1–2 0–1
Finn Harps 1–1 2–1 1–2 1–0 2–0 1–2 1–1 3–2 1–2 1–3 0–2
Kildare County 0–1 1–1 0–0 2–3 0–3 0–2 0–3 0–8 0–1 0–2 0–3
Limerick 0–0 1–1 3–0 1–4 4–1 0–0 0–1 1–4 0–0 0–2 2–0
Longford Town 0–1 0–0 4–0 2–3 3–0 3–3 0–2 1–3 0–3 1–3 0–1
Mervue United 0–1 1–1 1–4 1–0 3–2 1–5 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–2 0–0
Monaghan United 0–0 1–0 5–1 1–0 2–0 1–2 0–1 0–3 2–3 0–0 0–0
Shelbourne 2–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–2 7–0 2–1 1–0 1–3 1–0 2–1
Sporting Fingal 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 4–0 1–0 0–1 1–4 2–0
UCD 1–1 1–1 4–0 2–1 3–1 1–0 3–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–1
Waterford United 2–1 4–0 2–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 6–0 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–2
Wexford Youths 1–0 2–1 0–3 0–2 2–1 1–0 0–2 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–1
Source: loi.ie
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23 to 33
Home \ Away ATH FHA KIL LIM LON MER MON SHE SFI UCD WAT WEX
Athlone Town 0–6 2–2 1–2 0–5 1–2 2–0
Finn Harps 1–0 0–2 1–3 0–5 1–1
Kildare County 0–2 0–1 1–5 2–3 1–2
Limerick 6–1 3–0 2–3 2–1 3–3 2–1
Longford Town 3–0 1–2 1–2 1–4 0–4
Mervue United 3–1 0–1 0–1 2–4 1–4 1–2
Monaghan United 6–1 4–2 0–3 2–2 3–0
Shelbourne 0–0 3–3 4–5 2–2 1–2
Sporting Fingal 2–3 4–1 2–1 2–2 1–0 0–1
UCD 5–0 2–1 2–1 3–0 2–3 2–0
Waterford United 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–0
Wexford Youths 1–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 0–0
Source: loi.ie
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/Relegation play-offs

The second and third placed First Division teams, Shelbourne and Sporting Fingal played off to decide who would play the winner of the Premier Division play-off. The winner of this play off would play in the 2010 Premier Division.

First Division
10 November 2009 Shelbourne 1 – 2 Sporting Fingal Tolka Park
19:45 GMT McAllister  72' (pen.)
Flood  73'		 Report Zayed  39'
Williams  41'		 Attendance: 1,632
Referee: T. Connolly
First Division v Premier Division
13 November 2009 Sporting Fingal 2 – 0 Bray Wanderers Morton Stadium
19:45 GMT Paisley  51'
Byrne  67'		 Report Attendance: 740
Referee: D. Tomney
16 November 2009 Bray Wanderers 2 – 2 Sporting Fingal Carlisle Grounds
19:45 GMT Flood  83'
O'Connor  90+1'		 Report Zayed  59'
Bayly  90+2'		 Referee: D. Hanney

Sporting Fingal won 4–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the Premier Division.

Top scorers
Scorer Team Goals
Conan Byrne Sporting Fingal [1] 21
Karl Bermingham Monaghan United 17
Graham Cummins Waterford United 17
David McAllister Shelbourne 16
Ciarán Kilduff UCD 14
Stephen O'Flynn Limerick F.C. 14

See also

References
  1. "Ireland - List of Topscorers". www.rsssf.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. "Ireland 2009". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. "What Happens (To) Teams That Enter The League Of Ireland First Division?". www.balls.ie. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
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