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.
| Season | 2011–12 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Linfield 3rd Premiership title 51st Irish title |
| Relegated | Carrick Rangers |
| Champions League | Linfield |
| Europa League | Portadown Cliftonville Crusaders (via Irish Cup) |
| Matches played | 228 |
| Top goalscorer | Gary McCutcheon (27 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Linfield 5–0 Donegal Celtic Glentoran 6–1 Carrick Rangers Linfield 5–0 Crusaders |
| Biggest away win | Lisburn Distillery 0–5 Glentoran Dungannon Swifts 0–5 Glentoran |
| Highest scoring | Ballymena Utd 3–7 Cliftonville |
| Highest attendance | 5,300 Glentoran 1-0 Linfield (Monday 26 December 2011) |
| Lowest attendance | 94 Donegal Celtic 3-1 Dungannon Swifts (Tuesday 20 March 2012) |
← 2010–11 2012–13 → | |
Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 51st time and the 3rd consecutive season.
Summary
editThe 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
edit2010–11 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
edit
| 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
edit| 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 |
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:
- ^ 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
editMatches 34–38
editDuring 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
editLisburn 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 City | 2 – 3 | Lisburn 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
edit| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Gary McCutcheon
|
Ballymena United | 27 |
| 2 |  Matthew Tipton
|
Portadown | 24 |
| 3 |  Gary Liggett
|
Lisburn Distillery | 22 |
| 4 | Curtis Allen
|
Coleraine | 20 |
| 5 | Kevin Braniff
|
Portadown | 17 |
| Chris Scannell
|
Cliftonville | 17 | |
| 7 | Rory Donnelly
|
Cliftonville | 13 |
| 8 | Darren Murray
|
Donegal Celtic | 12 |
| David Rainey
|
Crusaders | 12 | |
| 10 | Mark McAllister
|
Linfield | 11 |
References
edit- ^ "Lisburn Distillery 0-4 Linfield". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ "Linfield beat Portadown to secure Premiership crown". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
- ^ "Newry City 2–3 Lisburn Distillery". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Carrick Rangers win league and cup on same night". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ^ "Newry City 0-4 Glenavon". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ^ "CLUB LICENSING COMMITTEE". Irish FA. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
- ^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ CARRICK RANGERS ENTER SHARING ARRANGEMENT WITH CRUSADERS
- ^ "IFA PREMIERSHIP - TOP GOAL SCORERS". soccerway.com. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
