2011–12 IFA Premiership

IFA Premiership
Season 2011–12
Champions Linfield
51st Irish title
Relegated Carrick Rangers
Champions League Linfield
Europa League Portadown
Cliftonville
Crusaders
Matches played 228
Goals scored 743 (3.26 per match)
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

The 2011–12 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season since its establishment after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland, and the 111th season of Irish league football overall. 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

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

Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2011–12 NIFL 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

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 1
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
12011–12 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.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).

Home ╲ Away BYM CRK CLICOLCRUDGCDUNGLAGLTLINLISPOR
Ballymena United 02 37 15 03 20 11 33 03 12 10 24
Carrick Rangers 02 33 02 12 12 11 22 33 04 00 22
Cliftonville 34 10 12 21 23 41 53 21 42 31 02
Coleraine 10 40 11 00 20 32 11 11 13 23 43
Crusaders 32 51 22 11 12 20 20 12 01 11 03
Donegal Celtic 23 12 13 01 02 02 21 04 15 22 10
Dungannon Swifts 11 31 14 00 02 22 11 05 14 02 03
Glenavon 30 12 12 10 32 01 11 13 12 52 02
Glentoran 24 61 01 11 22 12 21 20 20 33 02
Linfield 10 30 41 10 20 50 10 10 01 11 20
Lisburn Distillery 14 23 12 13 12 02 12 21 05 23 02
Portadown 21 30 12 11 13 52 21 10 21 20 51

Source: rsssf.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

During matches 23–33 each team played other team for the third time (either at home, or away).

Home ╲ Away BYM CRK CLICOLCRUDGCDUNGLAGLTLINLISPOR
Ballymena United 01 22 11 12 22 12
Carrick Rangers 13 04 23 00 22 31
Cliftonville 21 11 21 43 13
Coleraine 20 10 01 31 10
Crusaders 22 31 32 10 20 22
Donegal Celtic 02 11 31 11 01 21
Dungannon Swifts 12 12 15 21 20
Glenavon 02 32 10 23 02
Glentoran 12 10 33 10 13 22
Linfield 41 50 40 30 20
Lisburn Distillery 31 13 31 02 03 02
Portadown 33 20 12 21 11

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

Matches 34–38

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.

Section A

Home ╲ Away CLI COL CRUGLTLINPOR
Cliftonville 11 30 23
Coleraine 10 11 41
Crusaders 21 11 01
Glentoran 04
Linfield 21 00 02 21
Portadown 01

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

Section B

Home ╲ Away BYM CRK DGCDUNGLALIS
Ballymena United 30 22
Carrick Rangers 44 21
Donegal Celtic 03 35
Dungannon Swifts 24 00 21 32
Glenavon 40 22
Lisburn Distillery 23 30 33

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

Promotion/relegation play-off

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.


4 May 2012
19:45 BST
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

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

IFA Premiership clubs in Europe 2011–12

UEFA coefficient and ranking

For the 2011–12 UEFA competitions, the associations were allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2005–06 to 2009–10. In the 2010 rankings used for this season's European competitions, Northern Ireland's coefficient points total was 1.624. After earning a score of only 0.125 during the 2009–10 European campaign, the league was ranked by UEFA as the 49th best league in Europe out of 53 - falling two places from 47th the previous season. This season Northern Ireland earned 0.500 points, which was added to the points total for the 2012 rankings used in 2013–14 UEFA competitions.

UEFA Champions League

After winning the league last season, Linfield were the league's sole representatives in the UEFA Champions League. They entered at the second qualifying round. They were drawn against Belarusian side BATE Borisov, a club that reached the group stage of the 2008–09 competition.

Linfield were massive underdogs for the tie. However they produced a commendable performance in the first leg to earn a 1–1 draw. In the second leg in Belarus, Linfield again put on a brave display but ultimately lost 0–2 to their full-time opponents and exited the competition 1–3 on aggregate.

UEFA Europa League

2010–11's League and Irish Cup runners-up Crusaders, 3rd-placed Glentoran, and 4th-placed Cliftonville all earned a place in the UEFA Europa League. Glentoran and Cliftonville entered the competition at the first qualifying round. Crusaders entered at the second qualifying round.

In the first qualifying round there were mixed results. Glentoran were drawn against Macedonian club FK Renova. They lost the first leg 1–2 away from home, but were 2–1 victors in the return leg at home. With the teams tied 3–3 on aggregate, the tie went to extra time and eventually to a penalty shoot-out. Glentoran won the shoot-out 3–2 to progress to the second qualifying round.

Cliftonville were drawn against Welsh side The New Saints. They earned a creditable 1–1 draw in the first leg away from home. However, they succumbed to a 0–1 defeat in the second leg at home which meant they lost the tie 1–2 on aggregate and exited the competition.

In the second qualifying round Crusaders faced Premier League side Fulham, runners-up of the competition in 2009–10. In the first leg at home, Crusaders produced a battling display, but in the end went down 1–3 to their English opponents. Glentoran were drawn against Vorskla Poltava from Ukraine. They too were defeated in the first leg at home, losing 0–2. In the second legs, both Crusaders and Glentoran crashed out of Europe after being outclassed by their opponents. Crusaders went down 0–4 to Fulham, losing the tie 1–7 on aggregate. Glentoran went down 0–3 to Vorskla Poltava, losing the tie 0–5 on aggregate.

That concluded the IFA Premiership's involvement in Europe this season.

References

  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 (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. soccerway.com. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
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