2015 League of Ireland

League of Ireland
Season	2015
← 2014 2016 →

The 2015 League of Ireland was the 95th season of the League of Ireland, the highest football league of the Republic of Ireland. The league began on 6 March 2015.^[1] Dundalk were the defending champions.

On 9 October, Dundalk retained the title after a 1–1 draw with Shamrock Rovers.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Premier Division

The Premier Division consists of 12 teams. Each team will play each other three times, a total of 33 matches in the season.

Longford Town, the 2014 First Division champion, returns to the top level after seven years. Galway promoted after winning the promotion/relegation playoffs.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Dublin

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
St Patrick's Athletic

Locations of Premier Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Bohemians	Dublin (Phibsborough)	Dalymount Park	10,000
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Carlisle Grounds	7,000
Cork City	Cork	Turners Cross	7,485
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell	7,700
Drogheda United	Drogheda	United Park	2,000
Dundalk	Dundalk	Oriel Park	4,500
Galway United	Galway	Eamonn Deacy Park	5,000
Limerick	Limerick	Markets Field	5,000
Longford Town	Longford	City Calling Stadium	6,850
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin (Tallaght)	Tallaght Stadium	5,947
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds	5,500
St Patrick's Athletic	Dublin (Inchicore)	Richmond Park	5,340

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	Hummel	Mr Green
Bray Wanderers	~~Alan Mathews~~ ~~Maciej Tarnogrodzki~~ ~~David Cassidy~~ ~~Trevor Croly~~ ~~David Cassidy~~ Mick Cooke	David Cassidy	Nike	Royal Hotel
Cork City	John Caulfield	John Dunleavy	Nike	Clonakilty Sausages
Derry City	~~Peter Hutton~~ Paul Hegarty	Ryan McBride	Umbro	Diamond Corrugated
Drogheda United	~~John McDonnell~~ Mark Kinsella	Michael Daly	Nike	Scotch Hall Shopping Center
Dundalk	Stephen Kenny	Stephen O'Donnell	Umbro	Fyffes
Galway United	Tommy Dunne	Paul Sinnott	Macron	Comer Property Management
Limerick	Martin Russell	Shane Duggan	Macron	Galtee Fuels
Longford Town	Tony Cousins	Mark Salmon	Macron	City Calling
Shamrock Rovers	Pat Fenlon	Conor Kenna	Warrior	Pepper
Sligo Rovers	~~Owen Heary~~ ~~Joseph N'Do & Gavin Dykes~~ Micky Adams	Gavin Peers	Umbro	Volkswagen
St Patrick's Athletic	Liam Buckley	Ger O'Brien	Umbro	Clune Construction Company L.P.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundalk (C)	33	23	9	1	78	23	+55	78	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Cork City	33	19	10	4	57	25	+32	67	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Shamrock Rovers	33	18	11	4	56	27	+29	65
4	St Patrick's Athletic	33	18	4	11	52	34	+18	58
5	Bohemians	33	15	8	10	49	42	+7	53
6	Longford Town	33	10	9	14	41	53	−12	39
7	Derry City	33	9	8	16	32	42	−10	35
8	Bray Wanderers	33	9	6	18	27	51	−24	33
9	Sligo Rovers	33	7	10	16	39	55	−16	31
10	Galway United	33	9	4	20	39	61	−22	31
11	Limerick (R)	33	7	8	18	46	73	−27	29	Qualification to Relegation play-offs
12	Drogheda United (R)	33	7	7	19	32	62	−30	28	Relegation to First Division

Source: League of Ireland, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[5]
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

↑ Since the winners of the 2015 FAI Cup, Dundalk, qualified for the Champions League based on league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner (Europa League first qualifying round) is passed to the second-placed team, Cork City, and the spot for the third-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) is passed to the fourth-placed team, St Patrick's Athletic.

Fixture table

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice (once at home, once away)

Home ╲ Away	Bohemians !BOH	Bray Wanderers !BRW	Cork City !COR	Derry City !DER	Drogheda United !DRO	Dundalk !DUN	Galway United !GAL	Limerick !LIM	Longford Town !LON	Shamrock Rovers !SHM	Sligo Rovers !SLI	St Patrick's Athletic !StP
Bohemians !Bohemians		0–0	1–1	4–2	0–1	0–3	2–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	0–1
Bray Wanderers !Bray Wanderers	0–1		0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–5	4–0	0–1	0–3	1–0	1–0
Cork City !Cork City	4–0	1–0		3–0	4–1	1–2	2–0	5–0	2–0	0–0	3–2	3–1
Derry City !Derry City	1–2	0–0	0–2		3–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–3
Drogheda United !Drogheda United	0–1	4–2	1–2	1–1		1–2	2–0	1–1	0–3	0–1	3–2	0–2
Dundalk !Dundalk	1–2	8–1	1–1	1–0	1–0		3–0	6–2	1–0	2–0	3–0	3–0
Galway United !Galway United	5–3	0–1	1–3	1–2	1–0	2–4		3–2	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–4
Limerick !Limerick	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	2–4		2–2	1–1	3–2	1–2
Longford Town !Longford Town	2–1	2–0	1–4	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–0		0–2	1–1	2–2
Shamrock Rovers !Shamrock Rovers	0–0	1–0	0–0	4–1	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–1	3–2		5–1	1–0
Sligo Rovers !Sligo Rovers	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	1–2		0–3
St Patrick's Athletic !St Patrick's Athletic	3–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–2	0–2	3–1	3–1	3–0	0–0	3–0

Matches 23–33

Teams play each other once

Home ╲ Away	Bohemians !BOH	Bray Wanderers !BRW	Cork City !COR	Derry City !DER	Drogheda United !DRO	Dundalk !DUN	Galway United !GAL	Limerick !LIM	Longford Town !LON	Shamrock Rovers !SHM	Sligo Rovers !SLI	St Patrick's Athletic !StP
Bohemians !Bohemians			0–1			2–2	3–0		1–1			2–0
Bray Wanderers !Bray Wanderers	3–1		0–0		1–0		1–1	2–2		2–2
Cork City !Cork City				0–0		2–2	1–0	2–3	2–3
Derry City !Derry City	2–3	3–1			0–2	0–2				1–0
Drogheda United !Drogheda United	2–2		1–1					1–4	0–3		0–4
Dundalk !Dundalk		4–0			6–0		0–0		0–0		2–2	4–1
Galway United !Galway United				0–4	1–1			1–3	4–2		2–1	0–1
Limerick !Limerick	4–3			0–2		1–3			3–3	0–2		3–1
Longford Town !Longford Town		1–0		4–2						1–3	1–1	0–3
Shamrock Rovers !Shamrock Rovers	1–1		3–0		5–3	1–1	2–0					0–2
Sligo Rovers !Sligo Rovers	0–2	3–2	0–2	1–0				2–3		1–1
St Patrick's Athletic !St Patrick's Athletic		1–0	1–2	0–1	2–1						0–2

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[6]
1	Richie Towell	Dundalk F.C.	25
2	Karl Sheppard	Cork City F.C.	13
3	Vinny Faherty	Limerick F.C.	12
	Jake Keegan	Galway United
	Enda Curran	Galway United
	Michael Drennan	Shamrock Rovers
	David McMillan	Dundalk F.C.
	Daniel Corcoran	Sligo Rovers F.C.
9	Christopher Forrester	St. Patrick's Athletic F.C.	11
9	Brandon Miele	Shamrock Rovers	11

LOI Premier Division Team Of The Year

Year	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
2015	Micheál Schlingermann, Drogheda United	Sean Gannon, Dundalk FC Brian Gartland, Dundalk FC Andy Boyle, Dundalk FC Dane Massey, Dundalk FC	Richie Towell, Dundalk FC James Chambers, St Pats Stephen O'Donnell, Dundalk FC	Brandon Miele, Shamrock Rovers Mark O'Sullivan, Cork City Daryl Horgan, Dundalk FC

First Division

The First Division has 8 teams. Each team will play each other four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 28 matches in the season.

Teams

Dublin

Dublin teams
Cabinteely
Shelbourne
UCD

Locations of the First Division teams

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Athlone Town	Athlone	Athlone Town Stadium	5,000 (2,500 Seated)
Cabinteely	Dublin (Blackrock)	Stradbrook Road	1,300
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh	St. Colman's Park	5,000
Finn Harps	Ballybofey	Finn Park	6,000
Shelbourne	Dublin (Drumcondra)	Tolka Park	9,600
UCD	Dublin (Belfield)	UCD Bowl	3,000
Waterford United	Waterford	Regional Sports Centre	5,500
Wexford Youths	Crossabeg	Ferrycarrig Park	2,500

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
Athlone Town	~~Eddie Wallace~~ Alan Mathews	Brian Shortall ^[7]	Nike	Nitro Sports
Cabinteely	Eddie Gormley		Umbro
Cobh Ramblers	~~Martin Cambridge~~ Stephen Henderson		Nike	Eirgrid
Finn Harps	Ollie Horgan	Kevin McHugh	Legea	McGettigan Group
Shelbourne	Kevin Doherty		Macron
UCD	Collie O'Neill	Robbie Benson	O'Neills	O'Neills
Waterford United	~~Tommy Griffin~~ Roddy Collins	Vinny Sullivan	Macron	SportsWorld
Wexford Youths	Shane Keegan	Graham Doyle	O'Neills	Galenisys

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wexford Youths !Wexford Youths (C, P)	28	20	1	7	63	32	+31	61	Promotion to 2016 League of Ireland Premier Division
2	Finn Harps !Finn Harps (O, P)	28	16	7	5	42	23	+19	55	Promotion play-offs
3	UCD !UCD	28	14	7	7	51	26	+25	49	Promotion play-offs
4	Shelbourne !Shelbourne	28	13	6	9	37	34	+3	45
5	Athlone Town !Athlone Town	28	9	6	13	36	42	−6	33
6	Cobh Ramblers !Cobh Ramblers	28	8	6	14	27	45	−18	30
7	Waterford United !Waterford United	28	5	6	17	25	51	−26	21
8	Cabinteely !Cabinteely	28	5	5	18	22	50	−28	20

Source:
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted.

Fixture table

Matches 1–14

Teams play each other twice (once at home, once away)

Home ╲ Away	Athlone Town !ATH	Cabinteely !CAB	Cobh Ramblers !COB	Finn Harps !FHA	Shelbourne !SHE	UCD !UCD	Waterford United !WAT	Wexford Youths !WEX
Athlone Town !Athlone Town		2–2	4–0	1–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	0–1
Cabinteely !Cabinteely	2–0		2–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0
Cobh Ramblers !Cobh Ramblers	1–0	1–0		2–3	1–0	0–3	1–0	1–4
Finn Harps !Finn Harps	1–0	2–0	2–0		1–0	2–2	3–2	1–3
Shelbourne !Shelbourne	1–3	1–0	1–1	0–0		0–2	1–0	2–4
UCD !UCD	1–2	6–1	1–1	2–2	0–1		3–0	4–1
Waterford United !Waterford United	1–1	3–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	0–0		1–4
Wexford Youths !Wexford Youths	2–0	7–0	1–0	0–1	2–3	1–0	1–2

Matches 15–28

Teams play each other twice (once at home, once away)

Home ╲ Away	Athlone Town !ATH	Cabinteely !CAB	Cobh Ramblers !COB	Finn Harps !FHA	Shelbourne !SHE	UCD !UCD	Waterford United !WAT	Wexford Youths !WEX
Athlone Town !Athlone Town		0–1	1–4	1–1	2–1	2–2	3–4	3–1
Cabinteely !Cabinteely	1–3		1–0	2–3	0–1	0–3^{[lower-alpha 1]}	1–1	2–3
Cobh Ramblers !Cobh Ramblers	2–1	2–1		0–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	0–3
Finn Harps !Finn Harps	0–0	1–0	2–0		1–0	3–0	0–0	4–1
Shelbourne !Shelbourne	3–1	0–0	2–0	3–2		2–1	3–0	0–0
UCD !UCD	3–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–1		5–1	1–2
Waterford United !Waterford United	0–1	1–0	1–3	0–3	1–2	0–1		2–3
Wexford Youths !Wexford Youths	3–0	3–2	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	4–0

↑ Cabinteely were found to have played an ineligible player, Dean Ebbe, in their SSE Airtricity League First Division match against UCD on July 31, 2015, which they lost 1-3. In accordance with FAI Rules 88.1 and 127, Cabinteely forfeit the fixture 0-3 with immediate effect and have received a fine of €2,500. ^[8]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[9]
1	Daniel Furlong	Wexford Youths	30
2	Ryan Swan	UCD A.F.C.	12
3	Philip Gorman	Athlone Town	10
4	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps	9
5	Stephen Kenny	Cobh Ramblers,	7
	Philip Hughes	Shelbourne F.C.
	Robert Benson	UCD A.F.C.
	Aidan Keenan	Wexford Youths
	Gareth Coughlan	Shelbourne F.C.
	Daniel Purdy	Athlone Town

Promotion/relegation playoffs

Semi-final

^[10]

1st Leg

23 October 2015	UCD	0–1	Finn Harps	UCD Bowl
19:45			Coll 1'

2nd Leg

30 October 2015	Finn Harps	2–1	UCD	Finn Park
19:45	Boyle 76' Mailey 89'		O'Connor 59'

Finn Harps won 3–1 on aggregate and proceed to the final of the Promotion/Relegation Playoff.

Final

^[11]

1st Leg

2 November 2015	Limerick	1–0	Finn Harps	Markets Field
	Kelly 34'	Report		Referee: Rob Rogers

2nd Leg

6 November 2015	Finn Harps	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Limerick	Finn Park
	Funston 38' Banda 117'			Attendance: 3,200 Referee: Derek Tomney

Finn Harps won 2–1 on aggregate and are promoted to the Premier Division for the 2016 season. Limerick are relegated to the First Division.

League of Ireland clubs in Europe 2015–16

UEFA Champions League

Second qualifying round

One Republic of Ireland club will enter in this round.

Dundalk (winners of the 2014 League of Ireland)

UEFA Europa League

First qualifying round

Four Republic of Ireland clubs will enter in this round.

St Patrick's Athletic (winners of the 2014 FAI Cup)
Cork City (second place in the 2014 League of Ireland)
Shamrock Rovers (fourth place in the 2014 League of Ireland)
UCD (Fair Play spot)^[12]^[13]

References

↑ http://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=6559#.VHXGuojfWrV
↑ "Dundalk crowned champions with draw in Tallaght". RTE Sport. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
↑ "We now have a Premier Division champion and the relegation battle is really hotting up". The 42. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
↑ "CHAMPIONS - Dundalk retain their title in Tallaght". Irish Independent. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
↑ "PREMIER DIVISION 2015 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
↑ "SSE Airtricity Premier Leaue division". SSE Airtricity League. 15 January 2015.
↑ http://athlonetownfc.ie/teams/first-team-squad/
↑ "FOOTBALL:Cabinteely sanctioned for fielding ineligible player". 4 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
↑ "SSE Airtricity First Division". SSE Airtricity League. 8 August 2015.
↑ http://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/images/2015_Season_SSE_Airtricity_League_First_Division_Fixture_List_29-01-15.pdf
↑ http://www.fai.ie/domestic/news/sse-airtricity-league-promotionrelegation-play-off-dates
↑ "Ireland leading UEFA Fair Play League". SSE Airtricity League. 15 January 2015.
↑ "UCD set for Europa League after topping Fair Play standings". Irish Times. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.

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