2009 League of Ireland

League of Ireland

Season	2009
← 2008 2010 →

The 2009 League of Ireland season consists of the League of Ireland Premier Division, the League of Ireland First Division and the Newstalk A Championship. The Premier Division and First Division seasons began on 6 March 2009, while the A Championship commenced on 4 April 2009. Bohemians were the defending Premier Division champions.

On 6 November 2009, Bohemians retained the title after a 1-1 draw against Bray Wanderers.^[1]

Bray Wanderers

Cork City

Derry City

Drogheda United

Dundalk

Galway United

Sligo Rovers

Athlone Town

Finn Harps

Kildare County

Limerick FC

Longford Town

Mervue United

Monaghan United

Dublin

Waterford United

Wexford Youths

FC Carlow

Castlebar Celtic

Cobh Ramblers

Salthill Devon

Tralee Dynamos

Tullamore Town

Dublin teams Listing for each division from North to South
Premier Division
Bohemians
St Patrick's Athletic
Shamrock Rovers
First Division
Sporting Fingal
Shelbourne
UCD

Location of teams in FAI League of Ireland 2009

Changes from last season

Promotion and relegation

Finn Harps, Cobh Ramblers and UCD were relegated to the First Division for finishing in the last three places of the 2008 Premier Division. Cobh Ramblers were only awarded an A licence by the Licensing board, and thus play in the A Championship. Dundalk won the First Division in 2008 and were promoted to the Premier Division. This season is the first to include a completely professional Premier Division, after the promotion of Dundalk and relegation of Finn Harps, Cobh Ramblers and UCD.

Kildare County and Mervue United competed in a two-legged play-off for one spot in the First Division. Mervue United won 5–2 on aggregate and therefore earned promotion to the First Division, while Kildare County were due to compete in the A Championship, but take Cobh Ramblers' place in the First Division.

Castlebar Celtic, Dundalk A, FC Carlow, Sporting Fingal A and Tralee Dynamos joined the A Championship, while Cobh Ramblers A, Limerick FC A and University College Dublin A withdrew.

Structural changes

The Premier Division was reduced from twelve to ten teams. In turn, the First Division increased its size from ten to twelve teams. Hence the promotion/relegation scheme between both divisions was modified as well. In contrast to 2008, only the last-placed team of the Premier Division will be directly relegated to the First Division. The First Division champions will be promoted to the Premier Division. The eight-placed and ninth-placed Premier Division teams will play in a one-legged play-off (at the ground of the eight-placed club) with the loser entering into a two-legged play-off for one spot in Premier Division 2010. The opponents in this two-legged play-off will be the winners of a one-legged play-off between the runners-up and third-placed in the First Division (with the runners-up being at home).

The A Championship was increased from 16 teams to 18. These teams are geographically divided into two groups of 9. The two group winners will play off in the title decider on 2 November 2009. The highest placed non-reserve team, provided they finish in the top 3, will play a two-legged play-off against the bottom team of the First Division.

Name change

Limerick 37 now play as Limerick F.C. which was also the name of a separate club previously from Limerick which played in the League of Ireland.

Clubs information

Premier Division

Team	Base	Manager	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
Bohemians	Dublin	Pat Fenlon	Dalymount Park	7,955	1890
Bray Wanderers	Bray, Co. Wicklow	Eddie Gormley	Carlisle Grounds	3,250	1942
Cork City	Cork	Paul Doolin	Turners Cross	7,485	1984
Derry City	Derry	Stephen Kenny	The Brandywell	7,700	1928
Drogheda United	Drogheda, Co. Louth	Alan Mathews	United Park	2,400	1975
Dundalk	Dundalk, Co. Louth	Seán Connor	Oriel Park	6,000	1903
Galway United	Galway	Ian Foster	Terryland Park	5,000	1937
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin	Michael O'Neill	Tallaght Stadium	5,700	1901
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	Paul Cook	The Showgrounds	5,500	1928
St. Patrick's Athletic	Dublin	Pete Mahon	Richmond Park	5,340	1929

First Division

Team	Base	Manager	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
Athlone Town	Athlone, Co. Westmeath	Brendan Place	Lissywoolen Stadium	5,000	1887
Finn Harps	Ballybofey, Co. Donegal	James Gallagher	Finn Park	7,500	1954
Kildare County	Newbridge, Co. Kildare	Joe Somerville	Station Road, Newbridge	2,500	2002
Limerick	Limerick	Pat Scully	Jackman Park	3,000	2007
Longford Town	Longford	Gareth Cronin	Flancare Park	6,850	1924
Mervue United	Galway	Johnny Glynn	Terryland Park	6,500	1960
Monaghan United	Monaghan	Mick Cooke	Century Homes Park	5,000	1979
Shelbourne	Dublin	Dermot Keely	Tolka Park	9,680	1895
Sporting Fingal	Dublin	Liam Buckley	Morton Stadium	8,800	2007
University College Dublin	Dublin	Martin Russell	UCD Bowl	3,000	1895
Waterford United	Waterford	Stephen Henderson	Waterford Regional Sports Centre	3,100	1930
Wexford Youths	Crossabeg, Co. Wexford	Mick Wallace	Ferrycarraig Park	2,500	2007

League

Rules

Procedure

There are ten participating clubs in the Premier Division and twelve participating clubs in the First Division for 2009. During the course of the 2009 season each Premier club play their respective others four times, for a total of 36 matches per team. First Division sides play each other three times throughout the season for a total of 33 matches per team. A pre-season draw decided which clubs have the benefit of two home games in these matches. The A Championship contains six first team sides and the reserve sides from Premier Division and some First Division clubs, for a total of 18 clubs.

Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference and then goals scored. If there is equality in points, goal difference and goals for tallies, the clubs involved must partake in a play-off to decide their finishing positions.

Qualification for 2010–11 European competitions

According to the domestic league coefficients earned during last five years, Republic of Ireland ended up in 30th place among 53 European national football associations.^[2] This means that the top team in the Premier Division will qualify for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The second-placed team, as well as the winners of the domestic FAI Cup, will qualify for the second, while the third-placed team will qualify for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

If it were to happen that cup-winners have already qualified for the UEFA Europa League via the league, the cup-win qualification will take prominence and the league-place qualification will be transferred to the next team who finished below them in the league. However, if the case is that the cup-winner has already won the league, that team will take a place in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds, by way of its league-win. The cup-winner spot will then be awarded to the second-placed team, with the third-placed team and the cup final losers (or the fourth-placed team if the cup losers finish second or third in the league) taking the original spots from the league.

Season

Tables

Premier Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bohemians (C)	36	24	5	7	62	21	+41	77	2010–11 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Shamrock Rovers	36	21	10	5	51	27	+24	73	2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
3	Cork City	36	17	9	10	42	28	+14	60	Club demoted
4	Derry City	36	18	5	13	49	31	+18	59	Club demoted
5	Dundalk	36	12	8	16	46	51	−5	44	2010–11 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ^2
6	Sligo Rovers	36	11	10	15	41	51	−10	43
7	St Patrick's Athletic	36	13	4	19	29	46	−17	43
8	Galway United	36	12	6	18	36	57	−21	42
9	Drogheda United (O)	36	7	11	18	32	50	−18	32	Relegation/Promotion play-off
10	Bray Wanderers	36	6	10	20	30	56	−26	028^2

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ The Board of Management of the FAI terminated Derry City Football Club’s contract to participate in the League of Ireland on 7 November 2009. The decision came after Derry admitted to holding second unofficial contracts with players to the FAI. Despite the termination, a meeting over the future of the club regarding the participation in the League of Ireland on a different level than the Premier Division will be held during the week of 9 November 2009.^[3]
The club was subsequently dissolved and a new club, also called Derry City took its place in 2010's First Division.

² Following the demotion of Cork City F.C. on 22nd February 2010, Dundalk F.C. are set to take their place in the 2010-11 Europa League First qualifying round.^[4] Bray Wanderers also retained their places within the top tier despite originally slated for relegation.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	UCD (C)	33	23	5	5	62	22	+40	74	Promotion to Premier Division 2010
2	Shelbourne	33	22	7	4	66	31	+35	73	Relegation/Promotion play-off
3	Sporting Fingal (P)	33	21	6	6	68	28	+40	69	Relegation/Promotion play-off 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ^1
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 FC	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 (R)	33	4	3	26	25	85	−60	15	Relegation/Promotion play-off

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Sporting Fingal are the winners of the 2009 FAI Cup competition and therefore qualify for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

A Championship

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Salthill Devon (P)	16	11	3	2	37	17	+20	36	Qualification to A Championship Final ^1
2	Drogheda United A	16	10	2	4	39	18	+21	32
3	Finn Harps A	16	9	3	4	37	17	+20	30
4	Castlebar Celtic	16	8	1	7	31	31	0	25
5	Derry City A	16	7	2	7	32	21	+11	23
6	Tullamore Town	16	5	3	8	13	19	−6	18
7	Dundalk A	16	5	3	8	24	34	−10	18
8	Sligo Rovers A	16	4	3	9	16	32	−16	15
9	Galway United A	16	1	4	11	8	48	−40	7

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Note: Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shamrock Rovers A (C)	16	11	3	2	29	10	+19	36	Qualification to A Championship Final
2	Bohemians A	16	10	1	5	26	21	+5	31
3	Bray Wanderers A	16	8	4	4	30	21	+9	28
4	Sporting Fingal A	16	8	2	6	32	21	+11	26
5	Tralee Dynamos	16	8	1	7	20	21	−1	25
6	Cork City A	16	7	3	6	20	19	+1	24
7	St Patrick's Athletic A	16	3	6	7	16	18	−2	15
8	FC Carlow	16	3	3	10	14	35	−21	12
9	Cobh Ramblers	16	1	3	12	11	32	−21	6

Source: loi.ie
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Note: Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Play-Offs

Premier Division Promotion/Relegation play-off

Semi-finals

Drogheda United v Bray Wanderers

10 November 2009 19:45 GMT

Drogheda United	2 – 0	Bray Wanderers
James Chambers  60' Brian King  82'	Report	John Mulroy  84'

United Park, Drogheda Referee: D. Hancock

---

Shelbourne v Sporting Fingal

10 November 2009 19:45 GMT

Shelbourne	1 – 2	Sporting Fingal
David McAllister  72' (pen.) Anto Flood  73'	Report	Éamon Zayed  39' Shaun Williams  41'

Tolka Park, Dublin Attendance: 1,632 Referee: T. Connolly

Final

Sporting Fingal v Bray Wanderers

13 November 2009 19:45 GMT

Sporting Fingal	2 – 0	Bray Wanderers
Stephen Paisley  51' Conan Byrne  67'	Report

Morton Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 740 Referee: D. Tomney

---

Bray Wanderers v Sporting Fingal

16 November 2009 19:45 GMT

Bray Wanderers	2 – 2	Sporting Fingal
John Flood  83' Chris O'Connor  90+1'	Report	Éamon Zayed  59' Robert Bayly  90+2'

Carlisle Grounds, Bray Referee: D. Hanney

Sporting Fingal won 4–2 on aggregate and earned promotion to the 2010 League of Ireland Premier Division.

First Division Promotion/Relegation play-off

Following the decision by Kildare County to withdraw from the League of Ireland, the two-legged play-off games were cancelled and Salthill Devon won promotion to the League of Ireland First Division for the 2010 League of Ireland, pending the licensing process.^[5]

A Championship Final

Salthill Devon v Shamrock Rovers A

31 October 2009 14:00 GMT

Salthill Devon	0 – 1	Shamrock Rovers A
	Report	Don Cowan  90+7'

Drom Clubhouse, Salthill

Results

Premier Division

First half of season

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

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

Second half of season

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

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

First Division

Regular home/away matches

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 FC

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

Extra home matches

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 FC

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

A Championship

Group 1

Home ╲ Away	CAS	DER	DRO	DUN	FHA	GAL	SAL	SLI	TUL
Castlebar Celtic		1–2	2–3	5–0	2–5	3–0	3–2	3–1	0–0
Derry City A	6–1		0–1	3–1	1–1	6–0	1–3	2–0	1–2
Drogheda United A	1–2	1–0		1–2	3–1	10–0	2–2	1–3	3–2
Dundalk A	2–3	2–5	2–1		3–3	4–1	0–1	2–1	1–1
Finn Harps A	5–1	3–0	1–2	2–0		3–0^4	3–1	0–0	0–1
Galway United A	0–3^5	1–1	0–3^2	1–1	0–4		1–3	0–0	0–0
Salthill Devon	3–0	2–0	1–1	3–0^3	2–1	4–2		3–3	2–0
Sligo Rovers A	1–0	1–4	0–5	1–3	1–3	3–1	0–1		1–0
Tullamore Town	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–1	0–4	4–0

Source: loi.ie
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²The match was awarded to Drogheda United A with a score of 0–3 due to Galway United A being unable to field a team.
³The match was awarded to Salthill Devon with a score of 0–3 due to Dundalk A failing to travel to the match.
⁴The match was awarded to Finn Harps A with a score of 3-0 due to Galway United A failing to show up.
⁵The match was awarded to Castlebar Celtic with a score of 3-0 due to Galway United A failing to show up.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 2

Home ╲ Away	BOH	BRW	COB	COR	CAR	StP	SHA	SFI	TRA
Bohemians A		0–3^2	3–1	1–5	2–1	2–0	2–3	0–0	0–1
Bray Wanderers A	0–2		4–2	5–0	4–0	2–2	0–1	1–7	1–0
Cobh Ramblers	0–1	2–5		0–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–4	0–1
Cork City A	0–1	0–0	2–0		2–0	1–0	0–2	3–0	2–1
FC Carlow	0–5	1–2	1–0	1–1		2–0	0–3	2–4	3–1
St Patrick's Athletic A	4–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–3		0–0	2–0	2–2
Shamrock Rovers A	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–0		2–1	5–0
Sporting Fingal A	1–3	0–0	2–1	6–2	2–0	2–0	1–2		1–2
Tralee Dynamos	1–2	1–2	3–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–1

Source: loi.ie
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²The match originally finished 4–0, but it was later awarded to Bray Wanderers A with a score of 0–3 due to Bohemians A having fielded an ineligible player.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

The following sections contain only goals which have been scored in the respective divisions of the League of Ireland.

Premier Division Rank Scorer Team Goals 1 Gary Twigg Shamrock Rovers 24 2 Jason Byrne Bohemians 22 3 Raffaele Cretaro Sligo Rovers 15 4 Chris Turner Dundalk 12 5 Mark Farren Derry City 10 6 Dessie Baker Shamrock Rovers 8 Fahrudin Kudozović Cork City 8 Gareth McGlynn Derry City 8 9 Killian Brennan Bohemians 7 James Chambers Drogheda United 7 Billy Dennehy Cork City 7 Alex Williams Dundalk 7 Last updated: 6 November 2009 Source: soccerway.com

First Division Rank Scorer Team Goals 1 Conan Byrne Sporting Fingal 21 2 Karl Bermingham Monaghan United 17 Graham Cummins Waterford United 17 4 David McAllister Shelbourne 16 5 Ciarán Kilduff UCD 14 Stephen O'Flynn Limerick FC 14 7 Derek Glynn Longford Town 13 Éamon Zayed Sporting Fingal 13 9 Anto Flood Shelbourne 12 David McMillan UCD 12 11 Willie John Kiely Waterford United 11 12 Noel McGee Athlone Town 10

League of Ireland clubs in Europe 2009-10

UEFA Champions League

After winning the 2008 Premier Division, Bohemians represented the league in the Champions League. Thanks to the league's vast improvement in European competition over the past five seasons the Irish club started in the Second Qualifying Round. However they were not seeded and were given a tough tie with Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg. Despite being underdogs going into the tie, they produced a wonderful performance in the away leg and went back to Dublin with a slight advantage after getting a 1-1 draw. 85 minutes into the home leg and with Bohs apparently going through, disaster struck as Janko headered in an 87th-minute winner for the Austrians which knocked Bohs out of Europe.

UEFA Europa League

Sligo Rovers were the first to represent the league in 2009, as they were in the first qualifying round. They got a good draw with Albanian side Vllaznia however an unbelievable home leg ended up 2-1 to the Albanians. Sligo failed to recover in the away leg, drawing 1-1 and so were knocked out of Europe at the first attempt.

St Patrick's Athletic and Derry City started into the second qualifying round. In the first leg St Pats drew 1-1 at home with Maltese side Valletta and Derry City drew 1-1 with Skonto Riga in Latvia. A good second leg saw both qualify for the next round, with Pats winning 1-0 in Malta and Derry beating Skonto 1-0 at the Brandywell.

In the next round St Pats were drawn against Russian club Krylia Sovetov Samara. They were not fancied to get through, however they won the first leg at Richmond Park 1-0. There were higher hopes for Derry against CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria but they lost the first leg 1-0. Despite their best efforts in the second leg, they could only manage a 1-1 draw and so were knocked out. St Pats also seemed to be heading out as they were 3-0 down to Krylia Sovetov in Russia with just twenty minutes remaining, but Declan O'Brien struck twice to send them through on the away goals tule.

In the last round before the groups stages, St Pats were drawn against Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest, who in the previous round had hammered Scottish club Motherwell 6-1. It didn't look good for Pats but at half time in the away leg they had held them scoreless. In the second half however they found their scoring touch and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Steaua expected an easy match in Dublin, however on 48 minutes Pats went ahead and a minute later hit the post from a free-kick. Steaua recovered their composure however and won 2-1, thus knocking out Ireland's last team in European competition in 2009. Despite falling in the final round, Pats were acknowledged by fellow league fans for their impressive displays in the competition throughout the summer.

UEFA Ranking

The League of Ireland accumulated a respectable score of 1.375 co-efficient points for the season. After the 2009/10 season, Ireland ranked 29th in the co-efficient table, their highest placing since 1986.

• 27 Croatia
• 28 Belarus
• 29 Ireland
• 30 Finland
• 31 Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Full list

See also

• FAI Cup 2009
• League of Ireland Cup 2009
• Setanta Sports Cup 2009
• 2009 FAI Underage League

External links

• League of Ireland Official Website
• The Football Association of Ireland
• eleven-a-side.com
• extratime.ie
• Irish Football Grounds
• foot.ie forum
• FAI Rule Book

References

1. "Bohemians crowned league champions". RTÉ Sport. 2009-11-06. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
2. UEFA Country Ranking 2009
3. "Statement on behalf of the FAI Board of Management". FAI Board of Management. 7 November 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
4. Gerry Matthews Statement on Licensing Decision
5. http://www.loi.ie/index.php/about/press-office/1317-fai-statement