League of Ireland Premier Division
Season2004
ChampionsShelbourne (12th title)
RelegatedDublin City
UEFA Champions LeagueShelbourne
UEFA CupCork City
Longford Town
UEFA Intertoto CupBohemians
Setanta Sports CupShelbourne
Cork City
Longford Town
Top goalscorerJason Byrne: 25
(Shelbourne)[1]
← 2003
2005 →

The 2004 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 20th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Shelbourne were champions while Cork City finished as runners-up. Both clubs also enjoyed respectable runs in Europe.

Overview

The season began on 19 March and ended on 22 November. Each team played four rounds of games, totalling 36 games each. The 2005 season would see the League of Ireland Premier Division revert to 12 twelve teams. To facilitate this expansion there was no promotion/relegation play-off this season and only one team, Dublin City, were automatically relegated. At the end of October, Drogheda United and Bohemians were all but out of the title race. Drogheda United and Bohemians were twelve points and eight points behind leaders Shelbourne respectively. Shelbourne had not quite sealed the title yet, though, as Cork City had reached second place and were just four points behind with four games remaining. On 5 November it looked like the Cork City's league challenge might have been over after they could only draw at home to Derry City. If Shelbourne had beaten Longford Town the following day they would be nine points clear with Cork City having just three games remaining. Longford won 4–1. Both Cork City and Shelbourne won their remaining games before the final round of matches. This meant that Cork City were three points behind Shelbourne. Cork had to win and Shelbourne lose for the title to go the Cork instead of Shelbourne. It turned out that neither result went the way Cork wanted as both they and Shelbourne drew. This meant that Shelbourne retained the league title and Cork City would have to be satisfied with second place.[2][3][4]

Final table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Shelbourne (C) 36 19 11 6 57 37 +20 68 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Cork City 36 18 11 7 52 32 +20 65 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Bohemians 36 15 15 6 51 30 +21 60 Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
4 Drogheda United 36 15 7 14 45 43 +2 52
5 Waterford United 36 14 8 14 44 49 −5 50
6 Longford Town 36 11 13 12 32 34 −2 46 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round[a]
7 Derry City 36 11 11 14 23 32 −9 44
8 St Patrick's Athletic 36 11 9 16 38 49 −11 42
9 Shamrock Rovers 36 10 8 18 41 47 −6 38
10 Dublin City (R) 36 6 7 23 39 69 −30 25 Relegation to League of Ireland First Division
Source: [2][5][6]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Longford Town qualified for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round after winning the 2004 FAI Cup Final.

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away BOH COR DER DRO DUB LON SHM SHE StP WAT
Bohemians — 2–3 3–0 0–1 2–4 0–0 2–2 1–1 3–1 2–2
Cork City 0–1 — 2–1 0–0 3–1 1–0 1–1 0–2 2–1 2–3
Derry City 0–0 1–1 — 0–2 2–1 0–0 1–0 0–2 0–0 0–1
Drogheda United 0–3 2–0 2–0 — 2–0 0–1 1–0 2–2 0–1 0–0
Dublin City 2–1 0–1 0–2 1–1 — 0–1 0–4 1–3 1–1 3–1
Longford Town 0–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 — 1–0 0–2 1–3 0–2
Shamrock Rovers 2–1 2–1 1–0 1–2 0–0 1–1 — 3–0 1–2 4–0
Shelbourne 0–0 2–2 1–0 3–0 2–1 1–1 1–0 — 2–0 1–0
St Patrick's Athletic 0–2 0–2 1–1 0–2 3–1 1–1 1–2 1–2 — 0–1
Waterford United 0–1 1–1 0–2 2–1 2–1 1–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 —
Source: [6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away BOH COR DER DRO DUB LON SHM SHE StP WAT
Bohemians — 1–0 0–1 0–0 4–0 1–1 3–2 2–0 2–2 2–2
Cork City 1–1 — 1–1 3–2 1–0 2–0 1–0 0–1 3–0 2–0
Derry City 0–0 0–1 — 1–0 2–3 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–0
Drogheda United 0–3 1–3 4–0 — 2–1 0–1 3–0 2–5 0–2 1–2
Dublin City 0–0 0–1 0–2 2–3 — 2–1 1–2 2–3 1–2 1–3
Longford Town 0–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 2–0 — 1–1 4–1 2–1 1–1
Shamrock Rovers 0–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 1–3 2–0 — 1–4 3–1 1–2
Shelbourne 1–1 0–0 0–2 0–2 4–1 3–1 1–1 — 3–1 2–1
St Patrick's Athletic 1–2 0–3 0–1 1–1 2–2 1–0 2–0 0–0 — 2–1
Waterford United 1–1 1–4 1–0 1–3 3–2 0–1 2–0 3–1 0–2 —
Source: [6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

UEFA coefficient

The League of Ireland Premier Division performances in Europe this season meant that the league received a coefficient of 1.333 added to their overall coefficient which now accumulated to 4.164. This gave them a ranking 38th place as shown.

Source:[7]

Top-scorers

Player Club Goals
Republic of Ireland Jason Byrne Shelbourne 25
Republic of Ireland Glen Crowe Bohemians 19
Republic of Ireland Declan O'Brien Drogheda United 14
Republic of Ireland Daryl Murphy Waterford United 14
Republic of Ireland Kevin Doyle Cork City 13

Source:[2][1][3]

Awards

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Graham, Alex. Football in the Republic of Ireland a Statistical Record 1921–2005. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-86223-135-4.
  3. ^ a b "Ireland 2004". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  4. ^ "(Republic of) Ireland League Tables". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  5. ^ "(Republic of) Ireland League Tables". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b c "Ireland 2004". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  7. ^ "UEFA Country Ranking 2005". www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert.
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