2009–10 IFA Premiership

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IFA Premiership
Season2009–10
ChampionsLinfield
1st Premiership title
49th Irish title
RelegatedInstitute
UEFA Champions LeagueLinfield
UEFA Europa LeagueCliftonville
Glentoran
Portadown
Matches played228
Goals scored676 (2.96 per match)
Top goalscorerRory Patterson (30)
Biggest home winPortadown 6–1 Lisburn Distillery
Biggest away winDungannon Swifts 2–8 Portadown
Newry City 0–6 Linfield
Glentoran 0–6 Coleraine
Highest scoringDungannon Swifts 2–8 Portadown

The 2009–10 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 2nd season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 109th season of Irish league football overall.

Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 49th time.

Summary

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It began on 8 August 2009 and ended on 1 May 2010. Glentoran were the defending champions. On 27 April 2010, Linfield clinched the title after a 1–0 victory against Cliftonville at Windsor Park.[1] On 14 May 2010, Institute were relegated to the 2010–11 IFA Championship, after losing the two-legged relegation play-off to Donegal Celtic, who took their place in the 2010–11 IFA Premiership.[2]

Team changes from 2008–09

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On 2 February 2009, Bangor's board announced that they would not be able to renew their domestic licence due to financial difficulties, and thereby would not compete in this season's premiership.[3] They finished the 2008–09 season in 11th place. As a consequence, 12th-placed Dungannon Swifts, who were originally going to be directly relegated to the IFA Championship, earned the relegation play-off berth from Bangor. After a two-legged series against 2008–09 Championship runners-up Donegal Celtic, which ended in an aggregated 2–2 tie, Dungannon eventually retained their Premiership status on away goals.

Promoted from the Championship were 2008–09 champions Portadown, which marked their return to the highest football league of Northern Ireland after a one-year hiatus.

Stadia and locations

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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2009–10 IFA Premiership
Club Stadium Town/city Capacity
Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 8,000 (4,000 seats)
Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 8,000 (2,099 seats)
Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 6,500 (1,500 seats)
Crusaders Seaview Belfast 6,500 (500 seats)
Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 3,000 (300 seats)
Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 5,500 (4,000 seats)
Glentoran The Oval Belfast 15,250 (5,000 seats)
Institute YMCA Grounds Drumahoe 4,000 (600 seats)
Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 20,400 (14,400 seats)
Lisburn Distillery New Grosvenor Stadium Lisburn 8,000 (2,000 seats)
Newry City The Showgrounds Newry 6,500 (800 seats)
Portadown Shamrock Park Portadown 8,000 (3,500 seats)

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Linfield (C) 38 22 8 8 78 37 +41 74 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2 Cliftonville 38 21 6 11 69 42 +27 69 Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
3 Glentoran 38 19 8 11 58 46 +12 65 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
4 Crusaders 38 17 9 12 57 52 +5 60
5 Dungannon Swifts 38 16 9 13 56 58 −2 57
6 Portadown 38 15 10 13 70 55 +15 55 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[a]
7 Coleraine 38 16 9 13 76 62 +14 57[b]
8 Glenavon 38 12 7 19 47 67 −20 43
9 Newry City 38 10 12 16 38 63 −25 42
10 Ballymena United 38 11 7 20 46 56 −10 40
11 Lisburn Distillery 38 11 6 21 45 76 −31 39
12 Institute (R) 38 6 13 19 36 62 −26 31 Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
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.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Portadown qualified for the first qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League as 2009–10 Irish Cup runners-up, since winners Linfield had already qualified for the Champions League. As a result, Cliftonville were promoted to the second qualifying round
  2. ^ After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the number of points earned during matches 34–38.

Results

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Matches 34–38

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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 played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that teams had played each other twice at home and twice away.

Top scorers

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Rank Scorer Club Goals[4]
1 Northern Ireland Rory Patterson Coleraine 30
2 Northern Ireland Darren Boyce Coleraine 17
Northern Ireland George McMullan Cliftonville 17
4 Northern Ireland Liam Boyce Cliftonville 16
5 Northern Ireland Kevin Braniff Portadown 14
Northern Ireland Richard Lecky Portadown 14
Northern Ireland David Rainey Crusaders 14
Northern Ireland Glenn Ferguson Lisburn Distillery 14
9 Northern Ireland Timmy Adamson Dungannon Swifts 13
10 Scotland Gary McCutcheon Portadown 12

Promotion/relegation play-off

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The promotion/relegation play-off was slightly altered this season because Donegal Celtic, runners-up of the 2009–10 IFA Championship, were the only IFA Championship club to hold the Domestic Club Licence required to participate in the Premiership. Lisburn Distillery, who finished in 11th place, avoided having to play a relegation play-off, which was passed down instead to Institute, who finished in 12th place and would normally have been automatically relegated. The first leg ended 0-0, with Institute having a penalty saved in injury-time at the end of the game. The second leg stayed goalless until the 85th minute, when Stephen McAlorum scored for Donegal Celtic, to relegate Institute to the 2010–11 IFA Championship.


Institute0 – 1Donegal Celtic
Report McAlorum 85'

Donegal Celtic won 1–0 on aggregate and were promoted, Institute were relegated

References

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  1. ^ "Linfield 1–0 Cliftonville". BBC Sport. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  2. ^ "Institute 0-1 Donegal Celtic". BBC Sport. 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Quinn appointed Glenavon manager". BBC Sport. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Carling Premiership – Leading Scorers". ifapremiership.com. IFA Premiership. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.