2016 League of Ireland First Division

League of Ireland First Division
Season	2016
Champions	Limerick
Promoted	Limerick; Drogheda United
Matches played	112
Goals scored	349 (3.12 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary O'Neil (13 goals)
Biggest home win	Limerick 6–1 Cobh Ramblers; (19 March 2016); Limerick 7–2 Waterford United; (30 April 2016)
Biggest away win	Waterford United 1–8 UCD; (30 September 2016)
Highest scoring	Limerick 7–2 Waterford United; (30 April 2016); Waterford United 1–8 UCD; (30 September 2016)
Total attendance	52,987
Average attendance	477
	← 2015 2017 →

The 2016 League of Ireland First Division season was the 32nd season of the League of Ireland First Division.

On 28 August, Limerick clinched the title and promotion after a 3–2 win away to UCD.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Overview

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

The eight clubs competed for a prize fund of €104,000 with the winners receiving €30,000 and the eighth placed team collecting €8,000.^[11]

Teams

Dublin

Dublin teams
Cabinteely
Shelbourne
UCD

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Locations of the First Division teams

Locations of Dublin First Division teams

Team	Home city/suburb	Stadium
Athlone Town	Athlone	Athlone Town Stadium
Cabinteely	Cabinteely	Stradbrook Road
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh	St. Colman's Park
Drogheda United	Drogheda	United Park
Limerick	Limerick	Markets Field
Shelbourne	Drumcondra, Dublin	Tolka Park
UCD	Belfield, Dublin	UCD Bowl
Waterford United	Waterford	Waterford RSC

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	Alan Mathews^[12]		Nike	Nitro Sports
Cabinteely	Eddie Gormley		Umbro
Cobh Ramblers	Stephen Henderson	Kevin Mulcahy	Legea	Rathcormac Fuels
Drogheda United	Pete Mahon	Sean Thornton	CX+ Sport	Scotch Hall Shopping Center
Limerick	Martin Russell	Shane Duggan	Hummel	Galtee Fuels
Shelbourne	Kevin Doherty	Daire Doyle	Macron	abbeyseals.ie
UCD	Collie O'Neill	Gary O'Neill	O'Neills	O'Neills
Waterford United	Roddy Collins	Phillip Gorman	Uhlsport

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Limerick (C, P)	28	24	3	1	86	26	+60	75	Promotion to League of Ireland Premier Division
2	Drogheda United (O, P)	28	15	7	6	42	29	+13	52	Qualification to Promotion play-offs
3	Cobh Ramblers	28	15	5	8	40	33	+7	50	Qualification to Promotion play-offs
4	UCD	28	14	6	8	57	40	+17	48
5	Waterford United	28	10	3	15	43	65	−22	33
6	Shelbourne	28	9	3	16	36	40	−4	30
7	Cabinteely	28	4	4	20	19	54	−35	16
8	Athlone Town	28	3	5	20	26	62	−36	14

Source: Soccerway, extratime.ie
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[13]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

Matches 1–14

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

Home \ Away	ATH	CAB	COB	DRO	LIM	SHE	UCD	WAT
Athlone Town		3–1	0–2	1–2	0–5	1–3	1–2	3–3
Cabinteely	2–1		1–2	0–0	0–2	0–4	0–0	0–2
Cobh Ramblers	2–2	2–0		1–1	0–3	1–0	0–2	4–0
Drogheda United	2–2	4–0	1–0		0–3	1–0	1–2	2–1
Limerick	3–0	3–0	6–1	2–2		5–1	4–1	7–2
Shelbourne	2–1	1–1	0–1	3–0	3–4		1–2	0–2
UCD	1–1	2–1	3–1	2–2	1–2	2–0		1–3
Waterford United	3–0^[a]	3–1	1–2	1–2	2–5	1–4	3–1

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ Waterford were awarded a 3–0 result for the match, with Athlone forfeiting the fixture. Athlone Town were also fined €1,000 and stripped of home advantage for their August clash with Waterford United after they failed to fulfil the First Division fixture between the two sides.^[14]

Matches 15–28

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

Home \ Away	ATH	CAB	COB	DRO	LIM	SHE	UCD	WAT
Athlone Town		4–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–3^[a]
Cabinteely	5–1		1–3	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–2	2–0
Cobh Ramblers	2–1	3–0		2–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	3–1
Drogheda United	1–0	1–0	2–0		3–3	2–0	1–2	2–0
Limerick	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1		2–0	4–3	4–0
Shelbourne	3–0	2–1	2–0	0–2	1–1		1–2	0–1
UCD	5–1	4–1	0–1	1–1	2–3	3–2		2–1
Waterford United	3–0	0–0	2–2	1–3	1–5	2–1	1–8

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ This match was played in Waterford, due to the earlier league ruling that stripped Athlone of home field advantage due to the non-fulfillment of a previous fixture between the two sides.

Promotion/relegation playoffs

First Division

22 October 2016 (2016-10-22)	Cobh Ramblers	0–2	Drogheda United	Cobh
19:15 IST (UTC+01:00)		Report	Griffin 60' McCaffrey 62'	Stadium: St Colman's Park Attendance: 1,550 Referee: Andrew Mullally

28 October 2016 (2016-10-28)	Drogheda United	1–2 (3–2 agg.)	Cobh Ramblers	Drogheda
19:45 IST (UTC+01:00)	McCaffrey 60'	Report	Ellis 1' Comerford 9'	Stadium: United Park Attendance: 1,873 Referee: Andrew Mullally

Drogheda United advanced to the promotion/relegation play-offs against Wexford Youths.

First Division vs Premier Division

31 October 2016 (2016-10-31)	Wexford Youths	2–0	Drogheda United	Crossabeg
19:45 GMT	Furlong 66' Chin 90+1'	Report		Stadium: Ferrycarrig Park Referee: Raymond Matthews

4 November 2016 (2016-11-04)	Drogheda United	3–0 (3–2 agg.)	Wexford Youths	Drogheda
19:45 GMT	Brennan 45+1' Farragher 58' Thornton 78' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: United Park

Drogheda United are promoted to the 2017 Premier Division; Wexford Youths are relegated to the 2017 First Division.

References

^ "Players". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "LIMERICK VS. COBH RAMBLERS 6 - 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "LIMERICK VS. WATERFORD UNITED 7 - 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "WATERFORD UNITED VS. UCD 1 - 8". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "LIMERICK VS. WATERFORD UNITED 7 - 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "WATERFORD UNITED VS. UCD 1 - 8". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
^ "From the Archives - extratime.ie League of Ireland Attendance Report 2019". extratime.
^ "Limerick seal Premier Division return with plenty to spare". Irish Independent. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
^ "Limerick FC seal promotion back to Premier Division with 6 games to spare". The 42. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
^ "Limerick FC fans are super excited by the club's promotion". Irish Examiner. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
^ "Breakdown of 2016 SSE Airtricity League Prize-Money". SSE Airtricity League. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
^ "Alan Mathews Appointed 1st Team Manager". Athlone Town Football Club. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
^ "FIRST DIVISION 2016 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
^ "FOOTBALL:Athlone Town fined €1,000 for failure to fulfil fixture". 9 June 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

[table_note_1_WAT_ATH0.76110458642296-15] Waterford were awarded a 3–0 result for the match, with Athlone forfeiting the fixture. Athlone Town were also fined €1,000 and stripped of home advantage for their August clash with Waterford United after they failed to fulfil the First Division fixture between the two sides.^[14]

[table_note_1_ATH_WAT0.77125274798426-16] This match was played in Waterford, due to the earlier league ruling that stripped Athlone of home field advantage due to the non-fulfillment of a previous fixture between the two sides.

[1] "Players". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[2] "LIMERICK VS. COBH RAMBLERS 6 - 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[3] "LIMERICK VS. WATERFORD UNITED 7 - 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[4] "WATERFORD UNITED VS. UCD 1 - 8". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[5] "LIMERICK VS. WATERFORD UNITED 7 - 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[6] "WATERFORD UNITED VS. UCD 1 - 8". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.

[30_August_2020-7] "From the Archives - extratime.ie League of Ireland Attendance Report 2019". extratime.

[8] "Limerick seal Premier Division return with plenty to spare". Irish Independent. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

[9] "Limerick FC seal promotion back to Premier Division with 6 games to spare". The 42. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

[10] "Limerick FC fans are super excited by the club's promotion". Irish Examiner. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

[11] "Breakdown of 2016 SSE Airtricity League Prize-Money". SSE Airtricity League. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.

[12] "Alan Mathews Appointed 1st Team Manager". Athlone Town Football Club. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

[13] "FIRST DIVISION 2016 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2016.

[League_of_Ireland-14] "FOOTBALL:Athlone Town fined €1,000 for failure to fulfil fixture". 9 June 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.

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v t e League of Ireland First Division
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See also	Shield