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2009 League of Ireland First Division

League of Ireland First Division
Season2009
ChampionsUCD
PromotedSporting Fingal
UEFA Europa LeagueSporting Fingal
Top goalscorerConan Byrne: 21
(Sporting Fingal) [1]
← 2008
2010 →

The 2009 League of Ireland First Division season was the 25th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 12 teams and UCD won the title. Third placed Sporting Fingal also won the 2009 FAI Cup Final, qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League and were promoted to the Premier Division after winning a promotion/relegation play off.

2009 League of Ireland First Division is located in Ireland
Athlone Town
Finn Harps
Kildare County
Limerick FC
Longford Town
Mervue United
Monaghan United
Dublin
Dublin
2009 League of Ireland First Division
2009 League of Ireland First Division
Waterford United
Wexford Youths
Dublin teams Sporting Fingal Shelbourne UCD
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Location of teams in 2009 League of Ireland First Division
Map of Dublin with the three League of Ireland First Division Dublin teams
Shelbourne
UCD
Sporting Fingal
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Locations of Dublin First Division teams

Clubs

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Team Base Manager Stadium
Athlone Town Athlone Republic of Ireland Brendan Place Athlone Town Stadium
Finn Harps Ballybofey Republic of Ireland James Gallagher Finn Park
Kildare County Newbridge Republic of Ireland Joe Somerville Station Road
Limerick Limerick Republic of Ireland Pat Scully Jackman Park
Longford Town Longford Republic of Ireland Gareth Cronin Flancare Park
Mervue United Galway Republic of Ireland Johnny Glynn Terryland Park
Monaghan United Monaghan Republic of Ireland Mick Cooke Century Homes Park
Shelbourne Drumcondra Republic of Ireland Dermot Keely Tolka Park
Sporting Fingal Fingal Republic of Ireland Liam Buckley Morton Stadium
UCD Belfield Republic of Ireland Martin Russell UCD Bowl
Waterford United Waterford Republic of Ireland Stephen Henderson Waterford RSC
Wexford Youths Crossabeg Republic of Ireland Mick Wallace Ferrycarraig Park

Overview

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This season saw the division expanded from 10 to 12 clubs. This was because the 2009 Premier Division was reduced to 10 clubs. The regular season began on 6 March and concluded on 7 November. Each team played the other teams three times, totaling 33 games. UCD finished as champions and were automatically promoted to the Premier Division. There was no promotion/relegation play-off between the First Division and the A Championship this season. This was only because Kildare County, who finished bottom of the table, withdrew from the League of Ireland before the play-offs could be played.[2][3]

Final table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 UCD (C) 33 23 5 5 62 22 +40 74 Promoted to Premier Division
2 Shelbourne 33 22 7 4 66 31 +35 73 Lost promotion/relegation play off
3 Sporting Fingal[a] (P) 33 21 6 6 68 28 +40 69 UEFA Europa League/Premier Division
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 F.C.[b] 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[c] 33 4 3 26 25 85 −60 15 Withdrew from the league
Source: [2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Sporting Fingal qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League after winning the 2009 FAI Cup Final and were promoted to the Premier Division after winning the promotion/relegation play off.
  2. ^ Limerick 37 F.C. changed their name to Limerick F.C.
  3. ^ Kildare County withdrew from league at end of season and did participate in promotion/relegation play off.

Results

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Matches 1 to 22

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

Matches 23 to 33

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

Promotion/relegation play-offs

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The second and third placed First Division teams, Shelbourne and Sporting Fingal played off to decide who would play the winner of the Premier Division play-off. The winner of this play off would play in the 2010 Premier Division.

First Division
10 November 2009 Shelbourne 1 – 2 Sporting Fingal Tolka Park
19:45 GMT McAllister 72' (pen.)
Flood Red card 73'		 Report Zayed 39'
Williams 41'		 Attendance: 1,632
Referee: T. Connolly
First Division v Premier Division
13 November 2009 Sporting Fingal 2 – 0 Bray Wanderers Morton Stadium
19:45 GMT Paisley 51'
Byrne 67'		 Report Attendance: 740
Referee: D. Tomney
16 November 2009 Bray Wanderers 2 – 2 Sporting Fingal Carlisle Grounds
19:45 GMT Flood 83'
O'Connor 90+1'		 Report Zayed 59'
Bayly 90+2'		 Referee: D. Hanney

Sporting Fingal won 4–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the Premier Division.

Top scorers

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Scorer Team Goals
Republic of Ireland Conan Byrne Sporting Fingal[1] 21
Republic of Ireland Karl Bermingham Monaghan United 17
Republic of Ireland Graham Cummins Waterford United 17
Republic of Ireland David McAllister Shelbourne 16
Republic of Ireland Ciarán Kilduff UCD 14
Republic of Ireland Stephen O'Flynn Limerick F.C. 14

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Ireland 2009". RSSSF. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. ^ "What Happens (To) Teams That Enter The League Of Ireland First Division?". www.balls.ie. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.