2012 League of Ireland First Division

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The 2012 League of Ireland First Division season was the 28th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 8 teams and Limerick won the title.

Teams

Wexford Youths
Longford Town
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Locations of First Division teams
Team Location Manager Stadium
Athlone Town Athlone Republic of Ireland Mike Kerley Athlone Town Stadium
Finn Harps Ballybofey Northern Ireland Peter Hutton Finn Park
Limerick Limerick Republic of Ireland Pat Scully Jackman Park
Longford Town Longford Republic of Ireland Tony Cousins
Flancare Park
Mervue United Galway Republic of Ireland Johnny Glynn
Fahy's Field
SD Galway Galway Republic of Ireland Tony Mannion
Terryland Park
Waterford United
 Waterford Republic of Ireland Paul O'Brien Waterford RSC
Wexford Youths
 Wexford Republic of Ireland Shane Keegan
Ferrycarraig Park

Overview

Due to the expansion of the Premier Division, coupled with the withdrawal of Galway United during the off-season, the 2012 First Division consisted of just eight teams. Applications to join the Division from Cobh Ramblers and Tralee Dynamos, both of whom had played in the 2011 A Championship, were rejected. Each team played every other team four times, totalling twenty eight games.[2][3]

Final table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Limerick (C, P) 28 20 2 6 50 20 +30 62 Promoted to Premier Division
2
Waterford United
 28 18 4 6 46 29 +17 58 Lost promotion/relegation play-offs
3 Longford Town 28 15 5 8 42 33 +9 50
4
Wexford Youths
 28 11 6 11 45 40 +5 39
5 Finn Harps 28 10 6 12 40 43 −3 36
6 Athlone Town 28 8 5 15 25 41 −16 29
7 Mervue United 28 6 5 17 34 49 −15 23
8 SD Galway[a] 28 5 5 18 23 51 −28 20
Source: [2][4]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Salthill Devon changed their name to SD Galway

Results

Matches 1–14

Home \ Away ATH FHA LIM LON MER SDG
WAT
WEX
Athlone Town 2–0 0–1 1–2 2–1 2–1 1–4 0–1
Finn Harps 1–2 1–3 1–3 4–3 3–0 0–1 0–1
Limerick 2–1 2–1 1–2 2–0 3–0 0–1 4–0
Longford Town 2–1 1–3 0–2 4–2 1–0 3–2 1–0
Mervue United 0–1 3–0 1–2 0–1 1–2 0–0 3–0
SD Galway 0–1 1–5 2–5 1–1 2–2 0–2 1–1
Waterford United
 1–1 0–2 3–1 0–2 3–1 1–0 4–0
Wexford Youths
 1–2 3–0 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–0 6–0
Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15–28

Home \ Away ATH FHA LIM LON MER SDG
WAT
WEX
Athlone Town 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–3 2–0 2–3 0–3
Finn Harps 2–0 1–1 1–0 3–2 2–0 1–2 3–3
Limerick 1–0 3–0 0–0 4–0 1–0 0–1 1–3
Longford Town 0–0 0–1 0–2 2–0 1–2 0–1 2–0
Mervue United 2–0 1–1 0–3 4–5 0–0 0–2 0–0
SD Galway 3–0 2–0 0–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 2–2
Waterford United
 0–0 1–1 2–1 4–2 1–2 3–0 1–2
Wexford Youths
 4–2 2–2 1–3 1–1 1–2 4–1 1–2
Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation play-off

The second and third placed First Division teams,

Waterford United and Longford Town, played off to decide who would play Dundalk
, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division. The winner of this play off would play in the 2013 Premier Division.

First Division
20 October 2012
Flancare Park[5]
[ Report] Peter White 1'
Craig Burns 52'		 Attendance: 550
Referee: Kevin O'Regan (Kerry)
26 October 2012
Waterford United
1–1 Longford Town Waterford RSC[6]
Kirby ?' [ Report] Peter Higgins 9' Referee: Keith Callanan

Waterford United win 3–1 on aggregate

First Division v Premier Division
30 October 2012
Waterford United
Oriel Park[7]
Lorcan Shannon 23'
Stephen McDonnell 75'		 [ Report] Paul Phelan 50'
Ben Ryan 60'		 Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan)
Waterford United v Dundalk
2 November 2012
Waterford United
0–2 Dundalk Waterford RSC[8]
[ Report] Michael Rafter 45' (68) Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Padraig Sutton (Clare)

Dundalk win 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division. Waterford United appealed the result of the playoff, claiming Michael Rafter was ineligible as Dundalk had incorrectly registered him when they signed him earlier that season. However the appeal was unsuccessful. [8][9][10]

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Republic of Ireland Danny Furlong
Wexford Youths
 13
Republic of Ireland Kevin McHugh Finn Harps 13
Republic of Ireland Sean Maguire
Waterford United
 13
4 Republic of Ireland Tom Elmes
Wexford Youths
 11
5 Republic of Ireland Shane Tracy Limerick 10
Republic of Ireland Rory Gaffney Limerick 10

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Ireland 2012". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Dynamos face stiff opposition for league berth". kerryman.ie. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
  4. ^ "Salthill Devon set to rebrand and play at Terryland · The Score". Thescore.thejournal.ie. 26 January 2012.
  5. ^ O'Flaherty, Deniese (21 October 2012). "Longford Town 0 – 2 Waterford United". extratime.ie. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Waterford United 1–1 Longford Town (Agg 3–1)". RTÉ News. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Dundalk 2–2 Waterford United". RTÉ News. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Waterford United 0–2 Dundalk (agg 2–4)". RTÉ News. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Waterford to appeal Dundalk play-off result". RTÉ News. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  10. ^ "FAI dismiss Waterford protest". The Irish Times. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.