2003–04 Irish Premier League
# 2003–04 Irish Premier League

The 2003–04 Irish Premier League was the 103rd edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. For this season there was a change from the structure of previous seasons, with the First Division reverting to intermediate status and the new Premier Division being renamed as the Irish Premier League. The league consisted of 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Linfield (C) | 30 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 67 | 16 | +51 | 73 | Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Portadown | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 71 | 22 | +49 | 70 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Lisburn Distillery | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 45 | 30 | +15 | 55 | |
| 4 | Coleraine | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 48 | 36 | +12 | 51 | |
| 5 | Glentoran | 30 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 48 | 27 | +21 | 50 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 6 | Ballymena United | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 41 | 35 | +6 | 47 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 7 | Limavady United | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 41 | 44 | −3 | 41 | |
| 8 | Ards | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 38 | |
| 9 | Crusaders | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 36 | |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 36 | 48 | −12 | 36 | |
| 11 | Institute | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 38 | 53 | −15 | 34 | |
| 12 | Newry Town | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 35 | 53 | −18 | 33 | |
| 13 | Omagh Town | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 37 | 58 | −21 | 31 | |
| 14 | Larne | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 42 | 51 | −9 | 29 | |
| 15 | Cliftonville | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 27 | 45 | −18 | 26 | Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off |
| 16 | Glenavon (R) | 30 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 24 | 67 | −43 | 16 | Relegation to Intermediate League First Division |

* ↑ As Irish Cup winners

## Results

Each team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games.

| Home \ Away | ARD | BYM | CLI | COL | CRU | DUN | GLV | GLT | INS | LRN | LIM | LIN | LIS | NEW | OMA | POR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ards | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Ballymena United | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–4 |
| Cliftonville | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Coleraine | 4–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Crusaders | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–2 |
| Dungannon Swifts | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–5 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Glenavon | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| Glentoran | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 |
| Institute | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 4–1 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 |
| Larne | 5–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–4 | | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 2–4 |
| Limavady United | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–6 |
| Linfield | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | | 3–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Lisburn Distillery | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Newry Town | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Omagh Town | 1–4 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | | 2–5 |
| Portadown | 4–0 | 0–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |

* 1 2 3 The first three games of the season by Glentoran were subsequently rated 0–1 for the respective opponents. Glentoran had used an ineligible player.

## Promotion/relegation play-off

Cliftonville, the club that finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Armagh City, the runners-up of the 2003-04 Intermediate League First Division in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's Irish Premier League.

Cliftonville won 4–1 on aggregate

