2008–09 IFA Premiership
# 2008–09 IFA Premiership

The 2008–09 IFA Premiership (known as the JJB Sports Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 1st season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland (after a major overhaul of the league system), and the 108th season of Irish league football overall.

Glentoran were champions, winning the league for the 23rd time.

## Summary

It was scheduled to begin on 9 August 2008, however the start of the league was delayed by a week due to a referees' strike. The season eventually began on 16 August 2008, and concluded on 2 May 2009. Linfield were the defending champions, but narrowly fell short of retaining the title as rivals Glentoran pipped them by a single point to win their 23rd league title overall.

## Team changes from 2007–08

The league was reduced from sixteen to twelve teams as a result of the league system in Northern Ireland being restructured by the IFA.

Five of last season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership, and one new team - Bangor - gained entry from the IFA Intermediate League.

Of the five teams who missed out, three - Armagh City, Larne and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence. Portadown obtained a licence, but was controversially excluded because a club official missed a deadline for submitting an application form by several minutes. Finally, Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but was ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place.

## Team overview

| Club | Stadium | Town/city | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - |
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 8,000 (4000 seats) |
| Bangor | Clandeboye Park | Bangor | 4,000 |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 8,000 (2099 seats) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 6,500 (1500 seats) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 6,500 |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 3,000 (300 seats) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 5,500 (4000 seats) |
| Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 15,250 (5000 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 (2000 seats) |
| Newry City | The Showgrounds | Newry | 6,500 (800 seats) |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Glentoran (C) | 38 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 63 | 36 | +27 | 81 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Linfield | 38 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 69 | 28 | +41 | 80 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Crusaders | 38 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 63 | 45 | +18 | 62 | Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Lisburn Distillery | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 53 | 41 | +12 | 56 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Coleraine | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 46 | 51 | −5 | 51 | |
| 6 | Cliftonville | 38 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 52 | 48 | +4 | 50 | |
| 7 | Institute | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 47 | 55 | −8 | 48 | |
| 8 | Newry City | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 47 | 57 | −10 | 44 | |
| 9 | Glenavon | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 49 | 63 | −14 | 41 | |
| 10 | Ballymena United | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 39 | 57 | −18 | 41 | |
| 11 | Bangor (R) | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 42 | 67 | −25 | 36 | Relegation to IFA Championship 1 |
| 12 | Dungannon Swifts (O) | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 49 | 71 | −22 | 35 | Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off |

* 1 2 Crusaders won the 2008–09 Irish Cup and qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Therefore the fourth placed team, Lisburn Distillery, also earned a spot in the Europa League.
* ↑ On 2 February 2009, Bangor announced that they would not be able to renew their domestic licence due to financial difficulties, and therefore would not compete in the 2009–10 IFA Premiership. Therefore, they were automatically relegated and the play-off place was passed down to the 12th-placed team, Dungannon Swifts.

## Results

### Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once (either at home or away).

## Promotion/relegation play-off

The relegation/promotion system was slightly modified because Bangor, who withdrew from the next IFA Premiership season, eventually finished 11th. It meant that last placed Dungannon Swifts played a two-legged match against Donegal Celtic, runners-up of the 2008–09 IFA Championship, for one spot in the 2009–10 IFA Premiership. The score was 2–2 on aggregate, but Dungannon Swifts secured their spot in the following IFA Premiership season by winning on away goals.

2–2 on aggregate. Dungannon Swifts won on away goals rule and remained in the IFA Premiership.

