2015 League of Ireland First Division

The 2015 League of Ireland First Division season was the 31st season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by eight teams. Wexford Youths won the title and Finn Harps were also promoted after winning a play off.

League of Ireland First Division
Season2015
ChampionsWexford Youths
PromotedFinn Harps
Top goalscorerDaniel Furlong: 30
(Wexford Youths)[1]
2014
2016

Teams

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Stadia and locations

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Team Location Stadium
Athlone Town Athlone Athlone Town Stadium
Cabinteely Cabinteely Stradbrook Road
Cobh Ramblers Cobh St. Colman's Park
Finn Harps Ballybofey Finn Park
Shelbourne Drumcondra Tolka Park
UCD Belfield UCD Bowl
Waterford United Waterford Waterford RSC
Wexford Youths Crossabeg Ferrycarrig Park

Personnel and kits

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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   Eddie Wallace
  Alan Mathews
  Brian Shortall Nike Nitro Sports
Cabinteely   Eddie Gormley Umbro
Cobh Ramblers   Martin Cambridge
  Stephen Henderson
Nike Eirgrid
Finn Harps   Ollie Horgan   Kevin McHugh Legea McGettigan Group
Shelbourne   Kevin Doherty (footballer) Macron
UCD   Collie O'Neill   Robbie Benson O'Neills O'Neills
Waterford United   Tommy Griffin
  Roddy Collins
  Vinny Sullivan Macron SportsWorld
Wexford Youths   Shane Keegan   Graham Doyle O'Neills Galenisys

Overview

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Locations of Dublin First Division teams

The 2015 First Division featured eight teams. Each team played each other four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 28 matches during the season.[2] Wexford Youths secured their first League of Ireland First Division title and promotion to the Premier Division with a 3–0 victory against Athlone Town at Ferrycarrig Park. The Youths goals came from Danny Furlong, Eric Molloy and Aidan Keenan.[3]

Final table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Wexford Youths (C, P) 28 20 1 7 63 32 +31 61 Promotion to League of Ireland Premier Division
2 Finn Harps (O, P) 28 16 7 5 42 23 +19 55 Qualification for Promotion play-offs
3 UCD 28 14 7 7 51 26 +25 49
4 Shelbourne 28 13 6 9 37 34 +3 45
5 Athlone Town 28 9 6 13 36 42 −6 33
6 Cobh Ramblers 28 8 6 14 27 45 −18 30
7 Waterford United 28 5 6 17 25 51 −26 21
8 Cabinteely 28 5 5 18 22 50 −28 20
Source: [1]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

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Matches 1–14

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Home \ Away ATH CAB COB FHA SHE UCD WAT WEX
Athlone Town 2–2 4–0 1–0 2–3 1–1 1–0 0–1
Cabinteely 2–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–0
Cobh Ramblers 1–0 1–0 2–3 1–0 0–3 1–0 1–4
Finn Harps 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–2 3–2 1–3
Shelbourne 1–3 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–2 1–0 2–4
UCD 1–2 6–1 1–1 2–2 0–1 3–0 4–1
Waterford United 1–1 3–1 1–1 0–2 2–2 0–0 1–4
Wexford Youths 2–0 7–0 1–0 0–1 2–3 1–0 1–2
Source: [citation needed]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15–28

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Home \ Away ATH CAB COB FHA SHE UCD WAT WEX
Athlone Town 0–1 1–4 1–1 2–1 2–2 3–4 3–1
Cabinteely 1–3 1–0 2–3 0–1 0–3[a] 1–1 2–3
Cobh Ramblers 2–1 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–2 0–3
Finn Harps 0–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 3–0 0–0 4–1
Shelbourne 3–1 0–0 2–0 3–2 2–1 3–0 0–0
UCD 3–1 1–0 3–0 1–0 2–1 5–1 1–2
Waterford United 0–1 1–0 1–3 0–3 1–2 0–1 2–3
Wexford Youths 3–0 3–2 2–1 2–0 4–1 1–0 4–0
Source: [citation needed]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ Cabinteely fielded an ineligible player, Dean Ebbe, in their game against UCD on 31 July 2015. They lost 3–1. The FAI subsequently awarded the match to UCD as a 3–0 win and fined Cabinteely €2,500.[4]

Top scorers

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Rank Player Club Goals
1   Daniel Furlong Wexford Youths 30
2   Ryan Swan UCD 12
3   Philip Gorman Athlone Town 10
4   Kevin McHugh Finn Harps 9

Source:[1][5]

Promotion/relegation playoffs

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The second and third placed First Division teams, Finn Harps and UCD, played off to decide who would play Limerick, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division. The winner of this play off would play in the 2016 Premier Division.[2]

First Division
23 October 2015 UCD 0–1 Finn Harps UCD Bowl
19:45 Coll   1'
30 October 2015 Finn Harps 2–1 UCD Finn Park
19:45 Boyle   76'
Mailey   89'
O'Connor   59'

Finn Harps won 3 – 1 on aggregate

First Division v Premier Division
2 November 2015 Limerick 1–0 Finn Harps Markets Field
Kelly   34' Report Referee: Rob Rogers
6 November 2015 Finn Harps 2–0
(a.e.t.)
Limerick Finn Park
Funston   38'
Banda   117'
Attendance: 3,200
Referee: Derek Tomney

Finn Harps won 2–1 on aggregate and were promoted to 2016 Premier Division. Limerick are relegated to the 2016 First Division.

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 2015". RSSSF. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Wexford Youths win promotion to Premier Division". www.rte.ie. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Cabinteely sanctioned for fielding ineligible player". 4 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  5. ^ "2015 SSE Airtricity League First Division". inform.fai.ie. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11.