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
Locations of the First Division teams

Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium
Athlone TownAthloneAthlone Town Stadium
CabinteelyCabinteelyStradbrook Road
Cobh RamblersCobhSt. Colman's Park
Finn HarpsBallybofeyFinn Park
ShelbourneDrumcondraTolka Park
UCDBelfieldUCD Bowl
Waterford UnitedWaterfordWaterford RSC
Wexford YouthsCrossabegFerrycarrig Park

Personnel and kits

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
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
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 to 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:
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted.

Results

Matches 1–14
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:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15–28
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[lower-alpha 1] 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:
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
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

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

References
  1. "Ireland - List of Topscorers". www.rsssf.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. "Ireland 2015". www.rsssf.com. 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.
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