2012–13 IFA Premiership

IFA Premiership
Season	2012–13
Champions	Cliftonville; 1st Premiership title; 4th Irish title (inc. 1 shared)
Relegated	Donegal Celtic; Lisburn Distillery
Champions League	Cliftonville
Europa League	Glentoran (via Irish Cup); Crusaders; Linfield
Matches played	228
Goals scored	684 (3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liam Boyce (29 goals)
Biggest home win	Glenavon 7–0 Ballymena United; Glenavon 7–0 Lisburn Distillery
Biggest away win	Ballymena United 0–8 Cliftonville
Highest scoring	Glentoran 4–5 Crusaders
Highest attendance	5,458; Linfield 2–1 Glentoran; (26 December 2012)
Lowest attendance	39; Donegal Celtic 2–1; Dungannon Swifts; (16 April 2013)
Average attendance	828
	← 2011–12 2013–14 →

The 2012–13 IFA Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 112th season of Irish league football overall.

Cliftonville were champions, winning the league for the 4th time.

Summary

The season began on 11 August 2012 and ended on 27 April 2013. This was the last season of the league under the control of the Irish Football Association. From the following season onwards, the league became part of the newly created Northern Ireland Football League.^[2]

Linfield were the defending champions after winning their third consecutive title – their 51st league title overall last season.^[3] This season however, Cliftonville were the champions for the fourth time overall and the first time since the 1997–98 season.^[4] It was also the first time in eleven years that neither Linfield or Glentoran had won the title, with the previous occasion being 2001–02 when Portadown won their fourth title.

Lisburn Distillery finished bottom of the table and were relegated to Championship 1 after a 2–0 defeat to Ballymena United on 16 April 2013. The club had participated in all 112 seasons of senior football so far, and at the time were one of only four clubs to have done so; the others being Cliftonville, Linfield and Glentoran. The club had not been outside the top division since winning the 2001–02 Irish League First Division title, which at the time was the second tier of senior football. However, the restructuring of the league system in 2003 consolidated senior football into one division, which meant that this was the first time in the club's history that they had been relegated to intermediate football. This brought an end to both their 123-year stay in senior football, and their 11-year stay in the top flight.^[5] 11th-placed Donegal Celtic joined them in Championship 1, after losing on the away goals rule to Warrenpoint Town in the Promotion/relegation play-off following a 2–2 draw on aggregate.^[6] This was the first time since the 2005–06 season that two clubs had been promoted to, and relegated from the top flight.

Teams

2011–12 Championship 1 winners Ballinamallard United were promoted to this season's Premiership after successfully gaining the required Championship Club Licence from the IFA.^[7] Last season's bottom-placed Premiership club Carrick Rangers replaced them in Championship 1 after only one season in the top flight.^[8]^[9]

Championship 1 runners-up Newry City lost out on promotion, as last season's 11th placed club Lisburn Distillery defeated them 3–2 on aggregate in the Promotion/relegation play-off.^[10]

Stadia and locations

Belfast

Ballinamallard United

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Donegal Celtic
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the 2012–13 IFA Premiership

2012–13 IFA Premiership is located in Greater Belfast

Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2012–13 IFA Premiership

Club	Stadium	Location	Capacity^[11]^[12]^[13]
Ballinamallard United	Ferney Park	Ballinamallard	2,000 (250 seated)
Ballymena United	The Showgrounds	Ballymena	3,050 (all seated)
Cliftonville	Solitude	Belfast	2,530 (all seated)
Coleraine	The Showgrounds	Coleraine	2,496 (1,106 seated)
Crusaders	Seaview	Belfast	3,383 (all seated)
Donegal Celtic	Donegal Celtic Park	Belfast	2,330 (650 seated)
Dungannon Swifts	Stangmore Park	Dungannon	5,000 (600 seated)
Glenavon	Mourneview Park	Lurgan	4,160 (4,000 seated)
Glentoran	The Oval	Belfast	5,056 (3,991 seated)
Linfield	Windsor Park	Belfast	12,342 (all seated)
Lisburn Distillery	New Grosvenor Stadium	Ballyskeagh	7,000 (540 seated)
Portadown	Shamrock Park	Portadown	3,940 (2,740 seated)

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cliftonville (C)	38	29	4	5	95	38	+57	91	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Crusaders	38	26	5	7	82	41	+41	83	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round^[a]
3	Linfield	38	17	11	10	69	48	+21	62
4	Glentoran	38	15	12	11	63	44	+19	57
5	Ballinamallard United	38	15	8	15	49	43	+6	53
6	Coleraine	38	13	14	11	50	57	−7	53

7	Portadown	38	15	10	13	55	55	0	55^[b]
8	Ballymena United	38	11	13	14	54	68	−14	46
9	Glenavon	38	12	6	20	64	62	+2	42
10	Dungannon Swifts	38	9	13	16	42	58	−16	40
11	Donegal Celtic (R)	38	6	9	23	32	80	−48	27	Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
12	Lisburn Distillery (R)	38	4	7	27	29	90	−61	19	Relegation to NIFL Championship 1

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Glentoran also qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2012–13 Irish Cup.
^ After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the number of points earned during matches 34–38.

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away	BMD	BYM	CLI	COL	CRU	DGC	DUN	GLA	GLT	LIN	LIS	POR
Ballinamallard United		0–0	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–4	1–3	2–0	2–0
Ballymena United	1–1		0–8	0–2	2–1	3–3	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–2
Cliftonville	0–1	2–1		3–1	1–0	3–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	4–0	3–2
Coleraine	1–5	4–1	1–5		3–1	2–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–1
Crusaders	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1		2–0	2–1	5–1	2–0	2–2	3–1	2–0
Donegal Celtic	0–3	1–0	0–1	1–3	2–5		1–1	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–3	1–1
Dungannon Swifts	0–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–0		2–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–1
Glenavon	0–1	4–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	4–2	0–1		1–1	2–3	4–1	2–2
Glentoran	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–1		1–1	3–0	0–1
Linfield	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	4–0	2–1	1–1	2–1		4–0	1–0
Lisburn Distillery	0–5	0–4	1–2	1–1	1–3	3–3	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–1		0–5
Portadown	2–1	2–2	3–3	3–4	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–4	2–4	4–2

Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

During matches 23–33 each team played every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).

Home \ Away	BMD	BYM	CLI	COL	CRU	DGC	DUN	GLA	GLT	LIN	LIS	POR
Ballinamallard United			0–1		1–3		4–0	3–1		0–0		0–1
Ballymena United	3–0			0–1		2–2			0–0		3–3
Cliftonville		5–0		5–0		2–1	2–0		4–1		4–0
Coleraine	0–0				1–3	0–0			1–1		3–1
Crusaders		5–1	3–0				1–1			3–0		1–0
Donegal Celtic	1–0				0–3			1–0		1–4	0–3^[a]
Dungannon Swifts		0–0		1–3		0–0				1–4	1–0	2–0
Glenavon		7–0	1–3	1–1	2–3		3–1			0–3
Glentoran	3–0				4–5	5–0	2–3	2–1		1–1
Linfield		2–2	3–1	5–2							1–1	2–0
Lisburn Distillery	0–2				0–2			2–1	0–3			1–1
Portadown		0–0	1–3	2–0		1–0		3–1	0–1

Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ Original 2–1 result overturned to 0–3 after Donegal Celtic fielded an ineligible player.^[14]

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once. As this was the fourth time that teams played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that they played each other twice at home and twice away.

Section A

Home \ Away	BMD	CLI	COL	CRU	GLT	LIN
Ballinamallard United			1–1		0–0
Cliftonville	2–1			3–1		3–2
Coleraine		0–2				1–1
Crusaders	3–1		2–1		3–2
Glentoran		3–0	1–1
Linfield	0–1			1–2	1–0

Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Section B

Home \ Away	BYM	DGC	DUN	GLA	LIS	POR
Ballymena United			1–2	0–2		6–1
Donegal Celtic	1–4		2–1			1–2
Dungannon Swifts				2–3
Glenavon		3–1			7–0	1–3
Lisburn Distillery	0–2	0–1	0–1
Portadown			1–1		1–0

Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation play-off

Donegal Celtic played Warrenpoint Town, the runners-up of the 2012–13 IFA Championship 1 in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's NIFL Premiership. Warrenpoint Town won the tie on the away goals rule to reach the top flight for the first time in the club's history. Donegal Celtic were relegated to next season's Championship 1.^[6]

7 May 2013

19:15 BST

Warrenpoint Town	1 – 0	Donegal Celtic
Hughes 77'	Report

Milltown, Warrenpoint

10 May 2013

19:45 BST

Donegal Celtic	2 – 1	Warrenpoint Town
McVeigh 45' Miskimmin 83'	Report	McCabe 74'

Donegal Celtic Park, Belfast

2–2 on aggregate. Warrenpoint Town won on away goals rule and were promoted. Donegal Celtic were relegated.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals^[15]
1	Liam Boyce	Cliftonville	29
2	Andrew Waterworth	Glentoran	20
3	Darren Murray	Portadown	18
4	Curtis Allen	Coleraine	17
4	Joe Gormley	Cliftonville	17
6	Jordan Owens	Crusaders	16
7	Timmy Adamson	Crusaders	15
8	Gary McCutcheon	Crusaders	13
9	David Cushley	Ballymena United	11
9	Brian McCaul	Linfield	11

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Irish League Supporters Forum – Attendances". Irish League Supporters Forum. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
^ "NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE". NIFL Premiership.
^ "Linfield beat Portadown to secure Premiership crown". BBC Sport. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
^ "Cliftonville beat Linfield to secure Irish Premiership title". BBC Sport. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
^ "Tim McCann sacked as manager as Lisburn Distillery are relegated". BBC Sport. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Warrenpoint Town overcome Donegal Celtic in Premiership play-off". BBC Sport. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
^ "CLUB LICENSING DECISIONS ANNOUNCED". Irish Football Association. irishfa.com. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
^ "Ballinamallard win Championship title as Newry lose". BBC Sport. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
^ "Donegal Celtic 3–5 Carrick Rangers". BBC Sport. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
^ "Newry City 2–3 Lisburn Distillery". BBC Sport. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
^ "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
^ "Sport NI Annual review 2009/10" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
^ "DC back in automatic relegation picture after points deduction". BBC Sport. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
^ "IFA PREMIERSHIP – TOP GOAL SCORERS". ifapremiership.com. Retrieved 8 December 2012.

[table_note_res_EL1Q0.65145910375354-14] Glentoran also qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2012–13 Irish Cup.

[table_hth_POR0.65145910375354-15] After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the number of points earned during matches 34–38.

[table_note_1_DGC_LIS0.76524473948648-17] Original 2–1 result overturned to 0–3 after Donegal Celtic fielded an ineligible player.^[14]

[att-1] "Irish League Supporters Forum – Attendances". Irish League Supporters Forum. Retrieved 8 February 2013.

[nifl-2] "NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE". NIFL Premiership.

[3] "Linfield beat Portadown to secure Premiership crown". BBC Sport. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

[4] "Cliftonville beat Linfield to secure Irish Premiership title". BBC Sport. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

[5] "Tim McCann sacked as manager as Lisburn Distillery are relegated". BBC Sport. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.

[playoff-6] "Warrenpoint Town overcome Donegal Celtic in Premiership play-off". BBC Sport. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.

[7] "CLUB LICENSING DECISIONS ANNOUNCED". Irish Football Association. irishfa.com. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.

[8] "Ballinamallard win Championship title as Newry lose". BBC Sport. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

[9] "Donegal Celtic 3–5 Carrick Rangers". BBC Sport. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

[10] "Newry City 2–3 Lisburn Distillery". BBC Sport. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

[11] "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.

[12] "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.

[13] "Sport NI Annual review 2009/10" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.

[16] "DC back in automatic relegation picture after points deduction". BBC Sport. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

[18] "IFA PREMIERSHIP – TOP GOAL SCORERS". ifapremiership.com. Retrieved 8 December 2012.

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v t e NIFL Premiership seasons
Irish League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03
Irish Premier League	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
IFA Premiership	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
NIFL Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Belfast & District League (wartime)	1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19
Northern Regional League (wartime)	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47

v t e 2012–13 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	IFA Premiership IFA Championship 1 IFA Championship 2
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Irish League Cup County Antrim Shield
All-Ireland competitions	Setanta Sports Cup
European competitions	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Related to national team	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group F)

v t e 2012–13 in European men's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '12 '13 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '12 '13 Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia '12 '13 Lithuania '12 '13 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '12 '13 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Finland '12 '13 France Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Latvia Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Scotland Wales
Supercups	Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic England Estonia '12 '13 Faroe Islands France Georgia Germany Hungary Iceland Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia '13 Lithuania Malta Moldova Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Turkey Ukraine
UEFA competitions	Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Europa League qualifying phase play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Super Cup