1980–81 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1980–81
Champions	Glentoran; 17th Irish title
Matches played	132
Goals scored	406 (3.08 per match)
Top goalscorer	Des Dickson; Paul Malone; (18 goals each)
	← 1979–80 1981–82 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1980–83

1980–81 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of Belfast-based teams in the Irish League from 1980–83

The 1980–81 Irish League was the 80th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 12 teams, and Glentoran won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Glentoran (C)	22	15	7	0	59	26	+33	37	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Linfield	22	16	3	3	57	15	+42	35	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Ballymena United	22	12	4	6	33	21	+12	28	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
4	Crusaders	22	9	6	7	28	26	+2	24
5	Ards	22	9	6	7	35	40	−5	24
6	Glenavon	22	7	8	7	37	37	0	22
7	Larne	22	9	4	9	26	26	0	22
8	Portadown	22	8	5	9	30	34	−4	21
9	Coleraine	22	5	8	9	28	36	−8	18
10	Cliftonville	22	5	5	12	20	37	−17	15
11	Bangor	22	4	5	13	35	54	−19	13
12	Distillery	22	1	3	18	18	54	−36	5

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	BLM	CLI	COL	CRU	DIS	GLV	GLT	LRN	LIN	POR
Ards		2–2	0–1	0–0	4–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
Bangor	3–4		3–1	6–1	3–5	0–2	3–1	1–1	2–3	0–2	1–3	1–1
Ballymena United	3–2	5–1		4–3	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–0
Cliftonville	3–0	1–1	1–1		3–2	0–0	1–0	0–2	2–4	2–4	0–2	0–2
Coleraine	0–1	2–0	0–0	0–0		0–1	1–1	3–3	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–5
Crusaders	8–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1		1–0	3–1	1–1	1–2	2–2	1–1
Distillery	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	1–1		3–4	1–7	0–2	0–6	1–2
Glenavon	1–1	2–2	2–1	1–2	1–2	4–0	2–1		1–2	2–1	0–3	2–1
Glentoran	4–3	3–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	4–2	3–1		1–1	2–1	2–2
Larne	0–2	3–1	0–3	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	0–3		0–2	1–1
Linfield	5–0	7–0	1–1	0–1	4–1	4–0	4–2	2–1	1–1	1–0		2–1
Portadown	3–0	3–1	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–7	1–2	0–4

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

Northern Ireland - List of final tables (RSSSF)

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 1980–81 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	Irish League
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Gold Cup Ulster Cup County Antrim Shield
All-Ireland competitions	Tyler Cup
European competitions	European Cup UEFA Cup European Cup Winners' Cup
Related to national team	British Home Championship 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 6)

v t e 1980–81 in European football (UEFA)
« 1979–80 1981–82 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '80 '81 England Faroe Islands '80 '81 Finland '80 '81 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '80 '81 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '80 '81 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '80 '81 Spain Sweden '80 '81 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '80 '81 Finland '80 '81 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '80 '81 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '80 '81 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '81 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland
Super cups	Soviet Union '81
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup