1987–88 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1987–88
Champions	Glentoran; 18th Irish title
Matches played	182
Goals scored	458 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Martin McGaughey (18)
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1983–1990

1987–88 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of Belfast-based teams in the Irish League from 1983–1990

The 1987–88 Irish League was the 87th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 14 teams, and Glentoran won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Glentoran (C)	26	19	5	2	48	15	+33	62	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Linfield	26	19	3	4	51	15	+36	60	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Coleraine	26	16	4	6	53	28	+25	52
4	Newry Town	26	15	5	6	34	22	+12	50
5	Larne	26	12	4	10	35	35	0	40
6	Glenavon	26	11	5	10	28	27	+1	38	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Ballymena United	26	9	9	8	34	34	0	36
8	Portadown	26	10	5	11	31	27	+4	35
9	Crusaders	26	8	6	12	29	35	−6	30
10	Cliftonville	26	6	8	12	18	38	−20	26
11	Ards	26	6	7	13	29	38	−9	25
12	Bangor	26	7	4	15	24	47	−23	25
13	Carrick Rangers	26	5	5	16	25	44	−19	20
14	Distillery	26	3	2	21	19	53	−34	11

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

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

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 1987–88 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	Irish League
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Irish League Cup Gold Cup Ulster Cup Floodlit Cup County Antrim Shield County Antrim Centenary Chalice
European competitions	European Cup UEFA Cup European Cup Winners' Cup
Related to national team	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying (Group 4)

v t e 1987–88 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '87 '88 England Faroe Islands '87 '88 Finland '87 '88 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '87 '88 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '87 '88 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '87 '88 Spain Sweden '87 '88 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '87 '88 Finland '87 '88 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '87 '88 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '87 '88 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union '87 '88
Supercups	West Germany
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup