2008 League of Ireland Premier Division

League of Ireland Premier Division
Season	2008
Champions	Bohemians (10th title)
Relegated	Finn Harps; Cobh Ramblers; UCD
UEFA Champions League	Bohemians
UEFA Europa League	St Patrick's Athletic; Derry City; Sligo Rovers
Setanta Cup	Bohemians; St Patrick's Athletic; Derry City; Sligo Rovers
Matches played	198
Goals scored	440 (2.22 per match)
Top goalscorer	David Mooney: 15; (Cork City); Mark Quigley: 15; (St Patrick's Athletic); Mark Farren: 15; (Derry City)
Biggest home win	Cork City v Cobh Ramblers 5-0 (20 June 2008)
Biggest away win	Cobh Ramblers v Drogheda United 0-4 31 May 2008 ; Galway United v Derry City 0-4 (25 July 2008)
Highest scoring	Bray Wanderers v Drogheda United 4-3 (7 November 2008)
	← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 24th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 12 teams. Bohemians were champions while St Patrick's Athletic finished as runners-up.

Club information

Team	Base	Manager	Main sponsor	Kit supplier	Stadium	Capacity
Bohemians	Phibsborough	Pat Fenlon	Des Kelly Interiors	Umbro	Dalymount Park	8,500
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Eddie Gormley	Hard Metal	Umbro	Carlisle Grounds	7,000
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh	Stephen Henderson	Goodyear	Uhlsport	St. Colman's Park	5,000
Cork City	Cork	Alan Mathews	Beamish	Hummel	Turners Cross	8,000
Derry City	Derry	Stephen Kenny	MeteorElectrical.com	O'Neills	Brandywell Stadium	7,700
Drogheda United	Drogheda	Paul Doolin	Hunky Dorys	Jako	United Park	5,400
Finn Harps	Ballybofey	Paul Hegarty	Donegal Creameries	Masita	Finn Park	7,900
Galway United	Galway	Ian Foster	O'Connell Drylining Ltd	Rival	Terryland Park	5,000
Shamrock Rovers	Drumcondra	Michael O'Neill	Woodie's DIY	Umbro	Tolka Park	9,700
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	Paul Cook	Toher's	Jako	The Showgrounds	5,500
St Patrick's Athletic	Inchicore	Jeff Kenna	Paddy Power	Umbro	Richmond Park	5,500
UCD	Belfield	Pete Mahon	Budweiser	O'Neills	UCD Bowl	3,000

Overview

The regular season began on 7 March and concluded on 14 November. Each team played the other teams three times, totaling 33 games. Bohemians finished the season as champions, winning by a margin of nineteen points. There was no promotion/relegation play-off between Premier Division and First Division teams. This was because the 2009 Premier Division would be reduced to 10 clubs. This saw three clubs relegated out of the Premier Division.^[2]

For the first time in the history of the league the national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann started showing highlights of every Premier Division game played on its new show Monday Night Soccer. This show was presented by Con Murphy. This replaced eircom League Weekly which had run on TV3 on Monday nights from 2002 to 2007. The final season of live weekly radio coverage was provided by national broadcaster RTÉ with live reports and commentary on match nights, which was dropped from the end of 2008. Live games were shown by RTÉ, Setanta Sports and TG4's Sacar Beo.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bohemians (C)	33	27	4	2	55	13	+42	85	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	St Patrick's Athletic	33	20	6	7	48	24	+24	66	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
3	Derry City	33	16	10	7	46	25	+21	58	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
4	Sligo Rovers	33	12	12	9	41	28	+13	48	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
5	Cork City^[a]	33	15	11	7	45	28	+17	46
6	Bray Wanderers	33	11	6	16	28	52	−24	39
7	Shamrock Rovers	33	8	13	12	33	35	−2	37
8	Drogheda United^[b]	33	12	9	12	38	32	+6	35
9	Galway United	33	8	8	17	34	49	−15	32
10	Finn Harps (R)	33	9	4	20	26	53	−27	31	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division
11	Cobh Ramblers (R)	33	6	8	19	27	55	−28	26	Relegation to A Championship^[c]
12	UCD (R)	33	4	9	20	19	46	−27	21	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Cork City were deducted ten points after going into administration.
^ Drogheda United were deducted ten points after going into administration.
^ Cobh Ramblers were relegated directly from the Premier Division to the A Championship after being refused a First Division licence.

Results

Matches 1–22

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COB	COR	DER	DRO	FHA	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	1–1	3–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	2–0
Bray Wanderers	0–2	—	1–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–3	0–2
Cobh Ramblers	0–1	1–2	—	0–0	0–3	0–4	1–3	1–1	2–0	1–3	0–1	0–0
Cork City	0–1	0–0	5–0	—	1–1	0–2	3–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0
Derry City	0–0	4–0	1–0	2–3	—	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–3	4–1
Drogheda United	1–2	2–0	3–0	0–1	0–1	—	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1
Finn Harps	0–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–3	—	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–0
Galway United	0–1	2–3	0–1	1–3	0–4	0–1	2–2	—	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–2
Shamrock Rovers	0–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	3–1	—	1–0	0–1	1–1
Sligo Rovers	1–2	3–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	3–2	—	1–2	0–0
St Patrick's Athletic	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–2	0–1	0–1	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	—	0–0
UCD	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	2–3	1–3	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–3	—

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

Matches 23–33

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COB	COR	DER	DRO	FHA	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	2–1	—	3–1	0–1	—	3–0	—	—	—	3–0	—
Bray Wanderers	—	—	3–2	—	2–1	4–3	0–1	—	—	—	0–1	2–1
Cobh Ramblers	0–2	—	—	1–1	—	—	—	4–1	1–0	—	—	2–0
Cork City	—	3–0	—	—	1–1	0–0	1–1	—	—	0–0	—	2–0
Derry City	—	—	4–2	—	—	0–1	1–0	2–0	—	1–1	—	—
Drogheda United	1–2	—	0–0	—	—	—	1–2	1–1	1–1	—	0–2	—
Finn Harps	—	—	2–2	—	—	—	—	—	2–0	0–2	0–1	2–0
Galway United	0–2	4–0	—	3–2	—	—	3–0	—	1–1	—	—	—
Shamrock Rovers	1–2	2–2	—	3–0	1–1	—	—	—	—	—	1–3	1–1
Sligo Rovers	0–1	2–0	4–0	—	—	3–3	—	1–1	2–1	—	—	—
St Patrick's Athletic	—	—	0–3	0–1	2–1	—	—	0–1	—	1–0	—	2–0
UCD	0–1	—	—	—	1–2	1–0	—	0–1	—	0–1	—	—