2009–10 IFA Championship

The 2009–10 IFA Championship (known as the Ladbrokes.com Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season since its establishment after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland. It also marked the first season in which the Championship was divided into two divisions, with the clubs in both divisions having intermediate status. Championship 1 served as the second tier of Northern Irish football, with Championship 2 as the third tier.

IFA Championship
Season2009–10

In Championship 1, Loughgall were crowned champions on 8 May 2010 after a 2–0 win over Ards.[1] However, they were denied promotion because they did not gain the required licence from the IFA. Therefore, runners-up Donegal Celtic entered into a two-leg play-off with the bottom club of the 2009–10 IFA Premiership, and achieved promotion with a 1–0 aggregate win. At the other end of the table, Coagh United and Armagh City finished in the bottom two, and were relegated to Championship 2 for next season.

In Championship 2, Harland & Wolff Welders won the title by 7 points, achieving promotion to Championship 1. Also promoted were Dergview who finished as runners-up. There was no relegation from Championship 2 this season.

Team changes from 2008–09

The 2008–09 Championship consisted of one division of 17 clubs. The bottom 3 clubs (Tobermore United, Killymoon Rangers and Dergview) were relegated to the newly introduced Championship 2 for this season. Championship 2 was set up to replace the IFA Interim Intermediate League, introduced as a temporary league for the 2008–09 season only, consisting of the former members of the IFA Intermediate League (dissolved in 2008) who did not meet the criteria for the new IFA Championship 2; it consisted of 12 clubs. Members of the Interim League had one year to make improvements in order to gain entry to Championship 2 for this season.

10 of the 12 clubs managed to meet the criteria, along with Sport & Leisure Swifts and Knockbreda who both achieved intermediate status, with only Brantwood and Oxford United Stars failing to do so. Harland & Wolff Welders were the champions. There was no promotion from the Interim League which meant that Championship 1 would be reduced to 14 clubs, with Championship 2 having 15.

Portadown were promoted to the 2009–10 IFA Premiership as 2008–09 Championship winners. Bangor entered Championship 1 after they announced that due to financial problems, they would not be able to renew their domestic licence required to take part in the Premiership.[2]

Championship 1
IFA Championship 1
ChampionsLoughgall
PromotedDonegal Celtic
RelegatedArmagh City
Coagh United
Matches played182
Goals scored561 (3.08 per match)
Biggest home winBallyclare Comrades 6–1 Glebe Rangers
Larne 6–1 Coagh United
Ards 5–0 Ballyclare Comrades
Biggest away winGlebe Rangers 1–8 Donegal Celtic
Highest scoringGlebe Rangers 1–8 Donegal Celtic
Location of teams in the 2009-10 IFA Championship 1

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Loughgall[lower-alpha 1] (C) 26 19 3 4 60 24 +36 60
2 Donegal Celtic (O, P) 26 19 2 5 59 21 +38 59 Qualification to promotion play-off
3 Limavady United 26 18 3 5 56 29 +27 57
4 Ards 26 13 6 7 49 27 +22 45
5 Carrick Rangers 26 12 5 9 37 39 −2 41
6 Ballinamallard United 26 10 8 8 36 29 +7 38
7 Ballymoney United 26 10 8 8 39 33 +6 38
8 Larne 26 11 4 11 34 37 −3 37
9 Banbridge Town 26 8 3 15 33 48 −15 27
10 Glebe Rangers 26 7 6 13 30 56 −26 27
11 Bangor 26 7 5 14 36 48 −12 26
12 Ballyclare Comrades 26 7 5 14 34 46 −12 26
13 Coagh United (R) 26 6 4 16 38 62 −24 22 Relegation to IFA Championship 2
14 Armagh City (R) 26 2 4 20 20 62 −42 10
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Loughgall were ineligible for promotion to the Premiership, as they did not attain the required licence.

Results

Each team played every other team twice (once at home, and once away) for a total of 26 games.

Home \ Away ARD ARM BMD BCC BMY BBT BGR CRK COA DGC GBE LRN LIM LGL
Ards 3–0 1–0 5–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–2 3–0 4–0 4–0 3–0 2–2 3–1
Armagh City 0–3 1–1 0–4 1–1 3–0 1–2 0–3 0–0 0–3 0–1 0–2 0–1 0–4
Ballinamallard United 1–1 4–1 0–2 0–1 0–2 4–3 4–1 0–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 2–3 0–0
Ballyclare Comrades 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–1 0–3 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–1 6–1 1–2 0–4 1–3
Ballymoney United 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 2–2 0–1 0–1 2–1 0–1 3–1 0–1 5–4
Banbridge Town 0–2 3–1 2–2 0–1 1–3 2–6 1–3 2–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–3
Bangor 0–1 3–2 0–2 2–1 1–4 2–0 2–2 4–3 0–1 1–2 1–3 0–2 0–0
Carrick Rangers 2–1 2–0 0–2 1–0 2–2 1–0 4–1 1–2 1–0 2–1 3–2 1–1 0–1
Coagh United 5–1 3–3 0–1 5–3 2–2 2–3 1–3 3–2 0–4 0–2 2–3 1–2 0–3
Donegal Celtic 3–3 3–1 4–0 1–0 3–1 2–4 2–1 4–0 2–1 4–0 3–0 1–0 3–0
Glebe Rangers 3–0 1–3 1–1 1–2 0–3 1–4 2–0 0–0 2–1 1–8 1–1 3–4 0–2
Larne 1–0 2–1 0–3 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–0 6–1 1–2 2–0 0–1 0–1
Limavady United 3–2 4–0 2–0 4–2 2–2 0–2 2–0 5–1 4–2 0–2 3–1 2–0 0–1
Loughgall 2–0 4–0 1–4 4–1 3–1 4–1 1–0 3–1 5–0 1–0 2–2 4–0 3–2
Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship 2
IFA Championship 2
ChampionsHarland & Wolff Welders
PromotedHarland & Wolff Welders
Dergview
Matches played210
Goals scored700 (3.33 per match)
Biggest home winDergview 11–0 Chimney Corner
Biggest away winAnnagh United 2–7 H&W Welders
Wakehurst 2–7 Dergview
Chimney Corner 1–6 Dergview
Sport & Leisure 1–6 Queen's University
Annagh United 0–5 Portstewart
Highest scoringDergview 11–0 Chimney Corner
Location of teams in the 2009-10 IFA Championship 2
Location of the Belfast-based teams in the IFA Championship 2 2009-10

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion
1 Harland & Wolff Welders (C, P) 28 23 2 3 73 30 +43 71 Promotion to IFA Championship 1
2 Dergview (P) 28 20 4 4 77 20 +57 64
3 Dundela 28 18 7 3 66 31 +35 61
4 PSNI 28 15 5 8 54 40 +14 50
5 Knockbreda 28 14 6 8 44 32 +12 48
6 Tobermore United 28 14 4 10 47 39 +8 46
7 Portstewart 28 11 7 10 42 38 +4 40
8 Queen's University 28 11 4 13 43 40 +3 37
9 Moyola Park 28 10 5 13 42 42 0 35
10 Lurgan Celtic 28 10 4 14 37 49 −12 34
11 Sport & Leisure Swifts 28 10 4 14 44 60 −16 34
12 Annagh United 28 7 3 18 28 66 −38 24
13 Killymoon Rangers 28 7 2 19 38 60 −22 23
14 Wakehurst 28 5 4 19 33 58 −25 19
15 Chimney Corner 28 1 7 20 32 95 −63 10
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

Each team played every other team twice (once at home, and once away) for a total of 28 games.

Home \ Away ANN CHI DGV DND H&W KMR KNB LGC MOY PSNI PST QUE SLS TOB WAK
Annagh United 3–1 0–3 2–4 2–7 3–2 1–3 0–1 2–1 1–4 0–5 1–2 1–4 1–5 2–0
Chimney Corner 0–0 1–6 0–3 0–2 1–4 1–5 2–2 3–3 1–2 0–3 1–4 2–2 0–3 3–3
Dergview 3–0 11–0 0–2 1–2 2–1 0–0 1–1 0–1 3–0 5–0 1–0 4–0 4–0 3–2
Dundela 2–0 6–2 2–1 2–2 3–2 4–2 4–0 1–1 0–0 2–1 3–1 3–0 2–3 2–1
Harland & Wolff Welders 4–0 2–2 0–2 4–2 3–1 2–0 2–1 2–1 4–0 2–1 1–0 0–2 5–1 4–1
Killymoon Rangers 1–1 4–1 0–1 2–1 3–4 0–4 2–3 2–1 0–1 1–4 3–0 3–0 0–3 0–1
Knockbreda 0–1 2–0 0–4 1–1 0–3 0–0 3–1 2–1 1–2 4–2 0–1 3–1 0–0 2–1
Lurgan Celtic 3–0 0–2 3–4 1–1 0–2 3–2 0–1 0–3 1–1 4–0 1–0 2–1 0–4 2–1
Moyola Park 1–3 4–1 0–2 1–4 1–2 3–0 0–1 2–0 2–4 1–1 2–2 1–2 3–2 1–0
PSNI 3–1 6–2 2–2 0–3 1–2 3–0 3–4 0–1 1–0 2–1 2–2 1–2 1–2 2–0
Portstewart 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–2 3–1 1–2 1–0 1–2 3–0 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–1
Queen's University 1–0 6–0 0–2 1–1 1–3 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–4 1–4 0–1 2–4 2–0 3–0
Sport & Leisure Swifts 3–1 3–2 0–3 0–2 2–3 5–1 1–1 3–2 1–1 1–3 1–3 1–6 1–3 0–3
Tobermore United 3–0 2–1 1–1 2–2 0–4 2–0 0–2 2–1 0–1 0–2 2–3 2–1 2–0 0–1
Wakehurst 0–2 2–2 2–7 1–2 0–1 4–2 0–2 4–2 0–2 3–4 1–1 0–1 1–3 0–2
Source: rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References
  1. "Loughgall win Championship". UTV. UTV. 8 May 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  2. "Quinn appointed Glenavon manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
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