2022–23 NIFL Premiership

The 2022–23 NIFL Irish Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 122nd season of Irish league football overall, and the 10th season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League.

NIFL Premiership
Season2022–23
Dates12 Aug 2022 – 29 Apr 2023
ChampionsLarne
RelegatedPortadown
UEFA Champions LeagueLarne
UEFA Europa Conference LeagueLinfield
Crusaders (via Irish Cup)
Glentoran (via Play-offs)
Matches played57
Goals scored176 (3.09 per match)
Biggest home winLinfield 7–0 Newry City (18 March 2023)
Biggest away winPortadown 1–6 Linfield (28 January 2023)
Highest scoringCarrick Rangers 4–3 Crusaders (1 October 2022)
Highest attendance7,134 Linfield 0–3 Glentoran (14 October 2022)
Lowest attendance274 Carrick Rangers 3–0 Dungannon Swifts (15 October 2022)
All statistics correct as of 11 March 2023.

Larne were champions, winning the league for the first time. They became the 13th different club to win the league since 1890, and the first addition to the list of title-winners since Coleraine in 1974.

Summary

The 38-game season commenced on 12 August 2022 and concluded on 29 April 2023.

Linfield were the four-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous four seasons - the 2021–22 season seeing them win a world record 56th league crown.

Larne became the champions and entered the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, clinching their first league title on 14 April 2023 with a 2–0 win over Crusaders.[1] The runners-up (Linfield), the Irish Cup winners (Crusaders), and the play-off winners (Glentoran) entered the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

Teams

Locations of the Belfast-based 2022–23 NIFL Irish Premiership teams

Twelve teams competed in this season's Premiership, eleven of which returned from the previous season. Warrenpoint Town finished bottom of the table the previous season, and were relegated to the NIFL Championship after five years as a Premiership club, with Championship winners Newry City promoted to replace them for this season's Premiership. 11th-placed Portadown retained their Premiership status after defeating Annagh United 4–2 on aggregate in the Premiership play-off.

Stadia and locations

Club Stadium Location Capacity[2][3]
Ballymena UnitedThe ShowgroundsBallymena3,824 (all seated)
Carrick RangersLoughshore Hotel ArenaCarrickfergus2,100 (380 seated)
CliftonvilleSolitudeBelfast3,054 (all seated)
ColeraineThe ShowgroundsColeraine4,843 (1,607 seated)
CrusadersSeaviewBelfast3,208 (all seated)
Dungannon SwiftsStangmore ParkDungannon2,000 (300 seated)
GlenavonMourneview ParkLurgan3,302 (all seated)
GlentoranThe OvalBelfast6,054 (3,991 seated)
LarneInver ParkLarne2,732 (1,632 seated)
LinfieldWindsor ParkBelfast18,434 (all seated)
Newry CityThe ShowgroundsNewry2,275 (1,080 seated)
PortadownShamrock ParkPortadown3,940 (2,765 seated)

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Larne (C) 38 25 8 5 64 22 +42 83 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Linfield 38 23 8 7 75 27 +48 77 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
3 Glentoran (O) 38 23 5 10 77 28 +49 74 Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs
4 Cliftonville 38 20 8 10 66 53 +13 68
5 Crusaders 38 19 10 9 72 45 +27 67 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
6 Coleraine 38 18 8 12 59 39 +20 62 Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs
7 Glenavon 38 14 10 14 58 61 3 52 Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs
8 Carrick Rangers 38 12 4 22 45 74 29 40
9 Ballymena United 38 11 6 21 37 55 18 39
10 Newry City 38 9 3 26 37 71 34 30
11 Dungannon Swifts (O) 38 9 3 26 28 84 56 30 Qualification for the NIFL Premiership play-off
12 Portadown (R) 38 6 5 27 29 88 59 23 Relegation to the NIFL Championship
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots[4]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
  2. Crusaders entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as 2022–23 Irish Cup winners.

Results

Matches 34–38

For the final five matches, the table splits into two halves, with the top six teams forming Section A and the bottom six teams forming Section B. Each team plays every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures are reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams have played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.

Play-offs

UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs

Four or five of the clubs that finish in 3rd–7th place compete for one place in the 2023–24 Europa Conference League first qualifying round. The play-offs are one-off matches with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage against the lower-ranked teams (i.e. 3rd v. 7th and 5th v. 6th) in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners also gains home advantage in the final.

Semi-finals

10 May 2023 Cliftonville 2–1ColeraineSolitude
19:45 BST (UTC+01) Curran 4'
Doherty 20'
Shevlin 72'

Final

NIFL Premiership play-off

The eleventh-placed club (Dungannon Swifts) were expected to face the second-placed club from the 2022–23 NIFL Championship (Warrenpoint Town) for one place in the following season's Premiership. However, Warrenpoint Town were denied an NIFL Premiership license on 27 April 2023 and were unsuccessful in their appeal, being replaced by the third-placed club from the NIFL Championship (Annagh United).[5]

First leg

30 May 2023 Annagh United 2–1 Dungannon Swifts BMG Arena
19:45 BST (UTC+01) Ruddy 4' (o.g.)
Taylor 70'
Animasahun 3'

Second leg

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals[6]
1 Northern Ireland Matthew Shevlin Coleraine 23
2 Northern Ireland Matthew Fitzpatrick Glenavon 19
3 Republic of Ireland Ronan Hale Cliftonville 18
5 Finland Eetu Vertainen Linfield 17
Northern Ireland Philip Lowry Crusaders
6 Northern Ireland Lee Bonis Larne 15
7 Northern Ireland Ryan Curran Cliftonville 14
8 Northern Ireland Paul O'Neill Larne 13
10 Northern Ireland Jay Donnelly Glentoran 12
Northern Ireland Joel Cooper Linfield

Clean sheets

Rank Goalkeeper Club Clean sheets[6]
1 Scotland Rohan Ferguson Larne 23
2 Northern Ireland Chris Johns Linfield 21
3 Republic of Ireland Aaron McCarey Glentoran 17
4 Northern Ireland Jonathan Tuffey Crusaders 14
6 Northern Ireland Nathan Gartside Cliftonville 12
Northern Ireland Gareth Deane Coleraine
7 Northern Ireland Ross Glendinning Carrick Rangers 9
8 Northern Ireland Sean O'Neill Ballymena United 8
9 Northern Ireland Rory Brown Glenavon 7
10 Northern Ireland Martin Gallagher Coleraine 6

References

  1. "Larne secure historic first Irish League title". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 April 2023.
  2. "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  3. "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  4. "NIFL Premiership Rules 2020–21" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  5. "Premiership Play-Off postponed after Warrenpoint Town denied playing license by Irish FA". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 27 April 2023.
  6. "NIFL Premiership Statistics". NI Football League. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
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