Northern Ireland Football League
Season2014–15
ChampionsCrusaders
RelegatedBallymoney United

The 2014–15 Northern Ireland Football League was the second season of Northern Ireland's national football league running independently as the Northern Ireland Football League, consisting of the top three levels of the national league system, namely: the Premiership, Championship 1, and Championship 2. It was the 114th season of Irish league football overall.[1] The season began on 8 August 2014 and concluded on 2 May 2015.

Cliftonville were the defending champions, after they won a second consecutive title the previous season for the first time in the club's history - their fourth outright league title and fifth overall.[2] Ten years after suffering relegation to the second tier in 2004–05 and just eight years after their return to the top flight in 2006–07, Crusaders were this season's champions. They lifted the title for the fifth time overall on 18 April 2015 – their first top flight title in the 18 years since their last win in the 1996–97 season.[3]

For the second successive season, a club was relegated to regional football. Ballymoney United finished bottom of Championship 2 and were relegated to a regional division for the following season.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Championship 1 to the Premiership

Relegated from the Premiership to Championship 1

  • Ards (12th in NIFL Premiership)

Promoted from Championship 2 to Championship 1

Relegated from Championship 1 to Championship 2

Promoted from Mid-Ulster Football League to Championship 2

  • Dollingstown (1st in MUFL Intermediate A Division - promoted via play-off)

Relegated from Championship 2 to Ballymena & Provincial League

League tables

Premiership

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Crusaders (C) 38 25 7 6 93 43 +50 82 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Linfield 38 21 9 8 67 46 +21 72 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
3 Glenavon 38 20 6 12 82 65 +17 66
4 Portadown 38 17 11 10 65 56 +9 62
5 Cliftonville 38 16 13 9 71 47 +24 61
6 Glentoran 38 16 10 12 67 51 +16 58 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
7 Ballymena United 38 15 6 17 62 75 −13 51
8 Coleraine 38 13 7 18 48 55 −7 46[lower-alpha 2]
9 Ballinamallard United 38 10 9 19 40 71 −31 39
10 Dungannon Swifts 38 8 13 17 38 56 −18 37
11 Warrenpoint Town (O) 38 6 12 20 50 76 −26 30 Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
12 Institute (R) 38 4 9 25 36 84 −48 21[lower-alpha 2] Relegation to NIFL Championship 1
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ↑ Glentoran qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as 2014–15 Irish Cup winners.
  2. 1 2 Coleraine and Institute both fielded an ineligible player in the same match. The original 4–0 Coleraine win was voided with a 3–0 loss being recorded for both clubs, resulting in the final league table having two more losses than wins, and an overall goal difference of –6.[4][5]

Championship 1

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Carrick Rangers (C, P) 26 19 5 2 54 22 +32 62 Promotion to NIFL Premiership
2 Bangor 26 18 6 2 71 32 +39 60 Qualification to promotion play-off
3 Ards 26 16 8 2 61 30 +31 56
4 Harland & Wolff Welders 26 15 5 6 59 37 +22 50
5 Larne 26 13 3 10 52 36 +16 42
6 Dergview 26 8 9 9 40 43 −3 33
7 Armagh City 26 9 5 12 38 48 −10 32
8 Knockbreda 26 9 3 14 31 43 −12 30
9 Ballyclare Comrades 26 8 4 14 46 48 −2 28
10 Lisburn Distillery 26 8 4 14 38 58 −20 28
11 Loughgall 26 7 6 13 36 54 −18 27
12 Donegal Celtic 26 5 9 12 35 42 −7 24
13 PSNI (R) 26 6 5 15 27 64 −37 23 Relegation to NIFL Championship 2
14 Dundela (R) 26 3 4 19 34 65 −31 13
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; (R) Relegated

Championship 2

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Lurgan Celtic (C, P) 28 19 6 3 68 21 +47 63 Promotion to NIFL Championship 1
2 Annagh United (P) 28 18 4 6 73 46 +27 58
3 Limavady United 28 17 5 6 67 32 +35 56
4 Sport & Leisure Swifts 28 16 5 7 50 34 +16 53
5 Newington YC 28 15 5 8 40 29 +11 50
6 Moyola Park 28 14 6 8 58 44 +14 48
7 Dollingstown 28 12 7 9 53 39 +14 43
8 Portstewart 28 12 6 10 43 40 +3 42
9 Queen's University 28 11 7 10 48 34 +14 40
10 Tobermore United 28 9 7 12 48 45 +3 34
11 Banbridge Town 28 7 7 14 38 70 −32 28
12 Glebe Rangers 28 6 6 16 45 64 −19 24
13 Wakehurst 28 6 4 18 28 68 −40 22
14 Coagh United 28 3 6 19 29 72 −43 15
15 Ballymoney United (R) 28 2 5 21 26 76 −50 11 Relegation to Level 4 Regional league
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; (R) Relegated

Results

Premiership

Championship 1

Championship 2

References

  1. ↑ "NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE". NIFL Premiership.
  2. ↑ "Cliftonville retain Irish Premiership title for first time". BBC Sport. BBC. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Irish Premiership: Crusaders 2-0 Glentoran". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Coleraine deducted three points in Ruairi Harkin case". BBC Sport. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Coleraine lose appeal over deduction of points in Harkin case". BBC Sport. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
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