The 2005 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 21st season of the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

. The division was made up of 12 teams.

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

were champions while Derry City finished as runners-up. This was the first time the title had been won by a club from outside

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

since 1996–97.

Overview

The regular season began on 16 March and ended on 18 November. Each team played three rounds of games, totalling 33 games each. The season witnessed a decline in the fortunes of one of the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

's oldest surviving members. In April

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

entered

examinership Examinership is a process in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Irish law whereby the protection of the Court is obtained to assist the survival of a company. It allows a company to restructure with the approval of the High Court (Ireland), High ...

and it was revealed that the club had debts of nearly €3 million. It was also discovered that Rovers were not playing PAYE and PRSI. As a result of these financial irregularities, Rovers were deducted eight points. This ultimately resulted in the club being relegated to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

after they lost the relegation/promotion playoff to Dublin City. This was the first time Rovers' senior team had dropped out of the top level of the

Republic of Ireland football league system The Republic of Ireland football league system is a series of association football leagues in Ireland. Traditionally, leagues have been classified as either senior, intermediate or junior. These classifications are effectively national, provinci ...

since the club had joined the League of Ireland in 1922–23. Going into the final month of the league season only

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

could separate leaders

from second placed Derry City and title would be decided on the final day of the season when the two met at Turner's Cross on 18 November. Derry City went top of the table after Cork City's draw with Shelbourne the previous weekend. All they needed was a point to seal their first league title since 1996–97. Cork City started the better and nearly scored inside thirty seconds when

John O'Flynn John O'Flynn (born 11 July 1982) is a retired Irish professional footballer who played as a striker. He previously played with Barnet, Exeter City, Cork City, Limerick and Finn Harps. Playing career Club Peterborough United O'Flynn began hi ...

headed just over the crossbar. They were not to be denied however, and struck the deserved lead goal when O'Flynn headed home from a

Roy O'Donovan Roy Simon O'Donovan (born 10 August 1985) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a striker for National Premier Leagues Northern NSW side Newcastle Olympic FC. He has been capped by Ireland at Under-19, Under-21 a ...

cross. Cork City dominated the rest of the opening half but it seemed that the second killer goal would just not come. It eventually arrived in the 16th minute of the second half when

Denis Behan Denis Behan (born 2 January 1984) is an Irish football coach and former player who played as a forward. He spent many years playing for League of Ireland clubs Cork City and Limerick, as well as in the English Football League for Hartlepool Un ...

set up

Liam Kearney Liam Kearney (; born 10 January 1983), nicknamed "The Conna Maradona", is an Irish former professional footballer associated primarily with Cork City in the League of Ireland. As of 2021, Kearney was "Head of Academy" at Cork City FC. Kearney p ...

to score. Derry City never gave up, however, and were close to pulling a goal back but Michael Devine managed to pull off a fine save from a

Pat McCourt Patrick James McCourt (born 16 December 1983) is a Northern Irish former footballer who played as a left winger. He started his professional career with Third Division club Rochdale in 2001 before moving to League of Ireland club Shamrock Rov ...

header. It was to be Cork City's day, though, as they went on to see the match out and clinch their second league title.

Final table

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Promotion/relegation play-off

who finished eleventh in the Premier Division played off against Dublin City who finished second in the

. ;1st Leg ;2nd Leg '' Dublin City win 3–2 on aggregate and are promoted to the Premier Division.''

UEFA Coefficient

The

clubs' performances in Europe this season meant that the league received a coefficient of 1.833 added to their overall coefficient which now accumulated to 4.331. This gave them a ranking 40th place as shown. *38.

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

*39.

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

*40.

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

*41.

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

*42.

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Top-scorers

Awards

PFAI Players' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFAI Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Irish Player of the Year) award is given to the footballer the Lea ...

** Mark Farren - Derry City *

PFAI Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Players' Young Player of the Year (often called the PFAI Players' Young Player of the Year, the PFAI Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) award is given to the footb ...

Paddy McCourt Patrick James McCourt (born 16 December 1983) is a Northern Irish former Association football, footballer who played as a left Midfielder#Winger, winger. He started his professional career with Football League Third Division, Third Division clu ...

- Derry City

Prize money

The prize funds for the season more than quadrupled. The top clubs also got a financial from the

Setanta Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of Ir ...

. The following table shows how eircom League prize money was distributed for the season.

Attendances

Attendance figures increased this season in relation to previous seasons. The total attendance over all competitions for the season was 520,000 - a 6% increase on the previous season. The highest league attendance of the season came at Turner's Cross for the title decider at the end of the season between

and Derry City. 8,000 spectators were at the game.

Media coverage

The FAI agreed a new TV Rights deal for this season. This deal will run until 2009. The main terms of the agreement are: *At least 29 games live each season **

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

8 matches (5 league and 3 FAI Cup) **

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

11 (7 league and 5 FAI Cup) ** Setanta 10 (all league) *This allowed the increase in prize money. *Home clubs in 17 live games will receive €5,000 *Home clubs in other 12 live matches will get €2,000. TV viewing figures for the season proved to be in excess of 1 million. In the end 44 matches were televised live with the highest viewing figure of 355,000 for the league title decider.

References

{{2005–06 in European football (UEFA)

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

League of Ireland Premier Division seasons