# 2019 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2019 League of Ireland Premier Division is the 35th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The league began in 15 February 2019 and concluded in 25 October 2019. Fixtures were announced in December 2018.
On 23 September, Dundalk won the title after a 3–2 win over Shamrock Rovers.

## Overview

The Premier Division consists of 10 teams. Each team plays each other four times for 36 matches in the season.
UCD, the 2018 First Division champion, were promoted to the league for the first time since 2014, and Finn Harps, winners of the promotion/relegation playoffs, were promoted to the league, returning after the absence in the previous season.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Bohemians | Dublin (Phibsborough) | Dalymount Park | 3,640 |
| Cork City | Cork | Turners Cross | 7,845 |
| Derry City | Derry | Brandywell Stadium | 3,700 |
| Dundalk | Dundalk | Oriel Park | 4,500 |
| Finn Harps | Ballybofey | Finn Park | 6,000 |
| Shamrock Rovers | Dublin (Tallaght) | Tallaght Stadium | 8,000 |
| Sligo Rovers | Sligo | The Showgrounds | 5,500 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | Dublin (Inchicore) | Richmond Park | 5,340 |
| UCD | Dublin (Belfield) | UCD Bowl | 3,000 |
| Waterford | Waterford | Regional Sports Centre | 5,500 |

### Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Bohemians | Keith Long | Derek Pender | O'Neills | Mr Green Sport |
| Cork City | Neale Fenn | Conor McCormack | Adidas | University College Cork |
| Derry City | Declan Devine | Barry McNamee | Adidas | Diamond Corrugated |
| Dundalk | Vinny Perth | Brian Gartland | CX+ Sport | Fyffes |
| Finn Harps | Ollie Horgan | Keith Cowan | Joma | KN Group |
| St Patrick's Athletic | Stephen O'Donnell | Ian Bermingham | Umbro | MIG Insurance Brokers |
| Shamrock Rovers | Stephen Bradley | Ronan Finn | New Balance | Pepper Money |
| Sligo Rovers | Liam Buckley | Kyle Callan-McFadden | Joma | Volkswagen |
| UCD | Maciej Tarnogrodzki | Liam Scales | O'Neills | O'Neills |
| Waterford | Alan Reynolds | Kenny Browne | Umbro | 21Bet |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Dundalk | Stephen Kenny | Signed by Republic of Ireland U21 | 24 November 2018 | Pre-season | Vinny Perth | 22 December 2018 |
| Cork City | John Caulfield | Mutual consent | 1 May 2019 | 8th | John Cotter | 2 May 2019 |
| Cork City | John Cotter | Appointed first-team head coach | 30 June 2019 | 7th | Frank Kelleher | 30 June 2019 |
| UCD | Collie O'Neill | Sacked | 19 August 2019 | 10th | Maciej Tarnogrodzki | 21 August 2019 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | Harry Kenny | Mutual consent | 24 August 2019 | 5th | Stephen O'Donnell | 31 August 2019 |
| Cork City | Frank Kelleher | Change of role | 26 August 2019 | 7th | Neale Fenn | 26 August 2019 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dundalk (C) | 36 | 27 | 5 | 4 | 73 | 18 | +55 | 86 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Shamrock Rovers | 36 | 23 | 6 | 7 | 62 | 21 | +41 | 75 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Bohemians | 36 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 47 | 28 | +19 | 60 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Derry City | 36 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 56 | 34 | +22 | 57 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | St Patrick's Athletic | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 29 | 35 | −6 | 52 | |
| 6 | Waterford | 36 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 46 | 53 | −7 | 43 | |
| 7 | Sligo Rovers | 36 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 38 | 47 | −9 | 42 | |
| 8 | Cork City | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 29 | 49 | −20 | 37 | |
| 9 | Finn Harps (O) | 36 | 7 | 7 | 22 | 26 | 64 | −38 | 28 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 10 | UCD (R) | 36 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 25 | 82 | −57 | 19 | Relegation to League of Ireland First Division |
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2019 FAI Cup (Shamrock Rovers) qualified for European competition based on their league position, the final spot awarded to the Cup winner passed to the next best-placed team i.e fourth-placed team.

## Results
### Matches 1–18

Teams played each other twice (once at home, once away).
| Home \ Away | BOH | COR | DER | DUN | FHA | STP | SHM | SLI | UCD | WAT |
| Bohemians | — | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Cork City | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| Derry City | 0–2 | 2–0 | — | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 |
| Dundalk | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| Finn Harps | 0–1 | 3–4 | 2–3 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | — | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Sligo Rovers | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| UCD | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — | 4–1 |
| Waterford | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 1–0 | — |

### Matches 19–36

Teams will play each other twice (once home, once away).
| Home \ Away | BOH | COR | DER | DUN | FHA | STP | SHM | SLI | UCD | WAT |
| Bohemians | — | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 5–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 10–1 | 1–2 |
| Cork City | 0–0 | — | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 1–2 |
| Derry City | 0–0 | 4–0 | — | 2–2 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Dundalk | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 5–0 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Finn Harps | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | — | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 7–0 | 2–1 |
| Sligo Rovers | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 5–1 | 0–0 |
| UCD | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | — | 1–2 |
| Waterford | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–5 | 2–0 | 4–2 | — |

## Promotion/relegation playoff

Finn Harps, who finished ninth in the Premier Division, faced the First Division's Drogheda United to determine which club would participate in the 2020 Premier Division.

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe | Derry City | 14 |
| 2 | Patrick Hoban | Dundalk | 13 |
| 3 | Michael Duffy | Dundalk | 12 |
| 4 | Danny Mandroiu | Bohemians | 11 |
| 4 | David Parkhouse | Derry City | 11 |
| 4 | Aaron Greene | Shamrock Rovers | 11 |
| 4 | Romeo Parkes | Sligo Rovers | 11 |
| 8 | Aaron McEneff | Shamrock Rovers | 10 |
| 9 | Daniel Kelly | Dundalk | 9 |
| 10 | Georgie Kelly | Dundalk | 8 |
| 10 | Jack Byrne | Shamrock Rovers | 8 |
| 10 | Graham Cummins | Shamrock Rovers | 8 |
| 10 | Ronan Coughlan | Sligo Rovers | 8 |
Last updated: 31 October 2019. Source: http://www.extratime.ie/topscorers/2031/100/league-of-ireland-premier-division-2019/

## Awards
### Player of the Month

| Month | Player | Club |
| February | Daniel Corcoran | Bohemians |
| March | Jack Byrne | Shamrock Rovers |
| April | James Talbot | Bohemians |
| May | Sean Gannon | Dundalk |
| June | Danny Mandroiu | Bohemians |
| July | Jack Byrne | Shamrock Rovers |
| August | Daniel Cleary | Dundalk |
| September | Michael Duffy | Dundalk |

### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| PFAI Player of the Year | Jack Byrne | Shamrock Rovers |
| PFAI Young Player of the Year | Danny Mandroiu | Bohemians |
| PFAI Premier Division Manager of the Year | Vinny Perth | Dundalk |
PFAI Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) | Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) |
| Defenders | Sean Gannon (Dundalk) | Sean Gannon (Dundalk) | Sean Gannon (Dundalk) | Seán Hoare (Dundalk) | Seán Hoare (Dundalk) | Seán Hoare (Dundalk) | Lee Grace (Shamrock Rovers) | Lee Grace (Shamrock Rovers) | Lee Grace (Shamrock Rovers) | Seán Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers) | Seán Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers) | Seán Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers) |
| Midfielders | Danny Mandroiu (Bohemians) | Danny Mandroiu (Bohemians) | Danny Mandroiu (Bohemians) | Danny Mandroiu (Bohemians) | Chris Shields (Dundalk) | Chris Shields (Dundalk) | Chris Shields (Dundalk) | Chris Shields (Dundalk) | Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers) | Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers) | Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers) | Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers) |
| Forwards | David Parkhouse (Derry City) | David Parkhouse (Derry City) | David Parkhouse (Derry City) | David Parkhouse (Derry City) | Patrick Hoban (Dundalk) | Patrick Hoban (Dundalk) | Patrick Hoban (Dundalk) | Patrick Hoban (Dundalk) | Michael Duffy (Dundalk) | Michael Duffy (Dundalk) | Michael Duffy (Dundalk) | Michael Duffy (Dundalk) |