# 2004 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2004 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 20th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Shelbourne were champions while Cork City finished as runners-up. Both clubs also enjoyed respectable runs in Europe.

## Overview

The season began on 19 March and ended on 22 November. Each team played four rounds of games, totalling 36 games each. The 2005 season would see the League of Ireland Premier Division revert to 12 twelve teams. To facilitate this expansion there was no promotion/relegation play-off this season and only one team, Dublin City, were automatically relegated. At the end of October, Drogheda United and Bohemians were all but out of the title race. Drogheda United and Bohemians were twelve points and eight points behind leaders Shelbourne respectively. Shelbourne had not quite sealed the title yet, though, as Cork City had reached second place and were just four points behind with four games remaining. On 5 November it looked like the Cork City's league challenge might have been over after they could only draw at home to Derry City. If Shelbourne had beaten Longford Town the following day they would be nine points clear with Cork City having just three games remaining. Longford won 4–1. Both Cork City and Shelbourne won their remaining games before the final round of matches. This meant that Cork City were three points behind Shelbourne. Cork had to win and Shelbourne lose for the title to go the Cork instead of Shelbourne. It turned out that neither result went the way Cork wanted as both they and Shelbourne drew. This meant that Shelbourne retained the league title and Cork City would have to be satisfied with second place.

## Final table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Shelbourne (C) | 36 | 19 | 11 | 6 | 57 | 37 | +20 | 68 | Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Cork City | 36 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 52 | 32 | +20 | 65 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Bohemians | 36 | 15 | 15 | 6 | 51 | 30 | +21 | 60 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 4 | Drogheda United | 36 | 15 | 7 | 14 | 45 | 43 | +2 | 52 | |
| 5 | Waterford United | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 50 | |
| 6 | Longford Town | 36 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 32 | 34 | −2 | 46 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 7 | Derry City | 36 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 23 | 32 | −9 | 44 | |
| 8 | St Patrick's Athletic | 36 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 38 | 49 | −11 | 42 | |
| 9 | Shamrock Rovers | 36 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 41 | 47 | −6 | 38 | |
| 10 | Dublin City (R) | 36 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 39 | 69 | −30 | 25 | Relegation to League of Ireland First Division |
* ↑ Longford Town qualified for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round after winning the 2004 FAI Cup Final.

## Results
### Matches 1–18

| Home \ Away | BOH | COR | DER | DRO | DUB | LON | SHM | SHE | StP | WAT |
| Bohemians | — | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Cork City | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 |
| Derry City | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Drogheda United | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Dublin City | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Longford Town | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 |
| Shelbourne | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 |
| Waterford United | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — |

### Matches 19–36

| Home \ Away | BOH | COR | DER | DRO | DUB | LON | SHM | SHE | StP | WAT |
| Bohemians | — | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 |
| Cork City | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Derry City | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Drogheda United | 0–3 | 1–3 | 4–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–5 | 0–2 | 1–2 |
| Dublin City | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Longford Town | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | — | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–2 |
| Shelbourne | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 |
| Waterford United | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | — |

## UEFA coefficient

The League of Ireland Premier Division performances in Europe this season meant that the league received a coefficient of 1.333 added to their overall coefficient which now accumulated to 4.164. This gave them a ranking 38th place as shown.
* 36. Iceland
* 37. FYR Macedonia
* 38. Republic of Ireland
* 39. Belarus
* 40. Liechtenstein
Source:

## Top-scorers

| Player | Club | Goals |
| Jason Byrne | Shelbourne | 25 |
| Glen Crowe | Bohemians | 19 |
| Declan O'Brien | Drogheda United | 14 |
| Daryl Murphy | Waterford United | 14 |
| Kevin Doyle | Cork City | 13 |
Source:

## Awards

* PFAI eircom League Player of the Year
** Jason Byrne - Shelbourne
* PFAI eircom League Young Player of the Year
** Daryl Murphy - Waterford United

## Gallery

* The locations of the clubs that competed in the 2004 League of Ireland season