# 2022–23 NIFL Premiership

The 2022–23 NIFL 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.
Larne were champions, winning the Irish 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. 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

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 |
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,824 (all seated) |
| Carrick Rangers | Loughshore Hotel Arena | Carrickfergus | 2,100 (380 seated) |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 3,054 (all seated) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 4,843 (1,607 seated) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,208 (all seated) |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 2,000 (300 seated) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 3,302 (all seated) |
| Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 6,054 (3,991 seated) |
| Larne | Inver Park | Larne | 2,732 (1,632 seated) |
| Linfield | Windsor Park | Belfast | 18,434 (all seated) |
| Newry City | The Showgrounds | Newry | 2,275 (1,080 seated) |
| Portadown | Shamrock Park | Portadown | 3,940 (2,765 seated) |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 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 |
| 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 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs |
| 5 | Crusaders | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 72 | 45 | +27 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 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 |
* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
* 1 2 3 Glentoran entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as play-off winners.
* ↑ 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.

### 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, resulting in the play-off being postponed. Eventually, the third-placed club from the NIFL Championship at the time (Annagh United) elected to take Warrenpoint Town's place in the play-off.

### Second leg
## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

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

### Clean sheets

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