# 1998–99 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 1998–99 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 14th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 12 teams. St Patrick's Athletic F.C. won the title. For sponsorship purposes, it was known as the FAI Harp Lager National League.

## Regular season

The season saw each team playing three rounds of games, playing every other team three times, totalling 33 games.

### Final Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | St Patrick's Athletic (C) | 33 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 58 | 21 | +37 | 73 | Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Cork City | 33 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 62 | 25 | +37 | 70 | Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Shelbourne | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 37 | 35 | +2 | 47 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round |
| 4 | Finn Harps | 33 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 39 | 40 | −1 | 46 | |
| 5 | Derry City | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 32 | +2 | 45 | |
| 6 | UCD | 33 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 31 | 32 | −1 | 42 | |
| 7 | Waterford United | 33 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 21 | 37 | −16 | 42 | |
| 8 | Shamrock Rovers | 33 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 40 | |
| 9 | Sligo Rovers | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 37 | 50 | −13 | 38 | |
| 10 | Bohemians (O) | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 28 | 37 | −9 | 37 | Qualification to Relegation play-off |
| 11 | Bray Wanderers (R) | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 30 | 45 | −15 | 32 | Relegation to League of Ireland First Division and qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 12 | Dundalk (R) | 33 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 23 | 40 | −17 | 27 | Relegation to League of Ireland First Division |
* ↑ Bray Wanderers qualified for the UEFA Cup qualifying round after winning the 1999 FAI Cup Final.

### Results
#### Matches 1–22

| Home \ Away | BOH | BRW | COR | DER | DUN | FHA | HOM | SHM | SHE | SLI | StP | UCD |
| Bohemians | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Bray Wanderers | 0–1 | — | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–4 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Cork City | 0–0 | 3–1 | — | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Derry City | 1–0 | 5–1 | 0–1 | — | 5–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 5–0 |
| Dundalk | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| Finn Harps | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 5–1 |
| Home Farm Everton | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | — | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 3–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | — | 6–4 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Shelbourne | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Sligo Rovers | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 5–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | — | 1–1 |
| UCD | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — |

#### Matches 23–33

| Home \ Away | BOH | BRW | COR | DER | DUN | FHA | HOM | SHM | SHE | SLI | StP | UCD |
| Bohemians | — | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | — | — | 1–3 | — | 0–2 | 2–1 | — |
| Bray Wanderers | 1–5 | — | — | — | 1–0 | 0–1 | — | — | 1–1 | — | — | 2–0 |
| Cork City | — | 3–1 | — | — | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | — | — |
| Derry City | — | 5–2 | 0–2 | — | — | — | 3–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 2–0 | — |
| Dundalk | — | — | 0–4 | 2–4 | — | — | — | 4–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–2 | — |
| Finn Harps | 3–3 | — | — | 0–1 | 5–0 | — | 3–2 | 1–2 | — | 3–4 | — | — |
| Home Farm Everton | 2–2 | 1–1 | — | — | 0–1 | — | — | — | 3–0 | — | 1–3 | 2–3 |
| Shamrock Rovers | — | 2–2 | — | — | — | — | 2–3 | — | — | — | — | 1–1 |
| Shelbourne | 0–1 | — | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 2–0 | — | — | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Sligo Rovers | — | 3–2 | — | — | — | — | 3–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | — | — | 2–1 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | — | — | 2–1 | — | 2–2 | — | 4–2 | — | — |
| UCD | 1–2 | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | — | — | — | — | 2–0 | — |

## Promotion/relegation play-off

Bohemians who finished in tenth place played off against Cobh Ramblers, the third placed team from the 1998–99 League of Ireland First Division.

### 2nd Leg

Bohemians won 7–0 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division.