# 2014–15 NIFL Premiership

The 2014–15 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 7th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 114th season of Irish league football overall, and the 2nd season of the league operating as part of the newly created Northern Ireland Football League.
Crusaders were champions, winning the league for the 5th time.

## Summary

The season began on 9 August 2014, and concluded with the final round of fixtures on 25 April 2015.
Cliftonville were the two-time defending champions, after they won a second consecutive title the previous season, a first consecutive title win in the club's history - their fourth outright league title and fifth overall. Ten years after suffering relegation to the second tier in 2004–05 and just eight years after their return to the top flight in 2006–07, Crusaders were this season's champions. They lifted the title for the fifth time overall on 18 April 2015 – their first top flight title in the 18 years since their last win in the 1996–97 season.
For the second successive season, the newly promoted club finished bottom of the table and suffered relegation. Institute were relegated back to the second tier after only one season in the top flight. This was confirmed after they lost 2–1 against Ballymena United on 11 April 2015, leaving them bottom of the table by nine points with only two fixtures remaining. Warrenpoint Town once again finished in 11th place – the Promotion/relegation play-off place – and faced Bangor over two legs for a place in next season's Premiership. After a 2–2 draw on aggregate, Warrenpoint Town won 3–1 on penalties to retain their Premiership status for next season.

## Teams

In their first season back in the top flight since 2005–06, Ards finished bottom of the table the previous season. This was confirmed on 12 April 2014, after Warrenpoint Town defeated Dungannon Swifts 4–0 to leave Ards 10 points adrift in 12th place with only three fixtures remaining. Subsequently, Ards were relegated to Championship 1. Institute replaced them in the Premiership, after securing the 2013–14 Championship 1 title. Institute returned to the top flight for the first time in four years since they were relegated in the 2009–10 season.
The Promotion/relegation play-off was not played the previous season because the runners-up of Championship 1, Bangor, were ineligible for promotion as they did not possess a licence to participate in top-flight football. As a result, this gave a reprieve to the previous season's 11th-placed team, Warrenpoint Town, who retained their Premiership status by default.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity |
| Ballinamallard United | Ferney Park | Ballinamallard | 2,000 (250 seated) |
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,050 (2,200 seated) |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 2,530 (all seated) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 2,496 (1,106 seated) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,383 (all seated) |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 5,000 (300 seated) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 4,160 (4,000 seated) |
| Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 6,054 (4,989 seated) |
| Institute | Riverside Stadium | Drumahoe | 3,110 (1,540 seated) |
| Linfield | Windsor Park | Belfast | 10,500 (all seated) |
| Portadown | Shamrock Park | Portadown | 3,940 (2,765 seated) |
| Warrenpoint Town | Milltown | Warrenpoint | 2,000 (250 seated) |

### Windsor Park redevelopment

As a result of Windsor Park being redeveloped, its capacity was limited to approximately 10,500. This was still more than large enough to accommodate the average Premiership attendance at the stadium. Linfield were forced to play their first six league games of the season away from home while a new playing surface was laid at the stadium. Linfield's first home league game of the season was on 13 September 2014 against Warrenpoint Town, which resulted in a 1–0 home win. On 31 March 2015, the West Stand of the stadium was sealed off after cracks in the structure were discovered. Construction work related to the stadium redevelopment had been ongoing behind the stand in the weeks prior to the damage, but it was not known if that was directly related. The closure of the stand ultimately forced Linfield to play their remaining two home games of the season against Glenavon and Crusaders at the Ballymena Showgrounds and the Oval respectively.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Crusaders (C) | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 93 | 43 | +50 | 82 | Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Linfield | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 67 | 46 | +21 | 72 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Glenavon | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 82 | 65 | +17 | 66 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Portadown | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 65 | 56 | +9 | 62 | |
| 5 | Cliftonville | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 71 | 47 | +24 | 61 | |
| 6 | Glentoran | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 67 | 51 | +16 | 58 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 7 | Ballymena United | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 62 | 75 | −13 | 51 | |
| 8 | Coleraine | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 48 | 55 | −7 | 46 | |
| 9 | Ballinamallard United | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 40 | 71 | −31 | 39 | |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 38 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 38 | 56 | −18 | 37 | |
| 11 | Warrenpoint Town (O) | 38 | 6 | 12 | 20 | 50 | 76 | −26 | 30 | Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off |
| 12 | Institute (R) | 38 | 4 | 9 | 25 | 36 | 84 | −48 | 21 | Relegation to NIFL Championship 1 |
* ↑ Glentoran qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as 2014–15 Irish Cup winners.
* 1 2 Coleraine and Institute both fielded an ineligible player in the same match. The original 4–0 Coleraine win was voided with a 3–0 loss being recorded for both clubs, resulting in the final league table having two more losses than wins, and an overall goal difference of –6.

## Results
### Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once. As this was the fourth time that teams had played each other this season, home sides were chosen so that they had played each other twice at home and twice away.

## Promotion/relegation play-off

11th-placed Warrenpoint Town played NIFL Championship 1 runners-up Bangor over two legs for a place in next season's Premiership. Warrenpoint Town played the first leg away from home, with home advantage for the second leg. Warrenpoint Town won 3–1 on penalties and retained their Premiership status.
2–2 on aggregate after extra time. Warrenpoint Town won 3–1 on penalties.

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Joe Gormley | Cliftonville | 31 |
| 2 | Paul Heatley | Crusaders | 27 |
| 3 | Jordan Owens | Crusaders | 26 |
| 4 | Aaron Burns | Linfield | 17 |
| 4 | Daniel Hughes | Warrenpoint Town | 17 |
| 6 | Curtis Allen | Glentoran | 15 |
| 6 | Kevin Braniff | Glenavon | 15 |
| 6 | Andrew Waterworth | Linfield | 15 |
| 9 | Eoin Bradley | Glenavon | 13 |
| 9 | Darren Murray | Portadown | 13 |
| 9 | Jordan Stewart | Glentoran | 13 |
| 9 | Gary Twigg | Portadown | 13 |