2005–06 Irish Premier League

Irish Premier League
Season2005–06
ChampionsLinfield
46th Irish title
RelegatedInstitute
Ards
UEFA Champions LeagueLinfield
UEFA CupGlentoran
Portadown
UEFA Intertoto CupDungannon Swifts
Matches played240

The 2005–06 Irish Premier League was the 105th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football, and the 3rd edition in its current format (as the Irish Premier League) since its inception in 2003. The league consisted of 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.

Summary

Ards were relegated after finishing bottom of the table, and Institute were relegated after a 3-1 defeat on aggregate to Donegal Celtic in the promotion play-off.

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Location of teams in the 2005–06 Irish Premier League
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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2005–06 Irish Premier League

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Linfield (C) 30 23 6 1 88 23 +65 75 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Glentoran 30 19 6 5 60 28 +32 63 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Portadown 30 16 6 8 56 36 +20 54
4 Dungannon Swifts 30 13 10 7 61 41 +20 49 Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
5 Cliftonville 30 13 8 9 45 35 +10 47
6 Newry City 30 12 9 9 45 35 +10 45
7 Ballymena United 30 13 6 11 42 48 −6 45
8 Lisburn Distillery 30 12 8 10 44 38 +6 44
9 Coleraine 30 11 4 15 40 57 −17 37
10 Limavady United 30 9 9 12 42 49 −7 36
11 Loughgall 30 9 7 14 33 38 −5 34
12 Larne 30 7 9 14 42 63 −21 30
13 Glenavon 30 7 9 14 35 59 −24 30
14 Armagh City 30 9 3 18 38 69 −31 30
15 Institute (R) 30 6 8 16 37 58 −21 26 Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
16 Ards (R) 30 6 2 22 31 62 −31 20 Relegation to Irish First Division
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Each team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games.

Home \ Away ARD ARM BYM CLI COL DUN GLA GLT INS LRN LIM LIN LIS LOU NEW POR
Ards 0–2 1–3 0–1 2–5 3–3 1–0[a] 0–1 1–4 1–3 2–1 0–4 0–1 1–0 1–3 1–2
Armagh City 3–0 0–1 1–3 3–0 0–0 0–4 5–2 1–2 1–2 3–3 0–1 1–6 0–1 2–1 2–2
Ballymena United 1–1 3–0 0–2 1–0 4–3 2–3 0–4 1–0 1–0 1–3 0–2 1–0 3–2 0–0 2–3
Cliftonville 0–1 8–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 2–1 1–1 2–0 2–2 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 0–0 0–2
Coleraine 2–4 4–0 0–1 0–2 2–0 0–0 0–0 2–5 2–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–3 1–3 1–1
Dungannon Swifts 4–2 2–1 2–2 1–0 6–1 6–0 2–1 2–1 3–0 3–2 2–3 2–2 3–0 1–1 0–1
Glenavon 1–0 1–3 2–2 2–2 1–2 2–2 0–3 0–0 2–3 2–1 0–5 2–2 0–4 1–4 0–1
Glentoran 2–1 2–0 1–2 0–0 3–0 3–1 1–0 3–1 5–1 0–1 1–4 0–0 1–0 3–2 5–1
Institute 2–1 4–0 0–1 2–3 0–1 3–3 1–2 1–3 1–1 1–1 2–9 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–2
Larne 3–1 2–3 1–2 2–4 1–4 1–0 2–2 1–3 1–1 2–3 2–4 3–1 0–0 1–1 2–1
Limavady United 1–0 3–0 2–2 1–2 3–3 1–1 1–1 0–2 3–3 1–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 1–4 0–2
Linfield 2–0 5–0 3–2 1–0 7–2 1–1 2–1 0–0 2–0 8–1 2–0 1–3 2–0 3–1 4–0
Lisburn Distillery 1–0 3–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–0 1–2 1–4 4–1 3–1 1–2 0–6 2–3 0–0 1–0
Loughgall 2–3 2–1 1–0 2–3 2–3 0–1 1–1 2–3 2–0 1–1 2–1 1–2 0–0 0–3 0–0
Newry City 2–1 1–2 2–0 3–1 2–0 2–1 1–2 1–3 5–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–3 0–0 0–2
Portadown 3–2 1–2 6–1 3–1 2–0 2–3 4–0 0–0 0–1 2–2 5–1 0–0 1–2 2–1 5–1
Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ The match between Ards and Glenavon (originally finished 0–3) was rated 1–0 due to the use of a player who was not eligible to play.

Promotion/relegation play-off

Institute, the club that finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Donegal Celtic, the runners-up of the 2005–06 Irish First Division in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's Irish Premier League.

Donegal Celtic3 – 1Institute
Institute0 – 0Donegal Celtic

Donegal Celtic won 3–1 on aggregate and were promoted, Institute were relegated.

References