2003–04 Irish Premier League

Irish Premier League
Season2003–04
ChampionsLinfield
45th Irish title
RelegatedGlenavon
UEFA Champions LeagueLinfield
UEFA CupPortadown
Glentoran
UEFA Intertoto CupBallymena United
Matches played240
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Location of teams in the 2003–04 Irish Premier League
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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2003–04 Irish Premier League

The 2003–04 Irish Premier League was the 103rd edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. For this season there was a change from the structure of previous seasons, with the First Division reverting to intermediate status and the new Premier Division being renamed as the Irish Premier League. The league consisted of 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.

League standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Linfield (C) 30 22 7 1 67 16 +51 73 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Portadown 30 22 4 4 71 22 +49 70 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Lisburn Distillery 30 16 7 7 45 30 +15 55
4 Coleraine 30 14 9 7 48 36 +12 51
5 Glentoran 30 15 5 10 48 27 +21 50 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round[a]
6 Ballymena United 30 13 8 9 41 35 +6 47 Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
7 Limavady United 30 12 5 13 41 44 −3 41
8 Ards 30 9 11 10 36 46 −10 38
9 Crusaders 30 10 6 14 33 38 −5 36
10 Dungannon Swifts 30 10 6 14 36 48 −12 36
11 Institute 30 9 7 14 38 53 −15 34
12 Newry Town 30 8 9 13 35 53 −18 33
13 Omagh Town 30 9 4 17 37 58 −21 31
14 Larne 30 7 8 15 42 51 −9 29
15 Cliftonville 30 6 8 16 27 45 −18 26 Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off
16 Glenavon (R) 30 4 4 22 24 67 −43 16 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
Notes:
  1. ^ As Irish Cup winners

Results

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

Home \ Away ARD BYM CLI COL CRU DUN GLV GLT INS LRN LIM LIN LIS NEW OMA POR
Ards 1–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 0–2 2–4 2–1 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–4 1–1 4–0 2–1 2–1
Ballymena United 1–0 0–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 4–0 0–0 2–1 1–1 0–3 0–0 1–4 4–0 3–1 1–4
Cliftonville 2–1 0–3 2–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–0 3–2 1–4 0–0 1–2 1–2 0–1
Coleraine 4–1 4–0 1–0 0–1 3–1 2–1 0–1 4–2 0–4 2–1 2–0 0–0 4–3 0–0 3–1
Crusaders 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–4 0–1 3–1 3–2 2–0 1–3 0–1 2–2 4–1 1–2
Dungannon Swifts 2–2 0–0 2–2 3–2 2–1 3–1 1–4 1–1 2–5 1–2 0–4 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–2
Glenavon 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–0 2–1 2–2 1–2 0–2 0–4 2–3 0–2 2–2 0–2 0–3 0–3
Glentoran 3–0 3–1 1–1 0–1 0–1[a] 1–0 4–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 1–3 0–1[a] 4–0 4–0 1–2
Institute 0–1 0–4 2–1 2–2 1–3 1–0 1–0 3–1 4–1 0–4 0–0 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–3
Larne 5–1 1–2 2–1 0–2 0–0 0–2 1–0 1–4 2–4 2–1 0–3 0–2 3–3 1–2 2–4
Limavady United 0–1 0–1 3–1 3–3 2–3 3–1 2–0 1–0[a] 2–1 0–0 0–2 0–3 1–0 3–2 0–6
Linfield 2–2 4–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 2–0 3–1 2–1 6–0 1–0 3–2 3–0 5–0 2–0 0–0
Lisburn Distillery 1–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 5–0 1–1 3–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 3–2 1–2 1–0
Newry Town 0–0 1–1 3–1 0–1 2–1 0–0 4–0 0–0 2–1 3–3 1–1 1–2 1–0 1–0 1–2
Omagh Town 1–4 2–0 2–3 1–1 0–3 1–3 2–1 1–4 0–3 0–0 2–0 1–3 3–2 3–0 2–5
Portadown 4–0 0–1 5–1 2–1 4–0 5–0 2–0 2–1 0–0 3–1 0–0 1–1 4–1 2–0 1–0
Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c The first three games of the season by Glentoran were subsequently rated 0–1 for the respective opponents. Glentoran had used an ineligible player.

Promotion/relegation play-off

Cliftonville, the club that finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Armagh City, the runners-up of the 2003–04 Irish First Division in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's Irish Premier League.

Armagh City0 – 3Cliftonville
Cliftonville1 – 1Armagh City

Cliftonville won 4–1 on aggregate

References