2002–03 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2002–03 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 18th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Bohemians were declared champions.

League of Ireland Premier Division

Season	2002–03
Champions	Bohemians (9th title)
Relegated	Bray Wanderers
UEFA Champions League	Bohemians
UEFA Cup	Shelbourne Derry City
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Shamrock Rovers
Top goalscorer	Glen Crowe: 18 (Bohemians) [1][2]
← 2001–02 2003 →

Regular season

The 2003 season would see the League of Ireland Premier Division change from a winter league to a summer league. To facilitate this change, the 2002–03 season was a shortened season. This saw each team play three rounds of games, totalling 27 games each. ^[2][3]

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bohemians (C)	27	15	9	3	47	27	+20	54	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	Shelbourne	27	15	4	8	44	26	+18	49	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
3	Shamrock Rovers	27	12	7	8	42	29	+13	43	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
4	Cork City	27	11	6	10	37	34	+3	39
5	Longford Town[a]	27	8	11	8	25	29	−4	35
6	UCD	27	8	9	10	23	25	−2	33
7	St Patrick's Athletic	27	8	9	10	27	33	−6	33
8	Derry City	27	8	7	12	31	37	−6	31	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round[b]
9	Drogheda United (O)	27	8	6	13	26	40	−14	30	Qualification to Relegation play-off
10	Bray Wanderers (R)	27	4	8	15	31	53	−22	20	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: www.rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Longford Town had 9 points deducted for fielding Avery John against Cork City, Bohemians and Bray Wanderers but this decision was revoked on appeal.
2. Derry City qualified for the UEFA Cup qualifying round after winning the 2002–03 FAI Cup.

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DRO	LON	SHM	SHE	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	4–0	1–1	3–2	3–1	1–0	3–2	1–2	1–1	2–1
Bray Wanderers	1–1	—	2–3	3–3	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–5	0–0	0–0
Cork City	1–1	3–0	—	3–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	3–2
Derry City	0–3	3–1	0–0	—	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–0
Drogheda United	0–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–1	3–2	0–3	1–2	1–0
Longford Town	1–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	—	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–1
Shamrock Rovers	1–1	2–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	0–1	—	0–0	0–1	0–0
Shelbourne	1–2	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–3	3–0	0–1	—	1–2	2–1
St Patrick's Athletic	1–1	1–2	4–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	—	2–2
UCD	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	1–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–27

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DRO	LON	SHM	SHE	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	—	2–0	2–2	1–1	—	3–2	—	—	1–1
Bray Wanderers	1–3	—	—	1–2	0–2	2–0	—	—	—	—
Cork City	—	3–1	—	2–1	—	—	1–1	2–1	—	0–1
Derry City	—	—	—	—	—	1–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	—
Drogheda United	—	—	0–0	3–1	—	—	0–2	—	0–0	0–1
Longford Town	1–0	—	1–0	—	0–0	—	—	—	—	0–2
Shamrock Rovers	—	3–1	—	—	—	3–2	—	0–1	2–1	0–1
Shelbourne	0–1	3–1	—	—	0–1	1–1	—	—	2–0	—
St Patrick's Athletic	2–0	1–4	1–0	—	—	0–2	—	—	—	—
UCD	—	0–0	—	1–0	—	—	—	0–2	0–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation play-off

The promotion/relegation play-off format was changed this season. It now featured four teams, the second, third and fourth placed teams from the 2002–03 League of Ireland First Division plus the ninth placed team from the Premier Division.

Semi-final

1st Legs

Galway United v Finn Harps

29 January 2003

Galway United

2–0

Finn Harps

Cobh Ramblers v Drogheda United

29 January 2003

Cobh Ramblers

2–2

Drogheda United

2nd Legs

Finn Harps v Galway United

1 February 2003

Finn Harps

1–0

Galway United

Galway United win 2–1 on aggregate

Drogheda United v Cobh Ramblers

1 February 2003

Drogheda United

2–0

Cobh Ramblers

Drogheda United win 4–2 on aggregate

Final

Galway United v Drogheda United

5 February 2003

Galway United

2–0

Drogheda United

Drogheda United v Galway United

8 February 2003

Drogheda United

3–0

Galway United

Drogheda United win 3–2 on aggregate and retain their place in the Premier Division. ^[2][4]

Cork City

Longford Town

Bray Wanderers

Drogheda United

Derry City

Dublin

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
Shelbourne
St Patrick's Athletic
UCD

Locations of the Premier Division teams

See also

• 2002–03 Shelbourne F.C. season
• 2002–03 League of Ireland First Division