2008 League of Ireland First Division

The 2008 League of Ireland First Division season was the 24th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 10 teams and Dundalk won the division.

League of Ireland First Division

Season	2008
Champions	Dundalk
Top goalscorer	Robbie Doyle: 16 (Sporting Fingal)[1]
← 2007 2009 →

Club information

Team	Base	Manager	Main sponsor	Kit supplier	Stadium	Capacity
Athlone Town	Athlone	Brendan Place	Ganly's Hardware	O'Neills	Athlone Town Stadium	2,000
Dundalk	Dundalk	John Gill	IJM	Umbro	Oriel Park	6,000
Kildare County	Newbridge	Joe Somerville	Cill Dara Betting	O'Neills	Station Road	2,500
Limerick 37	Limerick	Michael Kerley	Limerick's Live 95FM	Jako	Jackman Park	8,000
Longford Town	Longford	Alan Gough	Flancare	Umbro	Flancare Park	4,500
Monaghan United	Monaghan	Mick Cooke	The Squeeling Pig	Nike	Century Homes Park	3,000
Shelbourne	Drumcondra	Dermot Keely	Cab 2000	Umbro	Tolka Park	9,700
Sporting Fingal	Fingal	Liam Buckley	Keelings	O'Neills	Morton Stadium	10,000
Waterford United	Waterford	Gareth Cronin	Hutchison 3G	Azzurri	Waterford RSC	8,000
Wexford Youths	Crossabeg	Mick Wallace	Wallace Construction	O'Neills	Ferrycarraig Park	5,000

Overview

The regular season began on 7 March and concluded on 15 November. Each team played the other teams four times, totaling 36 games. Only the champions, Dundalk, were automatically promoted and there was no promotion/relegation play-off between Premier Division and First Division teams. This was because the 2009 Premier Division would be reduced to 10 clubs.^[2]

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundalk (C)	36	21	8	7	69	30	+39	71	Premier Division
2	Shelbourne	36	20	10	6	55	25	+30	70
3	Waterford United	36	18	9	9	55	35	+20	63
4	Sporting Fingal[a]	36	17	11	8	53	32	+21	62
5	Limerick 37	36	15	7	14	49	45	+4	52
6	Monaghan United	36	13	8	15	38	51	−13	47
7	Wexford Youths	36	10	7	19	36	51	−15	37
8	Longford Town	36	9	8	19	36	55	−19	35
9	Athlone Town	36	6	14	16	23	51	−28	32
10	Kildare County[b]	36	6	8	22	34	73	−39	26	Lost promotion/relegation play-off

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Sporting Fingal replaced Kilkenny City who withdrew from the league before the season started.
2. Kildare County were initially relegated to the A Championship after losing a promotion/relegation play-off. However they subsequently gained a reprieve after Cobh Ramblers were refused a First Division licence and were relegated directly from the Premier Division to the A Championship .

Results

Matches 1 to 18

Home \ Away	ATH	DUN	KIL	L37	LON	MON	SHE	SFI	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		0–3	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	3–1
Dundalk	1–0		6–0	0–2	0–0	3–0	1–3	3–2	1–0	2–1
Kildare County	1–1	1–2		1–2	0–1	4–0	1–3	0–2	1–2	2–0
Limerick 37	0–0	1–2	4–0		2–1	2–2	0–3	1–3	0–3	2–0
Longford Town	3–0	1–2	0–0	1–2		3–0	2–0	5–1	0–2	0–1
Monaghan United	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0		1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2
Shelbourne	2–0	0–0	5–0	0–2	2–0	2–0		1–1	2–0	1–0
Sporting Fingal	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	4–0	0–0		3–1	2–0
Waterford United	1–1	1–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	5–0	1–1	2–0		1–0
Wexford Youths	2–0	0–5	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–2

Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Rounds 19 and 36

Home \ Away	ATH	DUN	KIL	L37	LON	MON	SHE	SFI	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		2–2	3–0	0–3	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0
Dundalk	7–0		4–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–0
Kildare County	1–0	1–6		0–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–2
Limerick 37	0–0	2–0	1–2		1–3	2–1	1–2	1–1	5–1	1–1
Longford Town	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–2		1–3	1–2	0–3	0–3	2–4
Monaghan United	3–0	2–2	3–3	0–2	5–1		2–0	0–2	2–0	1–2
Shelbourne	3–3	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–0	1–0		0–0	0–0	1–0
Sporting Fingal	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–1		3–1	2–3
Waterford United	3–0	0–1	3–1	3–1	4–0	1–1	0–1	2–1		1–0
Wexford Youths	0–0	3–1	0–1	3–0	0–2	1–3	0–3	2–2	1–1

Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation play-offs

Kildare County and Mervue United, the highest ranked non-reserve team from the 2008 A Championship, played off to see who would play in the 2009 First Division.

Mervue United v Kildare County

18 November 2008	Mervue United	2 – 2	Kildare County	Fahy's Field
20:00	Keogh 10' Goldbey 28'	Report	Hughes 54' 76'	Referee: Pádraig Sutton (Clare)

Kildare County v Mervue United

21 November 2008	Kildare County	0 – 3	Mervue United	Station Road
19:45		Report	O'Brien 15' Goldbey 64' 81'	Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford)

Mervue United won 5–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the First Division.^[2]

Top scorers

Goalscorers	Goals	Team
Robbie Doyle	16	Sporting Fingal[1]
Anthony Flood	15	Shelbourne
Darren McKenna	13	Longford Town
Robbie Farrell	11	Dundalk
Vinny Sullivan	11	Waterford United

Gallery

• 
  The clubs competing in the 2008 FAI eircom League of Ireland

See also

• 2008 League of Ireland Premier Division
• 2008 League of Ireland Cup
• 2008 A Championship