2012 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finished as runners-up.

League of Ireland Premier Division

Season	2012
Champions	Sligo Rovers (3rd title)
UEFA Champions League	Sligo Rovers
UEFA Europa League	Derry City Drogheda United St. Patrick's Athletic
Setanta Cup	Sligo Rovers Derry City Drogheda United St. Patrick's Athletic Shamrock Rovers Cork City
Matches played	165
Goals scored	437 (2.65 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Twigg: 22 (Shamrock Rovers) [1]
Biggest home win	Shamrock Rovers 7–0 Dundalk
Biggest away win	Bray Wanderers 0–4 Derry City
Highest scoring	Bray Wanderers 2–4 Drogheda United St. Patrick's Athletic 5–1 Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers 6–0 Dundalk Bray Wanderers 3–3 St. Patrick's Athletic Cork City 4–2 UCD
Highest attendance	6,097 Sligo Rovers 0–2 Shamrock Rovers
Lowest attendance	151 Monaghan United 0–1 Bray Wanderers
Total attendance	281,925[note 1]
Average attendance	1,575[2][note 2]
← 2011 2013 →

Teams

Stadia and locations

Bray Wanderers

Cork City

Derry City

Drogheda United

Dublin

Dundalk

Sligo Rovers

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

Locations of Premier Division teams

Bohemians

St Patrick's Athletic

Shamrock Rovers

Shelbourne

UCD

Locations of Dublin Premier Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium
Bohemians	Phibsborough	Dalymount Park
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Carlisle Grounds
Cork City	Cork	Turners Cross
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell Stadium
Drogheda United	Drogheda	United Park
Dundalk	Dundalk	Oriel Park
Monaghan United	Monaghan	Kingspan Century Park
Shamrock Rovers	Tallaght	Tallaght Stadium
Shelbourne	Drumcondra	Tolka Park
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds
St. Patrick's Athletic	Inchicore	Richmond Park
UCD	Belfield	UCD Bowl

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bohemians	Aaron Callaghan	Owen Heary	Macron	DHL
Bray Wanderers	Pat Devlin	Danny O'Connor	Adidas	Sinnot Autos Volkswagen
Cork City	Tommy Dunne	Dan Murray	Umbro	Clonakilty Blackpudding
Derry City	Declan Devine	Kevin Deery	Hummel	Diamond Corrugated
Drogheda United	Mick Cooke	Paul Crowley	Vandanel	Scotch Hall Shopping Centre
Dundalk	Darius Kierans	Chris Shields	Umbro	Fyffes
Monaghan United	Roddy Collins	Alan Byrne	Nike	None
Shamrock Rovers	Brian Laws[3]	Ken Oman	Umbro	SEAT
Shelbourne	Alan Mathews	David Cassidy	Macron	Cab 2000
Sligo Rovers	Ian Baraclough	Danny Ventre	Jako	Connolly's Volkswagen
St. Patrick's Athletic	Liam Buckley	Conor Kenna	Umbro	Nissan Motors
UCD	Martin Russell	Michael Leahy	O'Neills	O'Neills Soccer

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dundalk	Ian Foster	Contract Ended	29 October 2011	Pre-season	Sean McCaffrey	23 December 2011
Bohemians	Pat Fenlon	Signed by Hibernian	25 November 2011	Pre-season	Aaron Callaghan	31 December 2011
St. Patrick's Athletic	Pete Mahon	Contract Ended	2 December 2011	Pre-season	Liam Buckley	2 December 2011
Derry City	Stephen Kenny	Resigned	24 December 2011	Pre-season	Declan Devine	6 January 2012
Shamrock Rovers	Michael O'Neill	Signed by Northern Ireland	24 December 2011	Pre-season	Stephen Kenny	27 December 2011
Sligo Rovers	Paul Cook	Signed by Accrington Stanley	13 February 2012	Pre-season	Ian Baraclough	27 February 2012
Dundalk	Sean McCaffrey[4]	Mutual Consent	12 January 2012	10th	Stephen Kenny	N/A
Shamrock Rovers	Stephen Kenny	Sacked[5]	11 September 2012	4th	Brian Laws	17 September 2012[6]
Bray Wanderers	Keith Long	Mutual Consent	September 2012	9th	Pat Devlin	September 2012

Overview

There was a mid-season break coinciding with the Republic of Ireland national football team's UEFA Euro 2012 finals campaign. On 18 June 2012, Monaghan United announced their withdrawal from the league.^[7][8][9] Their record was subsequently expunged.^[10] The Premier Division title was won by Sligo Rovers, their first title in thirty five years.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

Final table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sligo Rovers (C)	30	17	10	3	53	23	+30	61	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Drogheda United	30	17	6	7	51	36	+15	57	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3	St Patrick's Athletic	30	15	10	5	44	22	+22	55
4	Shamrock Rovers	30	14	10	6	56	37	+19	52
5	Derry City	30	11	6	13	36	36	0	39	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[a]
6	Cork City	30	8	12	10	38	36	+2	36
7	Bohemians	30	9	9	12	35	38	−3	36
8	Shelbourne	30	9	8	13	35	43	−8	35
9	UCD	30	8	7	15	32	48	−16	31
10	Bray Wanderers	30	5	10	15	33	54	−21	25
11	Dundalk (O)	30	4	8	18	23	63	−40	20	Qualification for relegation play-off
12	Monaghan United (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew from league[b]

Source: ^[16][17]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Derry City qualified for the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round after winning the 2012 FAI Cup Final.
2. Monaghan United withdrew after 14 games. Their record was expunged.

Results

Matches 1–22

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DRO	DUN	SHM	SHE	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	4–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	1–0
Bray Wanderers	2–1	—	0–3	0–4	2–4	1–1	2–2	2–3	1–2	3–3	3–1
Cork City	1–1	1–1	—	2–2	2–3	3–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	4–2
Derry City	1–0	3–2	2–0	—	0–3	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–2	0–0
Drogheda United	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	—	0–0	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–0	1–0
Dundalk	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	—	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–2	2–1
Shamrock Rovers	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	6–0	—	4–0	1–1	1–1	2–2
Shelbourne	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	4–0	2–3	—	1–1	1–1	1–2
Sligo Rovers	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	4–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	—	1–1	2–1
St Patrick's Athletic	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–2	1–2	5–1	1–0	0–0	—	2–0
UCD	1–2	2–3	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	—

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

Matches 23–33

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DRO	DUN	SHM	SHE	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	—	1–1	—	1–4	—	—	2–2	—	2–3	—
Bray Wanderers	1–4	—	—	0–0	1–3	—	1–3	—	0–0	—	—
Cork City	—	2–0	—	—	3–2	3–0	1–2	—	0–0	—	—
Derry City	2–0	—	0–1	—	—	4–0	—	—	—	2–1	1–2
Drogheda United	—	—	—	2–1	—	3–2	0–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	—
Dundalk	2–2	2–1	—	—	—	—	—	0–1	—	0–1	1–2
Shamrock Rovers	0–1	—	—	1–3	—	7–0	—	2–2	—	—	2–1
Shelbourne	—	0–0	3–2	0–2	—	—	—	—	1–3	0–2	—
Sligo Rovers	3–1	—	—	4–1	—	3–0	0–2	—	—	3–2	3–0
St Patrick's Athletic	—	0–1	1–0	—	—	—	2–1	—	—	—	5–0
UCD	2–2	3–1	3–2	—	1–0	—	—	1–1	—	—	—

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

Promotion/relegation play-off

Dundalk, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division, played Waterford United, the winner of the First Division play-off. The winner of this play off would play in the 2013 Premier Division.

Dundalk v Waterford United

30 October 2012	Dundalk	2–2	Waterford United	Oriel Park[18]
	Lorcan Shannon 23' Stephen McDonnell 75'	[ Report]	Paul Phelan 50' Ben Ryan 60'	Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan)

Waterford United v Dundalk

2 November 2012	Waterford United	0–2	Dundalk	Waterford RSC[19]
		[ Report]	Michael Rafter 45' (68)	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Padraig Sutton (Clare)

Dundalk win 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division. Waterford United appealed the result of the playoff, claiming Michael Rafter was ineligible as Dundalk had incorrectly registered him when they signed him earlier that season. However the appeal was unsuccessful. ^[19][20][21]

Awards

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers[1]	22
2	Danny North	Sligo Rovers	15
3	Jason Byrne	Bray Wanderers	14

Player of the Month

Month	Player	Club
March	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers[22]
April	Christopher Forrester	St Patrick's Athletic[23]
May	Jason Byrne	Bray Wanderers[24]
June	Danny North	Sligo Rovers[25]
July	Chris Fagan	St Patrick's Athletic[26]
August	Mark Quigley	Sligo Rovers[27]
September	Jason McGuinness	Sligo Rovers[28]
October	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers[29]
November	Rory Patterson	Derry City[30]

See also

• 2012 League of Ireland First Division
• 2012 League of Ireland Cup

Notes

1. Figures include results from matches played against Monaghan United who withdrew midway through the season https://www.researchgate.net/figure/League-of-Ireland-Premier-Division-Attendance_tbl1_286919999
2. Figures include results from matches played against Monaghan United who withdrew midway through the season https://www.researchgate.net/figure/League-of-Ireland-Premier-Division-Attendance_tbl1_286919999