1995–96 Irish League

The 1995–96 Irish League was the 95th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 8 teams, and Portadown won the championship.

Irish League Premier Division

Season	1995–96
Champions	Portadown 3rd Irish title
Relegated	Bangor
Matches played	112
Goals scored	325 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Haylock (19)
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

A restructuring during the 1995 pre-season also saw a First Division added below the Premier Division, with regular promotion and relegation between the two leagues being established from this season onwards.

Premier Division

Belfast

Ards

Bangor

Glenavon

Portadown

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the 1995–96 Irish League Premier Division

Cliftonville

Crusaders

Glentoran

Linfield

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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 1995–96 Irish League Premier Division

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or Relegation
1	Portadown (C)	28	16	8	4	61	41	+20	56	Qualification for the UEFA Cup preliminary round
2	Crusaders	28	15	7	6	45	32	+13	52	Qualification for the UEFA Cup preliminary round
3	Glentoran	28	13	7	8	56	38	+18	46	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
4	Glenavon	28	13	5	10	47	32	+15	44
5	Linfield	28	11	8	9	35	36	−1	41
6	Cliftonville	28	6	11	11	28	49	−21	29	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup group stage
7	Ards	28	6	7	15	29	43	−14	25
8	Bangor (R)	28	3	5	20	24	54	−30	14	Relegation to the First Division

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Matches 1–14

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	CLI	CRU	GLV	GLT	LIN	POR
Ards		3–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–4	2–3	1–1
Bangor	2–1		3–2	1–2	0–1	1–6	1–2	1–3
Cliftonville	0–0	2–1		1–4	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–3
Crusaders	1–2	2–0	1–0		1–2	2–1	3–0	3–1
Glenavon	3–0	1–0	1–2	4–0		2–3	0–3	0–1
Glentoran	3–2	1–1	1–1	3–1	0–2		0–3	1–1
Linfield	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–4		1–0
Portadown	3–1	4–2	6–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–2

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15–28

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	CLI	CRU	GLV	GLT	LIN	POR
Ards		2–1	2–2	0–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	0–2
Bangor	0–1		2–3	0–2	1–2	1–1	0–2	0–0
Cliftonville	1–0	1–1		2–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–4
Crusaders	2–0	1–0	1–1		1–0	1–3	4–2	3–3
Glenavon	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–1		1–3	2–2	7–0
Glentoran	3–1	3–0	2–1	2–2	1–2		3–0	3–3
Linfield	0–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	2–1	2–0		0–1
Portadown	1–3	4–3	4–1	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–1

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division

Irish League First Division

Season	1995–96
Champions	Coleraine
Promoted	Coleraine
Matches played	112
Goals scored	327 (2.92 per match)
1996–97 →

Ballyclare Comrades

Ballymena United

Carrick

Coleraine

Distillery

Larne

Newry Town

Omagh Town

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Location of teams in the 1995–96 Irish League First Division

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or Promotion
1	Coleraine (C, P)	28	21	4	3	81	27	+54	67	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Ballymena United	28	13	10	5	38	25	+13	49
3	Omagh Town	28	12	7	9	49	42	+7	43
4	Distillery	28	10	7	11	35	34	+1	37
5	Ballyclare Comrades	28	10	3	15	29	48	−19	33
6	Carrick Rangers	28	9	3	16	32	56	−24	30
7	Larne	28	7	7	14	31	36	−5	28
8	Newry Town	28	7	5	16	31	58	−27	26

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

References

• Northern Ireland - List of final tables (RSSSF)