2023–24 NIFL Premier Intermediate League

The 2023–24 NIFL Premier Intermediate League (known as the Playr-Fit Premier Intermediate League for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the NIFL Premier Intermediate League (the third tier of the Northern Ireland Football League - the national football league in Northern Ireland). The season began on 26 August 2023 and concluded on 27 April 2024.

NIFL Premier Intermediate League
Season2023–24
Dates26 Aug 2023 – 27 Apr 2024
ChampionsLimavady United
PromotedLimavady United
Armagh City
RelegatedPSNI
2024–25

The winners (Limavady United) were promoted to the 2024–25 NIFL Championship. The runners-up (Armagh City) were also promoted after winning the NIFL Championship play-off. The bottom-placed team (PSNI) were relegated to Level 4.

Teams

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The league consisted of fourteen teams; eleven teams remaining from the previous season, two teams promoted from Level 4, and one team relegated from the NIFL Championship. The two promoted teams were Coagh United (champions of the 2022–23 Ballymena & Provincial Football League) and Rathfriland Rangers (champions of the 2022–23 Northern Amateur Football League), increasing the number of teams by two. The relegated team was Warrenpoint Town, who were relegated from the 2022–23 NIFL Championship due to a licensing issue (replacing the promoted team of Bangor).

Club Stadium Location Capacity[1]
Armagh City Holm Park Armagh 2,000
Ballymacash Rangers The Bluebell Stadium Lisburn 1,280
Banbridge Town Crystal Park Banbridge 1,500
Coagh United Hagan Park Coagh 1,000 (150 seated)
Dollingstown Planter's Park Dollingstown 1,000
Limavady United The Showgrounds Limavady 1,500 (274 seated)
Lisburn Distillery New Grosvenor Stadium Ballyskeagh 7,000 (540 seated)
Moyola Park Mill Meadow Castledawson 1,000
Portstewart Mullaghacall Portstewart 1,000
PSNI The Dub Belfast 1,000 (330 seated)
Queen's University Upper Malone Belfast 1,000 (330 seated)
Rathfriland Rangers Iveagh Park Rathfriland
Tobermore United Fortwilliam Park Tobermore 2,000 (100 seated)
Warrenpoint Town Milltown Warrenpoint 1,450

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Limavady United (C, P) 26 18 4 4 71 31 +40 58 Promotion to NIFL Championship
2 Armagh City (O, P) 26 15 7 4 55 36 +19 52 Qualification for the NIFL Championship play-off
3 Ballymacash Rangers 26 15 4 7 58 36 +22 49
4 Rathfriland Rangers 26 14 4 8 47 26 +21 46
5 Queen's University 26 12 7 7 58 42 +16 43
6 Dollingstown 26 13 2 11 50 45 +5 41
7 Coagh United 26 10 6 10 40 36 +4 36
8 Banbridge Town 26 10 3 13 50 57 −7 33
9 Lisburn Distillery 26 9 4 13 31 45 −14 31
10 Warrenpoint Town 26 8 6 12 38 41 −3 30
11 Moyola Park 26 9 2 15 33 49 −16 29
12 Portstewart 26 7 4 15 27 46 −19 25
13 Tobermore United 26 7 4 15 28 56 −28 25
14 PSNI (R) 26 6 1 19 29 69 −40 19 Relegation to Level 4
Source: NIFL Premier Intermediate
Rules for classification: 1) Points per game; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots[2]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

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Each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away ARM BAL BAB COA DOL LIM LIS MOY POR PSN QUE RAT TOB WAR
Armagh City 3–2 0–3 3–1 1–0 2–1 3–2 1–1 2–1 4–0 2–3 1–0 4–3 3–0
Ballymacash Rangers 2–2 0–0 3–1 2–0 3–4 4–2 2–0 4–1 7–1 3–1 2–1 2–2 1–1
Banbridge Town 3–2 1–2 2–1 1–4 1–3 0–1 2–1 1–3 4–1 1–1 0–2 6–1 4–1
Coagh United 3–3 3–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–4 3–0 2–0 2–1 0–1 4–1 4–1
Dollingstown 1–2 1–2 3–2 2–2 1–7 2–0 1–3 3–2 2–1 5–1 0–1 1–0 3–1
Limavady United 2–1 2–1 9–1 1–0 1–3 3–2 3–2 3–0 4–1 4–1 0–3 6–0 2–0
Lisburn Distillery 0–0 1–3 3–2 1–1 3–1 0–3 5–1 1–0 2–1 0–4 0–2 2–1 3–1
Moyola Park 1–4 1–0 2–5 0–1 0–3 0–1 2–0 1–0 3–2 0–2 2–1 0–1 0–3
Portstewart 1–1 1–2 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 3–1 1–2 1–2 1–2 2–0
PSNI 1–3 1–4 1–4 0–1 1–4 0–2 3–0 3–2 3–1 1–1 0–2 0–3 2–0
Queen's University 2–2 3–0 6–1 2–1 2–4 3–3 1–1 2–2 2–0 1–2 1–4 5–0 1–0
Rathfriland Rangers 0–1 1–2 0–2 1–3 2–2 1–1 3–0[a] 3–0 6–0 3–0 1–5 0–0 3–0
Tobermore United 1–3 1–3 2–1 1–2 3–1 0–2 1–0 3–1 0–1 0–2 0–3 2–2 0–0
Warrenpoint Town 2–2 1–0 5–1 1–1 2–0 3–2 2–0 0–1 1–1 7–1 2–2 1–2 3–0
Source: NIFL Premier Intermediate
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
Notes:
  1. ^ Originally a 3–4 win for Lisburn Distillery; Rathfriland Rangers awarded a 3–0 win after Lisburn Distillery fielded an ineligible player.

NIFL Premier Intermediate League play-off

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The 2023–24 Ballymena & Provincial Football League champions (Strabane Athletic) faced the 2023–24 Mid-Ulster Football League champions (Oxford Sunnyside) in a two-legged play-off for the final place in the following season's NIFL Premier Intermediate League.

First leg

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28 May 2024 Oxford Sunnyside 1–1 Strabane Athletic Lurgan
20:00 Stadium: Knockramer Park

Second leg

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31 May 2024 Strabane Athletic1–2
(2–3 agg.)
Oxford Sunnyside Strabane
Stadium: Melvin Sports Complex

References

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  1. ^ "NIFL Premier Intermediate Venues 2021-2022". Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Rules and Regulations". NIFL. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
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