Wikipedia

2020–21 NIFL Premiership

The 2020–21 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 120th season of Irish League football overall, and the 8th season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League.

NIFL Premiership
Season2020–21
Dates16 Oct 2020 – 29 May 2021
ChampionsLinfield
7th Premiership title
55th Irish title
RelegatedN/A
UEFA Champions LeagueLinfield
UEFA Europa Conference LeagueColeraine
Glentoran
Larne (via play-offs)
Matches played228
Goals scored674 (2.96 per match)
Top goalscorerShayne Lavery (23 goals)
Biggest home winLinfield 7–0 Carrick Rangers
(13 March 2021)
Biggest away winCarrick Rangers 0–5 Glentoran
(5 March 2021)
Warrenpoint Town 0–5 Cliftonville
(3 April 2021)
Highest scoringCarrick Rangers 3–6 Glenavon
(25 May 2021)

Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 55th time and the 3rd consecutive season. The COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland meant that the start of the season was delayed by approximately two months.

Summary

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The 38-game season commenced on 16 October 2020 and concluded on 29 May 2021, with the European play-offs then taking place on 1 and 5 June 2021. The fixtures were released on 19 September 2020.[1]

Linfield were the two-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous two seasons - the curtailed 2019–20 season seeing them win a then world record-equalling 54th league title. This season Linfield won a third consecutive title, once again equalling the world record for the most top flight league titles in club football, drawing level with Rangers, who had just won their 55th Scottish title two months earlier. Linfield entered the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, while runners-up Coleraine and 3rd-placed Glentoran joined the European play-off winners, Larne, in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

There was no relegation from the Premiership this season, after a majority of NIFL Championship clubs voted to cancel their 2020–21 season, having not played any league fixtures since the 2019–20 season had initially been suspended in March 2020.[2] The second and third tiers had not been granted 'elite' sporting status by the IFA which was required in order to continue playing matches during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Teams

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Locations of the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership teams
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Locations of the Belfast-based 2020–21 NIFL Premiership teams

Twelve teams competed in the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership, eleven of which had retained their Premiership status from the previous season. Last season's bottom Premiership club, Institute, were relegated to the NIFL Championship after two seasons in the top flight, and were replaced by Portadown, who were promoted to this season's Premiership as 2019–20 NIFL Championship winners.[3] This marked Portadown's return to the top flight for the first time since the 2016–17 season.

The promotion/relegation play-off did not take place the previous season, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stadia and locations

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Club Stadium Location Capacity[4][5]
Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 3,600 (all seated)
Carrick Rangers Loughshore Hotel Arena Carrickfergus 2,500 (250 seated)
Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 2,530 (all seated)
Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 3,500 (1,106 seated)
Crusaders Seaview Belfast 3,383 (all seated)
Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 2,000 (300 seated)
Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 4,160 (3,200 seated)
Glentoran The Oval Belfast 6,054 (4,989 seated)
Larne Inver Park Larne 2,000 (1,250 seated)
Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 18,614 (all seated)
Portadown Shamrock Park Portadown 3,940 (2,765 seated)
Warrenpoint Town Milltown Warrenpoint 1,280 (150 seated)

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Linfield (C) 38 24 6 8 83 38 +45 78 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Coleraine 38 21 10 7 57 35 +22 73 Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[b]
3 Glentoran 38 20 11 7 65 32 +33 71
4 Larne (O) 38 18 10 10 64 41 +23 64 Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[c]
5 Cliftonville 38 17 9 12 59 42 +17 60
6 Crusaders 38 16 6 16 62 50 +12 54
7 Glenavon 38 17 11 10 72 65 +7 62[d] Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[c]
8 Ballymena United 38 18 7 13 67 44 +23 61[d]
9 Portadown 38 10 6 22 50 78 −28 36
10 Warrenpoint Town 38 9 9 20 38 74 −36 36
11 Carrick Rangers 38 5 8 25 35 92 −57 23
12 Dungannon Swifts 38 4 5 29 22 83 −61 17
Source: Northern Ireland Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots[6]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
  2. ^ Since 2020–21 Irish Cup winners Linfield qualified for the Champions League, the 3rd-placed team, Glentoran, also entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
  3. ^ a b Larne qualified for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as Europa Conference League play-off winners.
  4. ^ a b After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the results during matches 34–38.


Results

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Matches 34–38

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For the final five matches the table was then split into two halves, with teams ranked 1st–6th in Section A and teams ranked 7th–12th in Section B. During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures were reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams had played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.

Play-offs

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UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs

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The play-offs were one-off matches with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage against the lower-ranked teams (i.e. 4th v. 7th and 5th v. 6th) in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners also had home advantage in the final.

As Linfield won the 2020–21 Irish Cup and also qualified for the Champions League, the 3rd-placed team qualified for the Europa Conference League directly, vacating one of the play-off places. As a result, the remaining four clubs that finished in 4th–7th place competed for one place in the 2021–22 Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

The semi-finals were played on 1 June 2021, with the final played on 5 June 2021. Larne were the play-off winners, qualifying for European football for the first time in the club's history.

Semi-finals

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Semi-final
Larne (4th)2–1Glenavon (7th)
  • McDaid   8'
  • Donnelly   90+3'
 BBC Sport
  • Purkis   5'
Referee: Lee Tavinder
Semi-final
Cliftonville (5th)0–0 (a.e.t.)Crusaders (6th)
BBC Sport
Penalties
 5–4
Referee: Raymond Crangle

Final

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Final
Larne (4th)3–1Cliftonville (5th)
 BBC Sport

Statistics

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Top goalscorers

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Rank Scorer Club Goals[7]
1   Shayne Lavery Linfield 23
2   Shay McCartan Ballymena United 18
3   Jay Donnelly Glentoran 17
4   Ryan Curran Cliftonville 15
  Andrew Waterworth Linfield
6   Lee Bonis Portadown 14
  Ben Doherty Coleraine
  Michael McCrudden Cliftonville
9   Matthew Fitzpatrick Glenavon 13
  Daniel Purkis Glenavon

Clean Sheets

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Rank Goalkeeper Club Clean sheets[7]
1   Chris Johns Linfield 14
2   Gareth Deane Coleraine 10
  Conor Devlin Larne
4   Dayle Coleing Glentoran 8
5   Aaron McCarey Cliftonville 7
  Jordan Williamson Ballymena United
7   Rory Brown Glentoran 5
  Craig Hyland Glenavon
  Sean O'Neill Crusaders
10   Richard Brush Cliftonville 4

References

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  1. ^ "Irish Premiership: Linfield host Carrick Rangers on opening day as Irish League returns on 17 October". BBC. 19 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  2. ^ "NIFL Championship: 2020/2021 season declared null and void after clubs vote". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Irish Premiership: Linfield officially crowned 2019-20 league champions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. ^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  5. ^ "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  6. ^ "NIFL Premiership Rules 2020–21" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b "NIFL Premiership Statistics". Northern Ireland Football League. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
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