The Leinster Senior League is an association football league organised by the Leinster Football Association. The Leinster Senior League operates 22 divisions, 12 of which are played on Saturdays, with 10 divisions played on Sundays. It also organises 17 different cup competitions. Its Senior Division is on the third level of the Republic of Ireland football league system.
Leinster Senior League teams also compete in the Leinster Senior Cup, the FAI Cup, the FAI Intermediate Cup and the FAI Junior Cup. In recent seasons the winners of the Senior Division have also qualified to play in the League of Ireland Cup. The vast majority of its member clubs are based in the Greater Dublin Area.
History Foundation Within a few seasons of the Leinster Football Association having been formed in 1892, the Leinster Senior League was established. Ciarán Priestley highlights a printed notice in the 4 September 2010 edition of The Irish Times. Under the headline "Leinster Football League" there is a report of "a general meeting of the league... held the other evening at 27 D'Olier Street". Priestley also lists Bohemians, Britannia, Dublin University, Leinster Nomads, Phoenix and Montpelier as participants in the first season. The Leinster Senior League website states it was established in 1896. However other sources suggest the league started a little later and was first played for in 1897–98 and that an unidentified British Army regimental team were the inaugural winners while Shelbourne were runners up. Leinster Senior League Ciarán Priestley: The Bohemian Football Club: The Enduring Legacy of an Idle Youth
Modern era
Ahead of the 1988–89 season, the league was reorganised with Division 1 and Division 1A replaced by the new Senior Division and Division 1 respectively.
League pyramid The Leinster Senior Football League (LSL) has four intermediate divisions – Senior, Senior 1, 1A and 1B – with promotion and relegation between them. Below this, the LSL also runs junior ranks – played on a Sunday for a club's first team, as well as Saturday divisions for a club's a second team.
As of November 2024, there is no promotion or relegation system in place between the League of Ireland First Division (Level 2 of the national league system) and the intermediate provincial leagues (Level 3 of the system), which includes Leinster. However, Leinster junior clubs can achieve promotion up to the intermediate ranks via promotion from the highest junior league (Major Sunday) to the lowest intermediate league (Senior 1B).
Colour-coding key Intermediate (levels 3–6) Junior (levels 7–12)
Pyramid LevelLeague(s) / division(s)3Leinster Senior League Senior Division
14 clubs – 3 relegations4Leinster Senior League Senior 1
14 clubs – 3 promotions, 3 relegations 5Leinster Senior League 1A
14 clubs – 3 promotions, 3 relegations 6Leinster Senior League 1B
14 clubs – 3 promotions, 3 relegations 7Leinster Senior League Major Sunday
12 clubs – 3 promotions, 3 relegations 8Leinster Senior League Major 1 Sunday
10 clubs – 3 promotions, 2 relegations 9Leinster Senior League Premier Sunday
10 clubs – 2 promotions, 2 relegations 10–14Leinster Senior League Premier 1 Amateur Football League Athletic Union League Carlow & District Football League Combined Counties Football League Drogheda Summer League Dundalk Summer League Kildare & District Football League Kilkenny & District Soccer League Leinster Football League Development League Meath & District League United Churches Football League Wexford Football League Wicklow & District Football League
Senior divisions The senior divisions of the Leinster Senior League are played on Sundays.
Junior leagues
Cup competitions The Charlie Cahill Cup is contested by the top two divisions in the Leinster Senior League. The competition is named after the league’s former chairman, who stepped down in 2009 and was also president of the Leinster Football Association (LFA) and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) during his career as a legislator. The first Cahill Cup was held in the 1992–93 season and was won by Cherry Orchard.
The Noel Ryan Cup is contested by the top four teams from each of the league's four Intermediate divisions. Named after one of the founders of Crumlin United, the inaugural cup was held in 2010 and was won by Wayside Celtic.
The Metropolitan Cup is contested by teams in the Leinster Senior League, with the competition first held in 1906. In 1919–20, St James's Gate won the competition as part of the club's quadruple. Ashtown Villa won the competition in the 1992–93 season.
Representative team A Leinster Senior League representative team competes in the FAI Intermediate Interprovincial Tournament against teams representing the Ulster Senior League, the Munster Senior League and Connacht.
Notes
References
External links
Leinster Senior League official Twitter