The 2022–23 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 122nd season of Irish League football overall, and the 10th season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League.
Larne were champions, winning the Irish League for the first time. They became the 13th different club to win the league since 1890, and the first addition to the list of title-winners since Coleraine in 1974.
Summary The 38-game season commenced on 12 August 2022 and concluded on 29 April 2023.
Linfield were the four-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous four seasons - the 2021–22 season seeing them win a world record 56th league crown.
Larne became the champions and entered the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, clinching their first league title on 14 April 2023 with a 2–0 win over Crusaders. The runners-up (Linfield), the Irish Cup winners (Crusaders), and the play-off winners (Glentoran) entered the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.
Teams
Twelve teams competed in this season's Premiership, eleven of which returned from the previous season. Warrenpoint Town finished bottom of the table the previous season, and were relegated to the NIFL Championship after five years as a Premiership club, with Championship winners Newry City promoted to replace them for this season's Premiership. 11th-placed Portadown retained their Premiership status after defeating Annagh United 4–2 on aggregate in the Premiership play-off.
Stadia and locations ClubStadiumLocationCapacity Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 3,824 (all seated) Carrick Rangers Loughshore Hotel Arena Carrickfergus 2,100 (380 seated) Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 3,054 (all seated) Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 4,843 (1,607 seated) Crusaders Seaview Belfast 3,208 (all seated) Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 2,000 (300 seated) Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 3,302 (all seated) Glentoran The Oval Belfast 6,054 (3,991 seated) Larne Inver Park Larne 2,732 (1,632 seated) Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 18,434 (all seated) Newry City The Showgrounds Newry 2,275 (1,080 seated) Portadown Shamrock Park Portadown 3,940 (2,765 seated)
League table
Results Matches 1–22 During matches 1–22 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).
Matches 23–33 During matches 23–33 each team plays every other team for the third time (either at home or away).
Matches 34–38 For the final five matches, the table splits into two halves, with the top six teams forming Section A and the bottom six teams forming Section B. Each team plays every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures are reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams have played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.
Section A
Section B
Play-offs UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs Four or five of the clubs that finish in 3rd–7th place compete for one place in the 2023–24 Europa Conference League first qualifying round. The play-offs are 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. 3rd v. 7th and 5th v. 6th) in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners also gains home advantage in the final.
Semi-finals
Final
NIFL Premiership play-off The eleventh-placed club (Dungannon Swifts) were expected to face the second-placed club from the 2022–23 NIFL Championship (Warrenpoint Town) for one place in the following season's Premiership. However, Warrenpoint Town were denied an NIFL Premiership license on 27 April 2023 and were unsuccessful in their appeal, resulting in the play-off being postponed. Eventually, the third-placed club from the NIFL Championship at the time (Annagh United) elected to take Warrenpoint Town's place in the play-off.
First leg
Second leg
Statistics Top goalscorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Matthew ShevlinColeraine232 Matthew FitzpatrickGlenavon193 Ronan HaleCliftonville185 Eetu VertainenLinfield17 Philip LowryCrusaders6 Lee BonisLarne157 Ryan CurranCliftonville148 Paul O'NeillLarne1310 Jay DonnellyGlentoran12 Joel CooperLinfield
Clean sheets RankGoalkeeperClubClean sheets1 Rohan FergusonLarne232 Chris JohnsLinfield213 Aaron McCareyGlentoran174 Jonathan TuffeyCrusaders146 Nathan GartsideCliftonville12 Gareth DeaneColeraine7 Ross GlendinningCarrick Rangers98 Sean O'NeillBallymena United89 Rory BrownGlenavon710 Martin GallagherColeraine6
Attendances # Football club Home games Average attendance 1 Glentoran 19 2,969 2 Linfield 19 2,959 3 Coleraine 19 2,748 4 Larne 19 1,988 5 Cliftonville 19 1,851 6 Crusaders 19 1,607 7 Ballymena United 19 1,258 8 Portadown 19 946 9 Glenavon 19 809 10 Newry City 19 748 11 Dungannon Swifts 19 682 12 Carrick Rangers 19 624
References
External links