League of Ireland 1997/98

League of Ireland 1997/98
master	St Patrick's Athletic
Champions League qualification	St Patrick's Athletic
UEFA Cup qualification	Shelbourne FC
UI cup	Shamrock Rovers
Cup winners	Cork City
European Cup Winners' Cup	Cork City
Relegation ↓	University College Dublin AFC
Relegated	Kilkenny City Drogheda United
Teams	12
Games	198 + 2 relegation games
Gates	480  (ø 2.42 per game)
Top scorer	Stephen Geoghegan (Shelbourne FC, 17 goals)
← League of Ireland 1996/97 League of Ireland 1998/99 →
First Division ↓

The League of Ireland 1997/98 was the 77th season of the top Irish football league . It began on August 31, 1997 and ended on May 3, 1998. The defending champion was Derry City .

St Patrick's Athletic won the championship for the sixth time.

mode

The twelve teams each played against each other three times. Each team played 33 season games. The last two clubs were relegated directly to the First Division , the third from last had to go into relegation.

Closing table

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	St Patrick's Athletic	33	19th	11	3	046:240	+22	68
2.	Shelbourne FC (P)	33	20th	7th	6th	058:320	+26	67
3.	Cork City	33	14th	11	8th	050:380	+12	53
4th	Shamrock Rovers	33	14th	10	9	039:320	+7	52
5.	Bohemians Dublin	33	13	11	9	050:360	+14	50
6th	Dundalk FC	33	12	9	12	041:430	−2	45
7th	Sligo Rovers	33	10	14th	9	046:490	−3	44
8th.	Finn Harps	33	12	7th	14th	041:430	−2	43
9.	Derry City (M)	33	10	10	13	030:310	−1	40
10.	University College Dublin AFC	33	9	12	12	036:380	−2	39
11.	Kilkenny City (N)	33	4th	7th	22nd	027:630	−36	19th
12.	Drogheda United (N)	33	2	9	22nd	020:550	−35	15th

Placement criteria: 1st points - 2nd goal difference - 3rd goals scored

Irish champions and participation in the first qualifying round of the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League

Participation in the 1st qualifying round of the 1998/99 UEFA Cup

Irish cup winner and participation in the 1998/99 European Cup Winners' Cup

Participation in the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup

Participation in relegation to keep up

Relegation to the First Division

(M)	Reigning Irish Master
(P)	Reigning Irish Cup Winner
(N)	Newcomers from the First Division

Crosstab

First round (rounds 1–22)												1997/98	Second round (rounds 23-33)
												society
	0-0	3: 3	2-0	0-0	1-0	1: 2	1-0	0-0	1-0	1-0	2-0	St Patrick's Athletic		2: 3	-	-	0: 2	4: 2	-	-	1-0	1: 1	-	-
0: 2		1: 1	1: 1	0: 1	2-0	2-0	3: 2	1-0	3: 1	2: 1	1-0	Shelbourne FC	-		3: 1	2: 1	-	-	3-0	-	-	-	3-0	5-0
0: 1	4: 4		2: 1	1: 1	0-0	1: 1	3: 1	0: 1	1-0	1-0	1: 1	Cork City	1: 1	-		-	2-0	3-0	-	-	2-0	1: 2	-	-
0: 1	0: 2	1: 3		2: 1	1: 2	0-0	2: 1	1-0	2-0	1-0	0-0	Shamrock Rovers	0: 1	-	2: 2		-	5: 2	1: 1	2: 2	3-0	-	-	-
0-0	0: 1	4: 2	0: 1		2-0	1: 1	1-0	1-0	0-0	4: 3	1: 1	Bohemians Dublin	-	1-0	-	1: 1		-	-	4: 2	-	2-0	8: 1	2: 1
0-0	0: 1	1-0	0-0	2: 2		5-0	2-0	0: 1	1: 2	1-0	0: 2	Dundalk FC	-	2: 1	-	-	3: 3		-	2: 1	-	-	3-0	1: 1
1: 1	1: 1	0: 2	0: 1	2: 1	3-0		0: 2	1: 1	2: 1	2-0	2: 1	Sligo Rovers	3: 4	-	4: 1	-	2: 2	3: 3		2: 2	3-0	-	-	-
0: 2	0-0	1: 2	2: 1	3: 2	0: 1	1: 1		1-0	1-0	2: 1	1-0	Finn Harps	1: 2	3: 1	2: 1	-	-	-	-		-	1: 2	-	2-0
1: 1	1: 2	1: 1	0: 1	1-0	0-0	0-0	0-0		0: 3	1: 1	3-0	Derry City	-	2: 2	-	-	1-0	1: 2	-	1-0		1: 1	-	4: 1
1: 1	2: 1	0-0	0-0	2: 1	1: 1	1: 1	0-0	1: 2		1-0	1: 1	University College Dublin AFC	-	2: 3	-	0: 3	-	1: 3	5: 1	-	-		1: 2	3-0
0: 2	1: 3	0: 2	1: 1	1: 1	1: 2	0: 1	2: 2	0: 5	1: 1		2: 1	Kilkenny City	1: 2	-	1: 2	1: 2	-	-	2: 1	2: 3	1-0	-		-
1: 2	0: 1	1: 2	0: 1	0: 1	1-0	2: 4	0: 2	0: 1	0-0	0-0		Drogheda United	1: 3	-	1: 2	1: 3	-	-	1: 1	-	-	-	1: 1

Relegation

The tenth-placed University College Dublin AFC won the relegation against the third in the First Division, Limerick FC , and remained in the first division.

	total		First leg	Return leg
University College Dublin AFC	5: 2	Limerick FC	2: 1	3: 1

Web links

• Results and table eu-football.info
• Premier Division extratime.ie
• Table on rsssf.com , accessed May 16, 2013
• Top Scorers on rsssf.com , accessed May 16, 2013