2013 League of Ireland First Division

League of Ireland First Division
Season	2013
Champions	Athlone Town
Matches played	112
Goals scored	308 (2.75 per match)
Top goalscorer	David O'Sullivan: 21 ; (Longford Town)
	← 2012 2014 →

The 2013 League of Ireland First Division season was the 29th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The First Division was contested by 8 teams and Athlone Town won the title.

Teams

Galway

Galway teams
Mervue United
Salthill Devon

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Locations of the First Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium
Athlone Town	Athlone	Athlone Town Stadium
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh	St. Colman's Park
Finn Harps	Ballybofey	Finn Park
Longford Town	Longford	City Calling Stadium
Mervue United	Galway	Fahy's Field
Salthill Devon	Salthill	Drom Soccer Park
Waterford United	Waterford	Waterford RSC
Wexford Youths	Wexford	Ferrycarrig Park

Overview

The 2013 First Division featured eight teams. Each team played every other team twice, totalling 28 games. ^[2]

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Athlone Town (C, P)	28	16	7	5	42	22	20	55	Promoted to Premier Division
2	Longford Town	28	15	5	8	55	34	21	50	Lost promotion/relegation play-offs
3	Mervue United^[a]	28	14	7	7	46	31	15	49	Lost promotion/relegation play-offs
4	Waterford United	28	14	5	9	40	24	16	47
5	Wexford Youths	28	10	3	15	29	47	−18	33
6	Finn Harps	28	8	7	13	31	42	−11	31
7	Cobh Ramblers^[b]	28	8	7	13	42	54	−12	31
8	Salthill Devon^[a]	28	4	5	19	23	54	−31	17	Withdrew from league.

Source: ^[2]^[3]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Mervue United and Salthill Devon withdrew from the league to make way for Galway F.C. after the FAI declared that Galway city and County Galway should be represented in the League of Ireland by a single club.
^ Cobh Ramblers replaced Monaghan United as members of the League of Ireland.

Results

Matches 1–14

Home \ Away	ATH	COB	FHA	LON	MER	SAL	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–3	0–1	4–0
Cobh Ramblers	1–1		2–2	3–4	5–3	1–2	3–0	5–0
Finn Harps	2–3	4–1		1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–0
Longford Town	2–1	5–1	2–3		1–1	2–1	2–1	3–1
Mervue United	2–2	1–0	2–2	1–2		2–1	2–1	4–1
Salthill Devon	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–5	0–0		1–2	1–2
Waterford United	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–4	3–2		0–1
Wexford Youths	0–2	3–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–0	2–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15–28

Home \ Away	ATH	COB	FHA	LON	MER	SAL	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		0–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–0
Cobh Ramblers	0–1		3–2	4–3	3–2	1–0	2–1	3–0
Finn Harps	3–2	2–2		0–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–0
Longford Town	0–1	7–2	3–1		1–3	4–0	2–1	2–1
Mervue United	2–4	2–0	4–0	1–0		2–1	1–0	0–0
Salthill Devon	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–1		1–4	3–2
Waterford United	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	5–0		4–0
Wexford Youths	0–2	3–1	3–1	0–0	1–4	2–1	0–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation play-off

The second and third placed First Division teams, Longford Town and Mervue United, played off to decide who would play Bray Wanderers, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division. The winner of this play off would play in the 2014 Premier Division. ^[2]

First Division

18 October 2013	Mervue United	1–0	Longford Town	Fahy's Field
19:45	Jason Molloy 14'	Report	Corie Treacy 26'	Attendance: 607 Referee: Keith Callanan

25 October 2013	Longford Town	3 – 2 (a.e.t.) (3–0 p)	Mervue United	City Calling Stadium
19:45	Daniel Purdy 29' David O'Sullivan 66', 102'	Report	Jason Molloy 7' Paul Sinnott 120 2' Ryan Manning 80'	Attendance: 999 Referee: Kevin O'Regan (Kerry)
	Penalties
	David O'Sullivan Derek O'Brien Ryan Connolly		Jason Molloy Stephen Walsh Barry O'Mahony

The play-off finished 3–3 on aggregate. Longford Town won 3–0 on penalties

First Division v Premier Division

28 October 2013	Bray Wanderers	2–2	Longford Town	Carlisle Grounds
19.45	Jason Byrne 8', 31'	Report	Dean Ebbe 61' David O'Sullivan 83'	Attendance: 900 (estimated) Referee: Graham Kelly

1 November 2013	Longford Town	2–3	Bray Wanderers	City Calling Stadium
19.45	Daniel Purdy 58', 79' Noel Haverty 90 2'	Report	Gary Dempsey 3' Kieran Waters 73' Kevin O'Connor 86' Shane O'Connor 90 2'	Attendance: unknown Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin)

Bray Wanderers win 5–4 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division.

Goal scorers

Top scorers

As of 21 October 2013.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	David O'Sullivan	Longford Town	21
2	Conor Meade	Waterford United	17
2	Philip Gorman	Athlone Town	17
4	Enda Curran	Athlone Town	12
5	Gary Shanahan	Mervue United	10

Source:^[1]^[4]

Hat-Tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
David O'Sullivan	Longford Town	SD Galway	5–0^[5]	8 March 2013
Enda Curran	Salthill Devon	Athlone Town	3–3^[6]	29 March 2013
Conor Meade	Cobh Ramblers	Mervue United	5–3^[7]	13 April 2013
Philip Gorman	Athlone Town	Mervue United	3–0^[8]	28 June 2013

Awards

Player of the Year

Winner	Club
Philip Gorman	Athlone Town

Team of the Year

No.	Pos.	Player	Club
1	1GK	Paul Skinner	Athlone Town
2	2DF	Gavin Kavanagh	Waterford United
3	2DF	Aidan Collins	Athlone Town
4	2DF	Noel Haverty	Longford Town
5	2DF	Tom King	Mervue United
6	3MF	Barry O'Mahony	Mervue United
7	3MF	Mark Hughes	Athlone Town
8	3MF	Graham Kelly	Athlone Town
9	3MF	Ryan Manning	Mervue United
10	4FW	Philip Gorman	Athlone Town
11	4FW	David O'Sullivan	Longford Town

References

^ ^a ^b "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ireland 2013". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
^ "Football's comin' home — compromise reached as Galway FC applies to league". www.advertiser.ie. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
^ "Airtricity League of Ireland First Division Top Scorers". www.extratime.ie. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
^ O'Flaherty, Deniese (9 March 2013). "Salthill Devon 0 – 5 Longford Town". Extratime. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
^ Pollard, Stephen (29 March 2013). "Athlone Town 3 – 3 Salthill Devon". extratime.ie. extratime.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
^ Flaherty, Terry (15 April 2013). "Cobh Ramblers 5 – 3 Mervue United". extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
^ "Athlone Town 3 – 0 Mervue United". extratime.ie. extratime.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2013.

[table_note_MER0.16324901309016-3] Mervue United and Salthill Devon withdrew from the league to make way for Galway F.C. after the FAI declared that Galway city and County Galway should be represented in the League of Ireland by a single club.

[table_note_COB0.16324901309016-4] Cobh Ramblers replaced Monaghan United as members of the League of Ireland.

[rsssftop-1] "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.

[rsssf2013-2] "Ireland 2013". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 August 2016.

[advertiser-5] "Football's comin' home — compromise reached as Galway FC applies to league". www.advertiser.ie. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

[extratime2013-6] "Airtricity League of Ireland First Division Top Scorers". www.extratime.ie. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.

[7] O'Flaherty, Deniese (9 March 2013). "Salthill Devon 0 – 5 Longford Town". Extratime. Retrieved 31 March 2013.

[8] Pollard, Stephen (29 March 2013). "Athlone Town 3 – 3 Salthill Devon". extratime.ie. extratime.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2013.

[9] Flaherty, Terry (15 April 2013). "Cobh Ramblers 5 – 3 Mervue United". extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 April 2013.

[10] "Athlone Town 3 – 0 Mervue United". extratime.ie. extratime.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2013.

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