1997–98 Irish League

Irish League First Division
Champions	Newry Town
Promoted	Newry Town
Matches played	112
Goals scored	350 (3.13 per match)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Irish League Premier Division
Season	1997–98
Champions	Cliftonville; 3rd Irish title
Relegated	Ards
Matches played	180
Goals scored	469 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vinny Arkins (22)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 Irish League was the 97th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 10 teams, and Cliftonville won the championship.

Premier Division

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the 1997–98 Irish League Premier Division

1997–98 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 1997–98 Irish League Premier Division

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or Relegation
1	Cliftonville (C)	36	20	8	8	49	37	+12	68	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Linfield	36	17	13	6	50	19	+31	64	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Portadown	36	17	9	10	50	38	+12	60
4	Glentoran	36	17	8	11	52	34	+18	59	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
5	Ballymena United	36	14	9	13	55	55	0	51
6	Crusaders	36	13	12	11	51	51	0	51
7	Coleraine	36	11	10	15	41	48	−7	43
8	Glenavon	36	9	12	15	47	56	−9	39
9	Omagh Town	36	7	10	19	43	68	−25	31	Promotion/relegation play-off and Intertoto Cup first round
10	Ards (R)	36	4	11	21	31	63	−32	23	Relegation to the First Division

Source: Irish League Archive
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	ARD	BLM	CLI	COL	CRU	GLV	GLT	LIN	OMA	POR
Ards		0–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–2	0–1
Ballymena United	1–1		2–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	2–1	1–2
Cliftonville	1–0	0–2		1–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	0–3	1–0	1–0
Coleraine	2–1	0–0	0–2		0–0	1–2	1–5	0–0	1–1	0–1
Crusaders	1–0	3–4	0–2	1–3		3–2	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–3
Glenavon	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	2–0		1–0	2–3	2–2	1–5
Glentoran	2–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–1		0–3	1–0	1–1
Linfield	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–0		0–0	0–0
Omagh Town	2–1	3–0	0–1	1–3	1–1	2–1	0–5	0–3		0–2
Portadown	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	1–1

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away	ARD	BLM	CLI	COL	CRU	GLV	GLT	LIN	OMA	POR
Ards		2–1	2–3	1–0	1–1	3–4	1–1	1–5	2–2	1–1
Ballymena United	3–1		4–0	2–2	2–3	2–1	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–2
Cliftonville	2–2	5–2		3–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	4–0	3–1
Coleraine	2–2	0–1	5–1		4–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	4–3	2–0
Crusaders	4–0	4–2	2–2	3–0		4–1	0–3	1–2	2–2	2–1
Glenavon	1–2	3–3	0–0	4–0	2–2		1–0	2–4	2–4	3–0
Glentoran	3–0	2–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–0		1–1	2–0	2–1
Linfield	4–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	3–0		1–1	1–1
Omagh Town	2–4	3–2	0–1	1–3	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–0		1–2
Portadown	1–0	4–0	1–2	1–1	3–2	2–1	3–2	0–2	3–1

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division

Location of teams in the 1997–98 Irish League First Division

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or Promotion
1	Newry Town (C, P)	28	20	5	3	61	18	+43	65	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Bangor	28	18	4	6	51	26	+25	58	Qualification for the promotion/relegation play-off
3	Distillery	28	15	6	7	48	34	+14	51
4	Dungannon Swifts	28	14	6	8	63	49	+14	48
5	Ballyclare Comrades	28	13	3	12	47	45	+2	42
6	Larne	28	8	2	18	30	58	−28	26
7	Limavady United	28	5	3	20	29	61	−32	18
8	Carrick Rangers	28	3	3	22	21	59	−38	12

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Promotion/relegation play-off

Omagh Town, who finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Bangor, the 2nd-placed team in the First Division, in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's Irish League Premier Division.

27 April 1998

Bangor	0 – 5	Omagh Town

Clandeboye Park, Bangor

30 April 1998

Omagh Town	1 – 0	Bangor

St Julian's Road, Omagh

Omagh Town won 6–0 on aggregate

References

Northern Ireland - List of final tables (RSSSF)

v t e NIFL Premiership seasons
Irish League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03
Irish Premier League	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
IFA Premiership	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
NIFL Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Belfast & District League (wartime)	1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19
Northern Regional League (wartime)	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47

v t e 1997–98 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	Irish League Premier Division Irish League First Division
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Irish League Cup Gold Cup Floodlit Cup County Antrim Shield Irish News Cup
European competitions	UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Intertoto Cup
Related to national team	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 9)

v t e 1997–98 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '97 '98 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '97 '98 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzeg-Bosnia, Republika Srpska) Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '97 '98 Finland '97 '98 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '97 '98 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '97 '98 Latvia '97 '98 Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '97 '98 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia '97 '98 San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '97 '98 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '97 '98 Finland '97 '98 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '97 '98 Israel Italy Latvia '97 '98 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '97 '98 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
League cups	England Finland '97 '98 France Germany Iceland '97 '98 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, knockout stage, Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup