1995–96 League of Ireland Premier Division

League of Ireland Premier Division
Season	1995–96
Champions	St Patrick's Athletic (5th title)
Relegated	Athlone Town; Drogheda United; Galway United
UEFA Cup	St Patrick's Athletic; Bohemians
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Shelbourne
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Sligo Rovers
Top goalscorer	Stephen Geoghegan: 19 (Shelbourne)
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1995–96 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 11th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 12 teams. St Patrick's Athletic F.C. won the title.

Regular season

This season saw each team playing three rounds of games, playing every other team three times, totalling 33 games.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	St Patrick's Athletic (C)	33	19	10	4	53	34	+19	67	Qualification to UEFA Cup preliminary round
2	Bohemians	33	18	8	7	60	29	+31	62	Qualification to UEFA Cup preliminary round
3	Sligo Rovers	33	16	7	10	45	38	+7	55	Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage
4	Shelbourne	33	15	9	9	45	33	+12	54	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round^[a]
5	Shamrock Rovers	33	14	8	11	32	32	0	50
6	Derry City	33	11	13	9	50	38	+12	46
7	Dundalk	33	11	9	13	38	39	−1	42
8	UCD	33	12	6	15	38	40	−2	42
9	Cork City^[b]	33	12	8	13	37	41	−4	41
10	Athlone Town (R)	33	8	7	18	38	59	−21	31	Qualification to Relegation play-off
11	Drogheda United (R)	33	7	9	17	39	51	−12	30	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division
12	Galway United (R)	33	5	6	22	26	67	−41	21	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: www.rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Shelbourne qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round after winning the 1995–96 FAI Cup final.
^ Cork City F.C. were docked 3 points for fielding an ineligible player. The club went into liquidation in January 1996 but were saved from extinction after moving from Bishopstown Stadium to Turners Cross.

Home \ Away	ATH	BOH	COR	DER	DRO	DUN	GAL	SHM	SHE	SLI	StP	UCD
Athlone Town	—	2–5	2–4	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0
Bohemians	3–1	—	1–1	1–0	6–0	3–2	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–0
Cork City	2–0	1–0	—	0–1	1–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1
Derry City	5–3	1–1	2–0	—	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–2	5–1	3–1
Drogheda United	0–1	2–5	2–2	2–2	—	3–2	3–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–3	0–1
Dundalk	2–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–2	—	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	3–2	2–0
Galway United	2–2	1–5	3–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	—	1–1	1–1	2–3	0–1	1–1
Shamrock Rovers	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2
Shelbourne	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	—	1–0	1–1	1–1
Sligo Rovers	4–2	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–0	3–3	3–2	0–1	0–0	—	0–0	2–0
St Patrick's Athletic	3–2	3–3	2–1	3–3	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	—	2–1
UCD	3–0	3–1	0–1	2–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	0–3	2–1	0–2	—

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

Home \ Away	ATH	BOH	COR	DER	DRO	DUN	GAL	SHM	SHE	SLI	StP	UCD
Athlone Town	—	0–3	—	—	—	0–0	1–0	—	4–3	—	2–2	—
Bohemians	—	—	1–0	1–1	—	—	—	1–0	—	1–2	0–0	3–1
Cork City	0–2	—	—	—	2–1	—	3–0	—	2–1	—	0–0	—
Derry City	1–1	—	2–1	—	1–1	0–1	—	—	—	4–0	—	1–1
Drogheda United	0–1	0–1	—	—	—	2–1	6–1	—	1–3	0–1	—	—
Dundalk	—	2–4	0–1	—	—	—	—	0–0	—	0–1	1–2	—
Galway United	—	0–2	—	0–3	—	2–1	—	0–2	1–3	—	—	0–2
Shamrock Rovers	2–1	—	2–0	2–1	1–0	—	—	—	—	—	—	2–0
Shelbourne	—	1–0	—	1–0	—	0–1	—	1–2	—	2–1	—	—
Sligo Rovers	2–1	—	4–1	—	—	—	0–2	3–1	—	—	1–1	—
St Patrick's Athletic	—	—	—	1–1	3–2	—	3–0	2–2	3–0	—	—	2–0
UCD	1–2	—	2–1	—	4–1	0–0	—	—	3–2	3–1	—	—

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

Athlone Town who finished in tenth place played off against Home Farm Everton, the third placed team from the 1995–96 League of Ireland First Division.

Home Farm Everton

2–0

Athlone Town

Athlone Town

2–0

Home Farm Everton

Home Farm Everton won 4–3 on penalties and were promoted to the Premier Division. ^[2]^[5]

^ "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c Graham, Alex. Football in the Republic of Ireland a Statistical Record 1921–2005. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-86223-135-4.
^ "(Republic of) Ireland League Tables". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^ "Ireland 1995/96". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
^ "(Republic of) Ireland League Tables - Second Level". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2016.