2025 League of Ireland Premier Division

League of Ireland Premier Division

Season	2025
Dates	14 February 2025 – 1 November 2025
Champions	Shamrock Rovers (22nd title)
Relegated	Cork City
Champions League	Shamrock Rovers
Europa League	Derry City
Conference League	Shelbourne Bohemians
Matches	180
Goals	437 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Pádraig Amond (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Derry City 7–2 Waterford (4 July 2025)
Biggest away win	Waterford 0–4 Sligo Rovers (18 April 2025)
Highest scoring	Derry City 7–2 Waterford (4 July 2025)
Longest winning run	5 matches Shamrock Rovers Shelbourne
Longest unbeaten run	11 matches Shamrock Rovers
Longest winless run	14 matches Cork City
Longest losing run	7 matches Waterford
Highest attendance	33,208 Bohemians 1–0 Shamrock Rovers (16 February 2025)
Lowest attendance	1,611 Cork City 1–2 Shelbourne (13 October 2025)
Total attendance	679,959
Average attendance	3,778
← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 League of Ireland Premier Division, known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, ^[1] was the 41st season of the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top Irish league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1985.

The competition began on 14 February 2025 and concluded on 1 November 2025. ^[2] As part of the opening weekend of fixtures, the derby between arch-rivals Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers took place at the Aviva Stadium, the national football stadium of the Republic of Ireland where a record Premier Division crowd of 33,208 was present. ^[3] The 2025 season became the first year that the league is entirely made up of full-time professional clubs and players. ^{[4] [5]}

On 27 January 2025, it was announced that Virgin Media Television (Ireland) would become the "sole and exclusive free to air broadcaster of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division" for the next four years, pledging to show one live game from each round of the division. ^[6] A new radio deal for broadcasting on Newstalk was announced just before the season started. ^[7]

Teams

The league consists of ten teams – the top nine teams from the previous season and one team promoted as champions from the First Division, Cork City. ^[8] They replaced Dundalk, who were relegated after 16 consecutive seasons in the top flight. ^[9]

Stadiums and locations

Cork City

Derry City

Drogheda United

Dublin

Galway United

Sligo Rovers

Waterford

Dublin teams
Bohemians
St Patrick's Athletic
Shamrock Rovers
Shelbourne

class=notpageimage|

Locations of Premier Division teams

Bohemians

St Patrick's Athletic

Shamrock Rovers

Shelbourne

class=notpageimage|

Locations of Dublin Premier Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Bohemians	Dublin (Phibsborough)	Dalymount Park	4,500
Cork City	Cork	Turners Cross	7,485
Derry City	Derry	Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium	6,242
Drogheda United	Drogheda	Sullivan and Lambe Park	3,500
Galway United	Galway	Eamonn Deacy Park	5,000
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin (Tallaght)	Tallaght Stadium	10,500
Shelbourne	Dublin (Drumcondra)	Tolka Park	5,750
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds	3,873
St Patrick's Athletic	Dublin (Inchicore)	Richmond Park	5,340
Waterford	Waterford	RSC	5,160

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bohemians	Alan Reynolds	Keith Buckley	O'Neills	Des Kelly Interiors
Cork City	Gerard Nash	Sean Maguire	Rebel Army	Zeus Packaging
Derry City	Tiernan Lynch	Mark Connolly	O'Neills	Diamond Corrugated
Drogheda United	Kevin Doherty	Ryan Brennan	Macron	NoFo Brew Co
Galway United	John Caulfield	Conor McCormack	O'Neills	Comer Property Management
Shamrock Rovers	Stephen Bradley	Roberto Lopes	Macron	MASCOT Workwear
Shelbourne	Joey O'Brien	Mark Coyle	O'Neills	Chadwicks
Sligo Rovers	John Russell	John Mahon	Umbro	Avant Money
St Patrick's Athletic	Stephen Kenny	Joe Redmond	Umbro	Manguard Plus
Waterford	Matt Lawlor (interim)	Pádraig Amond	Puma	DG Foods

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in the table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Derry City	Ruaidhrí Higgins	Mutual consent	15 November 2024 [10]	Pre-season	Tiernan Lynch	18 November 2024 [11]
Waterford	Keith Long	Sacked	19 April 2025 [12]	8th	Matt Lawlor (interim)	20 April 2025 [13]
	Matt Lawlor (interim)	End of interim spell	6 May 2025 [14]		John Coleman	3 May 2025 [14]
Cork City	Tim Clancy	Resigned	9 May 2025 [15]	9th	Liam Kearney & Greg Yelverton (interim)	14 May 2025 [16]
	Liam Kearney & Greg Yelverton (interim)	End of interim spell	15 May 2025 [17]		Gerard Nash	15 May 2025 [18]
Shelbourne	Damien Duff	Resigned	22 June 2025 [19]	6th	Joey O'Brien [note 1]	22 June 2025 [19] [20]
Waterford	John Coleman	Sacked	28 September 2025 [21]	9th	Matt Lawlor (interim)	28 September 2025 [22]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shamrock Rovers (C)	36	19	9	8	56	33	+23	66	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Derry City	36	18	9	9	52	39	+13	63	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round [a]
3	Shelbourne	36	15	14	7	48	37	+11	59	Qualification for Conference League second qualifying round
4	Bohemians	36	16	6	14	48	39	+9	54	Qualification for Conference League first qualifying round
5	St Patrick's Athletic	36	13	13	10	42	32	+10	52
6	Drogheda United	36	12	15	9	38	38	0	51
7	Sligo Rovers	36	11	8	17	42	54	−12	41
8	Galway United	36	9	12	15	37	44	−7	39
9	Waterford (O)	36	11	6	19	41	60	−19	39	Qualification for promotion/relegation play-off
10	Cork City (R)	36	4	12	20	33	61	−28	24	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway ^[23]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored. ^[23]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Shamrock Rovers won the 2025 FAI Cup, meaning the Europa League berth went to the second place team Derry City. The two Conference League berths went to the third and fourth place teams, Shelbourne and Bohemians respectively.

Results

Teams play each other four times (twice at home and twice away).

Home \ Away	BOH	DER	DRO	COR	GAL	SHM	SHE	SLI	STP	WAT
Bohemians		1–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	4–2	2–1	1–2
	3–4	0–1	3–0	3–0	2–0	2–3	1–1	0–0	2–1
Derry City	1–0		1–3	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–2
1–1		0–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	7–2
Drogheda United	1–0	1–1		3–2	1–1	1–2	2–2	3–0	0–0	2–0
1–4	1–1		1–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	0–0
Cork City	2–1	1–2	1–1		2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1
0–2	0–1	1–1		1–0	1–1	1–2	2–3	3–0	2–0
Galway United	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–1		0–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0
2–0	1–2	1–1	2–1		0–0	1–1	0–1	3–1	2–4
Shamrock Rovers	2–3	0–0	3–0	4–1	0–0		2–2	2–0	1–0	2–0
2–1	2–0	2–1	4–1	1–0		0–1	1–2	4–0	1–0
Shelbourne	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–1		3–2	2–1	0–1
2–2	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–2		3–1	0–0	2–1
Sligo Rovers	0–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–2		0–1	2–3
0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	0–2		1–0	1–0
St Patrick's Athletic	3–0	2–0	0–0	3–2	2–0	2–2	0–0	4–3		2–2
0–0	0–1	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–0		1–1
Waterford	0–3	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–3	0–1	0–4	1–2
2–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	1–2	0–2

Source: , Extratime.ie
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Promotion/relegation play-offs

The ninth-placed team (Waterford F.C.) from the 2025 League of Ireland Premier Division qualified for a play-off alongside the second, third, fourth, and fifth-placed teams from the 2025 League of Ireland First Division (Cobh Ramblers, Bray Wanderers, UCD, and Treaty United).

The First Division teams contest the semi-finals and final. The semi-finals will be held over two legs, with the second-placed team facing the fifth-placed team and the third-placed team facing the fourth-placed team. The semi-final winners then contest the First Division final, with the winners ultimately facing the ninth-placed League of Ireland Premier Division team for the final place in the 2026 League of Ireland Premier Division.

Bracket

	Semi-finals							Final					Promotion/relegation play-off
	4	UCD	0	2	2
													PD9	Waterford	2
	3	Bray Wanderers	1	3	4
								3	Bray Wanderers	1			FD3	Bray Wanderers	1
								5	Treaty United	0
	5	Treaty United (a.e.t.)	1	1	2
	2	Cobh Ramblers	0	1	1

Semi-finals

UCD v Bray Wanderers

24 October 2025	UCD	0–1	Bray Wanderers	Belfield
19:45		Report	Doyle 90+4'	Stadium: UCD Bowl Attendance: 927 Referee: Lucas Keating

Bray Wanderers v UCD

28 October 2025	Bray Wanderers	3–2	UCD	Bray
19:45	Cantwell 3' Curtis 61' Ferizaj 90+3'	Report	McManus 26' Behan 90+5'	Stadium: Carlisle Grounds Attendance: 2,030 Referee: Daniel Murphy

Bray Wanderers won 4–2 on aggregate

---

Treaty United v Cobh Ramblers

24 October 2025	Treaty United	1–0	Cobh Ramblers	Limerick
19:45	Hanson 77'	Report		Stadium: Markets Field Attendance: 1,849 Referee: Oliver Moran

Cobh Ramblers v Treaty United

28 October 2025	Cobh Ramblers	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Treaty United	Cobh
19:45	Whelan 90+4'	Report	Martin 105'	Stadium: St. Colman's Park Attendance: 1,636 Referee: Mark Houlihan

Treaty United won 2–1 on aggregate

Final

Bray Wanderers v Treaty United

2 November 2025	Bray Wanderers	1–0	Treaty United	Athlone
15:00	Ferizaj 90'	Report		Stadium: Athlone Town Stadium

Promotion/relegation play-off

Bray Wanderers v Waterford

7 November 2025	Bray Wanderers	1–2	Waterford	Drumcondra
19:45	Knight 8' Warren  90+3'	Report	Noonan 30' Glenfield 74' Bakboord  90+3'	Stadium: Tolka Park Attendance: 3,648 Referee: Kevin O'Sullivan

Positions by round

To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 7, but then played between rounds 8 and 9, it will be added to the standings for round 8.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Shamrock Rovers	9	9	9	10	8	6	6	5	3	3	3	4	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Derry City	10	6	8	9	10	7	7	6	6	6	6	7	5	3	2	2	3	6	6	4	4	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	2	2	2	2	2
Shelbourne	1	1	1	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	4	5	6	7	6	6	6	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	4	4	6	6	3	3	3	3
Bohemians	3	5	7	7	6	9	9	7	7	7	7	6	7	5	4	3	4	3	2	3	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	3	4	4	5	4
St Patrick's Athletic	5	8	6	4	4	2	1	2	2	2	2	3	1	4	5	4	5	4	4	5	6	6	6	6	7	6	6	5	4	4	4	5	6	5	4	5
Drogheda United	5	2	3	2	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	3	5	2	2	3	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	5	4	5	6	6	6
Sligo Rovers	8	10	10	8	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	7	7	7	8	8	7
Galway United	4	3	4	5	4	3	2	3	4	5	5	2	4	6	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	8	9	7	7	8
Waterford	2	4	2	1	2	5	5	8	8	8	9	8	8	8	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	8	9	8	9	9	9
Cork City	4	7	5	6	7	8	8	9	9	10	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

	Leader and qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification for Conference League second qualifying round
	Qualification for Conference League first qualifying round
	Qualification for promotion/relegation play-off
	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: leagueofireland.ie, Extratime.ie

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals [24]
1	Pádraig Amond	Waterford	14
2	Mason Melia	St Patrick's Athletic	13
3	Michael Duffy	Derry City	12
	Owen Elding	Sligo Rovers
5	Moses Dyer	Galway United	10
6	Rory Gaffney	Shamrock Rovers	9
	Tommy Lonergan	Waterford
	Harry Wood	Shelbourne
9	Liam Boyce	Derry City	8
	Graham Burke	Shamrock Rovers
	James Clarke	Bohemians
	Mipo Odubeko	Shelbourne

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Colm Whelan	Bohemians	Waterford	3–0 (A)	7 March 2025	[25]
John Martin	Shelbourne	Sligo Rovers	3–2 (H)	23 May 2025	[26]
Liam Boyce	Derry City	Waterford	7–2 (H)	4 July 2025	[27]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Joseph Anang	St Patrick's Athletic	18
2	Luke Dennison	Drogheda United	14
3	Brian Maher	Derry City	12
4	Kacper Chorążka	Bohemians	11
5	Edward McGinty	Shamrock Rovers	10
6	Sam Sargeant	Sligo Rovers	7
7	Stephen McMullan	Waterford	5
8	Conor Kearns	Shelbourne	4
	Wessel Speel	Shelbourne
10	Conor Brann	Cork City	3
	Evan Watts	Galway United

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 15
  • Adam O'Reilly (Derry City)

• Most red cards: 1
  • 32 players (Various)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 114
  • Derry City

• Most red cards: 7
  • Derry City

See also

• 2025 League of Ireland First Division
• 2025 League of Ireland Women's Premier Division
• 2025 FAI Cup

Notes

1. O'Brien was initially named as interim head coach, before being appointed on a permanent basis on 3 July 2025.

References

1. "2025 League of Ireland fixtures released". League of Ireland. 15 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
2. "Date agreed for release of 2025 League of Ireland fixtures". Irish Mirror. 20 November 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
3. "Bohemians to meet Shamrock Rovers at Aviva Stadium in league opener". leagueofireland.ie. 27 November 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
4. Doyle, Garry (6 January 2025). "League of Ireland set to break new frontier in 2025". Irish Mirror.
5. "Bragging rights for Bohemians on historic day for the League of Ireland". RTE Sport. 16 February 2025. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
6. "Virgin Media Television secures exclusive rights for SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division". 27 January 2025.
7. "Off The Ball secures national radio deal with League of Ireland for Newstalk". RadioToday. 10 February 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
8. "Cork City secure First Division title with win over UCD". Irish Examiner. 6 September 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
9. "Dundalk relegated as Derry City maintain title push with St Pat's test to come". Irish Independent. 18 October 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
10. "Club Announcement". Derry City . 15 November 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
11. "Welcome Tiernan Lynch". Derry City . 18 November 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
12. "Club Statement: Keith Long". Waterford . 19 April 2025. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
13. FC, Waterford (20 April 2025). "Lawlor Appointed Interim Head Coach". Waterford FC. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
14. FC, Waterford (3 May 2025). "Welcome to Waterford FC, John Coleman!". Waterford FC. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
15. "Club Statement: Tim Clancy". Cork City FC Shop. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
16. Horgan, Andrew (14 May 2025). "Liam Kearney: It is important City's new manager is based in Cork". Irish Examiner.
17. Howey, Aaron (15 May 2025). "Gerard Nash Becomes Cork City FC Manager". Cork City .
18. Fallon, John (15 May 2025). "Cork City appoint 38-year-old Ger Nash as new boss". Irish Examiner.
19. Cleary, Darren (22 June 2025). "Club Statement | Damien Duff resigns". Shelbourne . Retrieved 22 June 2025.
20. Cleary, Darren (3 July 2025). "Shelbourne FC is delighted to announce the appointment of Joey O'Brien as Head Coach". Shelbourne . Retrieved 4 July 2025.
21. FC, Waterford (28 September 2025). "Club Statement - John Coleman".
22. https://waterfordfc.ie/2025/09/28/matt-lawlor-named-interim-head-coach/
23. "PREMIER DIVISION". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
24. "2025 League of Ireland Premier Division Tables & Results & Stats | extratime.com - The Home of Irish Football - Extratime.com". www.extratime.com. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
25. Flanagan, Adrian (7 March 2025). "Colm Whelan hat-trick downs high-flying Waterford as Bohemians bounce back". RTÉ . Retrieved 14 June 2025.
26. Geraghty, Darryl (23 May 2025). "John Martin hat-trick propels Shels to badly needed win over Sligo Rovers". RTÉ . Retrieved 1 June 2025.
27. "Liam Boyce bags hat-trick as Derry City in seventh heaven against Waterford". Irish Independent. 4 July 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.