The 2012 League of Ireland First Division season was the 28th season of the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

. The First Division was contested by 8 teams and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

won the title.

Teams

Overview

Due to the expansion of the Premier Division, coupled with the withdrawal of

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

during the off-season, the 2012 First Division consisted of just eight teams. Applications to join the Division from

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

and Tralee Dynamos, both of whom had played in the 2011 A Championship, were rejected. Each team played every other team four times, totalling twenty eight games.

Final table

Results

Matches 1–14

Matches 15–28

Promotion/relegation play-off

The second and third placed First Division teams,

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

and

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

, played off to decide who would play

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

, the eleventh placed team from the Premier Division. The winner of this play off would play in the 2013 Premier Division. ;First Division ''Waterford United win 3–1 on aggregate'' ;First Division v Premier Division ''Dundalk win 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier Division. Waterford United appealed the result of the playoff, claiming Michael Rafter was ineligible as Dundalk had incorrectly registered him when they signed him earlier that season. However the appeal was unsuccessful.''

Top scorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 League of Ireland First Division League of Ireland First Division seasons 2012 League of Ireland 2012 in Republic of Ireland association football leagues

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...