Ireland – ranked 29th. Interesting season, but mostly in the still new Second Division. Over there the former First Division teams were stronger and the added 4 teams -weaker. Newcastle United changed name to Newcastlewest.
EMFA celebrated its 21st year of existence finishing 9th out of 10 teams – nothing to brag about unless one is Kilkenny native: the club was founded by schoolboys and still had the look. The fact they played in a professional league was more than success.
Up the table momentary strength was decisive – only Drogheda United challenged the leaders and to a point: they finished 3rd with 24 points.
Shelbourne (Dublin), however, was quite stronger and ended 2nd with 27 points, earning promotion.
Derry City had no rival and they were the team to talk about: they easily won the championship with 33 points from 16 wins, 1 tie, and single lost match, 45-14 goal-difference. The Second Division champions were expected to go much higher soon and play in the European tournaments. It was unusual team in every aspect: First of all, they were not from the Republic of Ireland, but from Northern Ireland – technically, a foreign club. 15 years ago they were expelled from Northern Irish football because of fan troubles. After staying idle for a long time, they managed to join the Republic of Ireland league two years ago, but then the system was reorganized and they found themselves in the newly introduced Second Division. And suddenly they became ambitious in a very unusual way: they recruited players from abroad. Occasional English or Scottish player was nothing new in Ireland, but bona fide foreigners were practically unheard of. Derry City had 3 Scotsmen, 1 Welshman, 1 English and 2 ‘real’ foreigners – probably there was never before an Irish team with so many foreign players. And they were no joke: Alan Sunderland was the most recognizable name, playing for Arsenal (London) for many years. The South African striker Owen da Gama, who spent years in Belgian first division. And then there was a third striker, a French, who played for Orleans before and caught the interest of Manchester City and Dundee United, but joined Derry City – Alex Krystic was the true jewel of the team: he scored 18 goals in the 18 championship games. According to Sunderland, he was was also fun guy to have in the dressing room. Derry City suddenly had formidable team – by Irish standards – and clearly had big plans for the near future. They introduced new reality, the way of the 1980s, to Irish football – it was no longer possible to depend on local talent or rather to the leftovers of local talent. With local boys… well, no success was possible. With foreigners Derry City was at least was becoming equal to the traditional leading Irish clubs. They broke a big barrier: Irish clubs looked only in their backyards for talent and that was no longer going to be.
First Division was less exciting: one team dominated the championship. The top league was smaller than before reorganization, but still divided: 4 teams much stronger than the rest, 6 more or less equal mid-table teams and 2 weak outsiders. Athlone Town finished last with 11 points and Home Farm – 11th with 13 points. They were relegated. Nothing significant all the way to the top:
Bray Wanderers was example of the so-so teams: they ended 8th with 17 points. Better goal-difference placed them ahead of Sligo Rovers and Limerick City.
Three teams fought for 2nd place and Dundalk clinched it with 30 points. Bohemians was 3rd with 29 points and Waterford United 4th with 28 points. And Waterford was 5 points ahead of 5th-placed St. Patrick’s Athletic. Yet, the battle for second position was just that – nothing to do with the title.
Shamrock Rovers was formidable – they lost only one match. Tied 3 and won the 18 remaining games. 51-16 goal-difference, 39 points. Dundalk finished with 9 points less. It was great supremacy and not only in the championship: in the Cup final they destroyed Dundalk 3-0.
A double, 4th consecutive title – no team achieved such run before, 4th consecutive Cup as well. Altogether – 14th title and 24th Cup. Nobody expected this year’s to be the last Rovers won the Cup, of course, but the mood among the fans was far from festive: the owners of the club announced that they were leaving their old stadium and going to share another one with amateur club Home Park, at the other side of the city. The reason was declining attendance, making it financially impossible to use the bigger stadium. Fans feared the owners were going to sell the old stadium and rebelled, promising never to cross town to watch Rovers. A boycott at the peak of the most successful period of the club! That was the other side of football reality in the 1980s, unfortunately: declining audience and rising expenses. Ticket sales no longer were able to finance a club, even a winning one. Stadiums were getting too old and decrepit and there was no way out: either leave it to completely fall apart, becoming more and more dangerous, or invest in massive repairs. There was no money for such repairs and on top of it – repair for what? Audiences were shrinking anyway. Better sell the venue… and fans never liked selling their ‘home’. The end result: Shamrock Rovers was going to be boycotted by its own fans when they were at the very peak as a team.