1978–79 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1978–79
Champions	Linfield; 32nd Irish title
Matches played	132
Goals scored	410 (3.11 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tommy Armstrong (21)
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Distillery
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1975–79

1978–79 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of Belfast-based teams in the Irish League from 1975–79

The 1978–79 Irish League was the 78th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 12 teams, and Linfield won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Linfield (C)	22	14	6	2	46	21	+25	34	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Glenavon	22	11	6	5	42	30	+12	28	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Ards	22	11	5	6	47	34	+13	27
4	Glentoran	22	9	8	5	36	33	+3	26
5	Portadown	22	10	5	7	35	27	+8	25
6	Larne	22	10	4	8	42	35	+7	24
7	Cliftonville	22	7	7	8	31	29	+2	21	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
8	Coleraine	22	7	6	9	29	30	−1	20
9	Crusaders	22	6	8	8	30	33	−3	20
10	Bangor	22	5	8	9	28	40	−12	18
11	Ballymena United	22	4	6	12	25	46	−21	14
12	Distillery	22	2	3	17	19	52	−33	7

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	BLM	CLI	COL	CRU	DIS	GLV	GLT	LRN	LIN	POR
Ards		1–2	3–3	3–2	2–2	3–2	2–0	3–0	4–4	3–2	0–2	3–0
Bangor	2–5		0–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–6	0–0	1–3	0–2	1–3
Ballymena United	1–3	1–1		1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	5–1	1–3	1–2	1–0
Cliftonville	2–1	3–0	5–0		2–0	1–0	3–0	1–3	2–4	0–1	0–3	1–1
Coleraine	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1		5–0	0–1	4–3	0–0	0–3	0–0	3–0
Crusaders	1–0	2–2	4–0	2–2	1–0		5–2	1–0	0–2	2–2	1–4	1–2
Distillery	0–3	2–2	4–2	2–3	1–2	0–3		1–4	1–3	1–3	0–1	1–4
Glenavon	3–1	0–1	3–2	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–1		3–2	2–1	0–0	1–1
Glentoran	1–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–2	2–2	2–2		0–2	1–1	1–0
Larne	3–3	2–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1		3–4	3–5
Linfield	1–2	2–2	6–1	2–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–1		3–1
Portadown	0–0	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–0	5–1	2–0	3–1	2–3

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

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 1978–79 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	Irish League
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Gold Cup Ulster Cup County Antrim Shield
European competitions	European Cup UEFA Cup European Cup Winners' Cup
Related to national team	British Home Championship UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying (Group 1)

v t e 1978–79 in European football (UEFA)
« 1977–78 1979–80 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '78 '79 England Faroe Islands '78 '79 Finland '78 '79 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '78 '79 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '78 '79 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '78 '79 Spain Sweden '78 '79 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '78 '79 Finland '78 '79 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '78 '79 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '78 '79 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland Switzerland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '77–'78 '79–'80