2008 A Championship

Between March and June the twelve League of Ireland Premier Division reserve teams competed in the A Championship Shield. Mervue United, Salthill Devon and Tullamore Town did not play in the Shield as they were still playing in their previous junior/intermediate leagues which operated as winter leagues. This resulted in an overlap with the A Championship which operated as a summer league. The twelve teams were divided into four regionalised groups with the group winners then qualifying for the semi-finals.^[1][2]

Group Stage

Semi-finals

Final

Cork City A v Bohemians A

2 June 2008	Cork City A	2–0	Bohemians A	Buckley Park[3][4][2]
	Tierney Meyler (pen)

The regular season saw the twelve League of Ireland Premier Division reserve teams joined by Limerick 37 A plus the first teams of Mervue United, Salthill Devon and Tullamore Town. The format saw the sixteen teams split into two groups of eight, divided roughly into southern and northern groups. The two groups used a traditional round-robin format. The two group winners, UCD A and Bohemians A, then played off in a final. UCD won the inaugural title. As the highest placed non-reserve team, Mervue United qualified for a promotion/relegation play-off and after defeating Kildare County, they were promoted to the League of Ireland First Division.^[5][6][7]

Group 1

Teams

More information Team, Base ...

Team	Base	Manager	Stadium
Bohemians A	Phibsborough		AUL Complex
Derry City A	Derry		Brandywell Stadium
Drogheda United A	Drogheda		United Park
Finn Harps A	Ballybofey		Finn Park
Mervue United	Galway	Johnny Glynn	Fahy's Field
Salthill Devon	Salthill	Emlyn Long	Drom Soccer Park
Shamrock Rovers A	Drumcondra		Tolka Park
Sligo Rovers A	Sligo		Showgrounds

Close

Final table

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Bohemians A	14	11	2	1	34	12	+22	32[a]	A Championship play-off final
2	Finn Harps A	14	9	1	4	24	12	+12	28
3	Mervue United (P)	14	6	2	6	24	24	0	20	Promoted to First Division after play-off
4	Drogheda United A	14	5	5	4	23	23	0	17[a]
5	Shamrock Rovers A	14	4	4	6	23	22	+1	16
6	Sligo Rovers A	14	4	3	7	24	23	+1	15
7	Derry City A	14	4	1	9	16	34	−18	13
8	Salthill Devon	14	3	2	9	13	31	−18	11

Close

Source: www.rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(P) Promoted
Notes:

1. [a]

   Bohemians A and Drogheda United A were both deducted 3 points for fielding ineligible players.

Results

More information Home \ Away, BOH ...

Home \ Away	BOH	DER	DRO	FHA	MER	SAL	SHA	SLI
Bohemians A		1–0	3–2	4–1	4–0	2–0	3–1	3–1
Derry City A	1–1		1–3	1–1	1–3	4–0	0–0	3–0
Drogheda United A	1–1	1–0		0–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	5–1
Finn Harps A	1–3	0–1	4–0		3–1	1–0	1–0	2–0
Mervue United	1–2	5–4	1–1	0–3		1–2	4–0	2–0
Salthill Devon	0–3	3–1	0–1	0–1	0–4		2–2	3–1
Shamrock Rovers A	2–0	4–3	4–4	2–0	0–1	6–0		2–2
Sligo Rovers A	1–4	1–4	3–1	0–4	3–0	2–1	1–0

Close

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

Group 2

Teams

More information Team, Base ...

Team	Base	Manager	Stadium
Bray Wanderers A	Bray		Jackson Park
Cobh Ramblers A	Cobh		St Colman's Park
Cork City A	Cork		Turner's Cross
Galway United A	Galway		Athenry
Limerick 37 A	Limerick		Jackman Park
St Patrick's Athletic A	Inchicore		Richmond Park
Tullamore Town	Tullamore	Keith Colsh	Leah Victoria Park
UCD A	Belfield		UCD Bowl

Close

Final table

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	UCD A	14	10	3	1	52	8	+44	33	A Championship play-off final
2	Cork City A	14	7	3	4	22	13	+9	24
3	Galway United A	14	6	4	4	20	14	+6	22
4	Bray Wanderers A	14	6	3	5	31	20	+11	21
5	St Patrick's Athletic A	14	5	4	5	16	16	0	19
6	Cobh Ramblers A	14	6	2	6	24	25	−1	17[a]
7	Limerick 37 A	14	4	2	8	17	33	−16	14
8	Tullamore Town	14	1	1	12	7	60	−53	4

Close

Source: www.rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

1. [a]

   Cobh Ramblers A were deducted 3 points for fielding an ineligible player.

Results

More information Home \ Away, BRW ...

Home \ Away	BRW	COB	COR	GAL	L37	StP	TUL	UCD
Bray Wanderers A		3–4	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–0	9–0	1–5
Cobh Ramblers A	2–0		0–3[a]	1–2	6–0	1–1	3–0	0–3[b]
Cork City A	1–0	2–1		0–2	3–1	0–0	8–1	0–5
Galway United A	3–0[c]	2–2	0–0		1–0	2–0	4–0	1–1
Limerick 37 A	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0		1–1	3–1	4–3
St Patrick's Athletic A	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–4		3–0	0–2
Tullamore Town	1–5	1–2	0–4	2–1	1–1	0–4		0–8
UCD A	1–1	5–0	0–0	3–0	9–0	2–1	5–0

Close

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

1. [a]

   The match was awarded 3-0 to Cork City A after Cobh Ramblers A forfeited the game.
2. [b]

   The match was awarded 3-0 to UCD A after Cobh Ramblers A forfeited the game.
3. [c]

   The match was awarded 3-0 to Galway United A after Bray Wanderers A forfeited the game.

• 2008 League of Ireland Premier Division
• 2008 League of Ireland First Division
• 2008 League of Ireland Cup