1896–97 Irish League

The 1896–97 Irish League was the 7th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Irish football.

Irish League

Season	1896–97
Champions	Glentoran 2nd Irish title
Matches played	30
Goals scored	125 (4.17 per match)
Top goalscorer	Johnny Darling Richard Peden (6 goals each)
← 1895–96 1897–98 →

The league comprised 6 teams, and Glentoran won the championship.

Belfast

Belfast teams Celtic
Cliftonville
Distillery
Glentoran
Linfield
North Staffordshire Regiment

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Location of teams in the 1896-97 Irish League

Cliftonville

Distillery

Glentoran

Linfield

No home ground
Celtic
North Staffordshire Regiment

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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 1896-97 Irish League

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Result
1	Glentoran (C)	10	8	1	1	24	10	2.400	17	Champions
2	Cliftonville	10	4	3	3	22	20	1.100	11
3	Linfield	10	4	3	3	34	24	1.417	11
4	Distillery	10	3	3	4	17	23	0.739	9
5	North Staffordshire Regiment	10	2	4	4	17	23	0.739	8
6	Celtic	10	1	2	7	11	25	0.440	4

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Play-off

NOTE: Cliftonville beat Linfield 2-1 in a play-off for second place

Results

Home \ Away	CEL	CLI	DIS	GLT	LIN	NSR
Celtic		1–3	2–1	1–3	2–4	1–1
Cliftonville	3–1		2–3	1–3	1–1	2–2
Distillery	2–0	2–2		2–0	0–6	1–1
Glentoran	2–0	3–2	2–1		1–0	2–1
Linfield	3–3	3–4	7–4	2–2		7–1
North Staffordshire	3–0	1–2	1–1	0–6	6–1

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

References

• Northern Ireland - List of final tables (RSSSF)