1985–86 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1985–86
Champions	Linfield; 38th Irish title
Matches played	182
Goals scored	503 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Trevor Anderson (14)
	← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1983–1990

1985–86 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of Belfast-based teams in the Irish League from 1983–1990

The 1985–86 Irish League was the 85th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 14 teams, and Linfield won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Linfield (C)	26	20	3	3	59	16	+43	43	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Coleraine	26	16	3	7	51	31	+20	35	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Ards	26	12	7	7	37	19	+18	31
4	Glentoran	26	14	3	9	42	26	+16	31	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
5	Crusaders	26	13	5	8	42	34	+8	31
6	Larne	26	10	8	8	49	34	+15	28
7	Ballymena United	26	10	7	9	43	30	+13	27
8	Cliftonville	26	8	9	9	31	34	−3	25
9	Distillery	26	9	6	11	30	49	−19	24
10	Portadown	26	10	3	13	22	32	−10	23
11	Glenavon	26	5	11	10	26	36	−10	21
12	Bangor	26	6	6	14	31	45	−14	18
13	Newry Town	26	6	5	15	28	59	−31	17
14	Carrick Rangers	26	2	6	18	12	58	−46	10

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	BLM	CRK	CLI	COL	CRU	DIS	GLV	GLT	LRN	LIN	NEW	POR
Ards		2–1	1–0	4–1	4–0	1–0	1–3	4–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	3–0
Bangor	1–1		0–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–3	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–1
Ballymena United	1–0	2–1		7–1	4–2	1–2	0–0	3–1	3–3	0–1	0–2	1–1	3–1	0–1
Carrick Rangers	0–3	1–1	0–4		0–1	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–4	0–2	2–2	0–4	3–1	0–1
Cliftonville	0–0	4–3	1–0	0–0		2–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	0–1	4–0	0–0
Coleraine	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	3–1		4–3	0–3	2–2	1–5	7–1	0–2	4–1	4–0
Crusaders	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	2–1		4–1	1–1	4–2	2–2	1–3	3–0	2–1
Distillery	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1		4–2	0–1	0–6	0–4	2–1	0–3
Glenavon	0–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–2		1–0	1–1	0–3	2–2	2–0
Glentoran	2–1	1–4	2–0	2–0	3–2	0–2	1–0	1–2	0–1		1–0	2–3	4–0	1–0
Larne	2–1	5–0	0–0	5–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	0–1	3–0	0–0		1–1	3–0	1–2
Linfield	0–2	2–1	5–1	5–0	2–0	0–1	3–0	5–0	1–0	2–1	3–1		2–1	2–0
Newry Town	0–0	5–1	1–6	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–2	3–2	2–0	0–5	2–6	1–3		1–0
Portadown	2–0	1–4	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–1

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 1985–86 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	1986 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 3)

v t e 1985–86 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '85 '86 England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '85 '86 Spain Sweden '85 '86 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union Spain
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup