2001–02 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2001–02 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 17th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 12 teams. Shelbourne were crowned champions for the tenth time.

League of Ireland Premier Division

Season	2001–02
Champions	Shelbourne FC (10th title)
Relegated	Dundalk Galway United Monaghan United
UEFA Champions League	Shelbourne FC
UEFA Cup	Shamrock Rovers Dundalk
UEFA Intertoto Cup	St Patrick's Athletic
Top goalscorer	Glen Crowe: 21 (Bohemians) [1][2]
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

Regular season

The season saw each team playing three rounds of games, playing every other team three times, totalling 33 games. The 2002–03 season would see the League of Ireland Premier Division reduced from 12 to 10 teams. As a result, three teams were automatically relegated. ^[2][3] The season is best remembered for the controversy involving allegations of St Patrick's Athletic fielding ineligible players. St. Pat's originally had 9 points deducted for fielding Paul Marney in the first three games of the season. This was later revoked after arbitration. However Shelbourne appealed against this decision which was taken to the High Court where the appeal was rejected. It was then discovered by the Shelbourne chief executive, Ollie Byrne, that Charles Livingstone Mbabazi had not been registered by St. Pat's for the first five games of the season and so the club had 15 points deducted, three points for each game. The decision of the FAI appeal board to dismiss St. Pat's appeal in the Livingstone case saw Shelbourne confirmed as league champions.^[2][4]

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shelbourne (C)	33	19	6	8	50	28	+22	63	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	Shamrock Rovers	33	17	6	10	54	32	+22	57	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
3	St Patrick's Athletic[a]	33	20	8	5	59	29	+30	53	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
4	Bohemians	33	14	10	9	57	32	+25	52
5	Derry City	33	14	9	10	42	30	+12	51
6	Cork City	33	14	7	12	48	39	+9	49
7	UCD	33	12	12	9	40	39	+1	48
8	Bray Wanderers	33	12	10	11	54	45	+9	46
9	Longford Town (O)	33	10	10	13	41	51	−10	40	Qualification to Relegation play-off
10	Dundalk (R)	33	9	12	12	37	46	−9	39	UEFA Cup qualifying and relegation to First Division[b]
11	Galway United (R)	33	5	4	24	28	73	−45	19	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division
12	Monaghan United (R)	33	2	6	25	19	85	−66	12

Source: www.rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. St Patrick's Athletic had 15 points deducted for fielding an ineligible player.
2. Dundalk qualified for the UEFA Cup qualifying round after winning the 2001–02 FAI Cup.

Results

Matches 1–22

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DUN	GAL	LON	MON	SHM	SHE	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	2–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	4–6	0–2	6–0
Bray Wanderers	0–0	—	2–2	0–0	5–1	2–0	5–1	5–0	1–1	0–3	0–2	1–1
Cork City	0–1	2–2	—	1–0	0–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–2
Derry City	1–0	3–1	1–0	—	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–1
Dundalk	1–1	0–3	1–3	1–0	—	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–1
Galway United	1–5	0–2	0–3	0–1	0–1	—	1–1	8–0	0–2	0–1	0–4	1–0
Longford Town	2–0	3–2	4–1	1–0	2–2	1–2	—	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–3	1–3
Monaghan United	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	—	2–3	0–1	0–4	1–4
Shamrock Rovers	1–0	4–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	4–0	—	3–0	0–0	0–1
Shelbourne	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	4–0	3–0	2–0	3–1	2–0	—	1–1	0–1
St Patrick's Athletic	1–1	2–0	1–3	1–0	2–0	3–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	3–2	—	1–2
UCD	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–3	0–0	0–0	—

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

Matches 23–33

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	COR	DER	DUN	GAL	LON	MON	SHM	SHE	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	—	—	1–0	—	—	1–0	3–0	1–1	4–0	—	3–0
Bray Wanderers	2–2	—	0–2	—	1–2	—	4–1	—	2–1	0–0	—	—
Cork City	0–3	—	—	—	0–0	—	—	5–1	0–2	0–1	—	—
Derry City	—	1–2	1–0	—	—	—	—	6–1	3–0	—	—	1–1
Dundalk	3–1	—	—	4–2	—	1–1	—	—	—	1–2	0–1	1–1
Galway United	1–5	3–5	1–2	2–3	—	—	0–2	—	—	—	—	—
Longford Town	—	—	0–0	1–0	1–3	—	—	2–0	1–5	—	1–1	—
Monaghan United	—	0–3	—	—	0–3	1–2	—	—	—	1–0	—	0–3
Shamrock Rovers	—	—	—	—	4–1	3–0	—	3–2	—	0–2	—	3–1
Shelbourne	—	—	—	1–1	—	2–0	3–0	—	—	—	2–1	—
St Patrick's Athletic	2–0	2–1	3–2	3–0	—	3–1	—	2–1	1–0	—	—	—
UCD	—	0–0	1–1	—	—	3–1	1–2	—	—	2–3	0–0	—

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

Promotion/relegation play-off

Longford Town who finished in ninth place played off against Finn Harps, the third placed team from the 2001–02 League of Ireland First Division.

1st leg

Longford Town v Finn Harps

20 May 2002

Longford Town

1–0

Finn Harps

2nd leg

Finn Harps v Longford Town

23 May 2002

Finn Harps

3–2

Longford Town

Longford Town win 6-5 on penalties after extra time and retain their place in the Premier Division. ^[2][5]

Cork City

Longford Town

Bray Wanderers

Derry City

Dublin

Dundalk

Galway United

Monaghan United

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
Shelbourne
St Patrick's Athletic
UCD

Locations of the Premier Division teams

See also

• 2001–02 Shelbourne F.C. season
• 2001–02 League of Ireland First Division