2011 League of Ireland Premier Division

The 2011 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 27th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The league was also known as the Airtricity League for sponsorship reasons. The division featured 10 teams. Shamrock Rovers were champions while Sligo Rovers finished as runners-up.

Bray Wanderers

Derry City

Drogheda United

Dublin

Dundalk

Galway United

Sligo Rovers

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
St Patrick's Athletic
UCD

2011 League of Ireland Premier Division teams

Bohemians

St Patrick's Athletic

Shamrock Rovers

UCD

Locations of Dublin Premier Division teams

League of Ireland Premier Division

Season	2011
Champions	Shamrock Rovers (17th title)
Relegated	Galway United
UEFA Champions League	Shamrock Rovers
UEFA Europa League	Sligo Rovers St. Patrick's Athletic Bohemians
Setanta Cup	Shamrock Rovers Bohemians Sligo Rovers St. Patrick's Athletic Derry City Bray Wanderers
Matches played	180
Goals scored	503 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Éamon Zayed: 22 (Derry City) [1]
Biggest home win	Derry City 7–0 UCD
Biggest away win	Galway United 0–8 Sligo Rovers
Highest scoring	UCD 5–4 Drogheda United
Longest winning run	Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers (5 games each)[2]
Longest unbeaten run	Derry City (18 games)[2]
Longest winless run	Galway United (32 games)[2]
Longest losing run	Galway United (22 games)[2]
← 2010 2012 →

Teams

Team	Location	Stadium
Bohemians	Phibsborough	Dalymount Park
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Carlisle Grounds
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell Stadium
Drogheda United	Drogheda	United Park
Dundalk	Dundalk	Oriel Park
Galway United	Galway	Terryland Park
Shamrock Rovers	Tallaght	Tallaght Stadium
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds
St Patrick's Athletic	Inchicore	Richmond Park
UCD	Belfield	UCD Bowl

Overview

The Premier Division consists of ten teams. Each team played every other team four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 36 matches. The league began on 4 March^[3] and ended on 29 October. Defending champions Shamrock Rovers retained the league title with victory over UCD on 25 October 2011.^[4][5]

Final table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shamrock Rovers (C)	36	23	8	5	69	24	+45	77	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Sligo Rovers	36	22	7	7	73	19	+54	73	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[a]
3	Derry City	36	18	14	4	63	23	+40	68	Banned from 2012–13 European competitions[b]
4	St Patrick's Athletic	36	17	12	7	62	35	+27	63	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
5	Bohemians	36	17	9	10	39	27	+12	60
6	Bray Wanderers	36	15	6	15	53	50	+3	51
7	Dundalk	36	11	11	14	50	53	−3	44
8	UCD	36	10	4	22	42	80	−38	34
9	Drogheda United	36	7	4	25	32	77	−45	25
10	Galway United[c]	36	1	3	32	20	115	−95	6	Qualification for relegation play-off

Source: ^[6][7][8][9]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Sligo Rovers qualified for the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round after winning the 2011 FAI Cup Final.
2. Derry City were banned from European competitions for three seasons after going into liquidation.
3. Galway United were originally relegated but subsequently withdrew from the league.

Results

Matches 1–18

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	DER	DRO	DUN	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–0
Bray Wanderers	1–3	—	1–2	2–1	1–5	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–1
Derry City	3–0	1–1	—	2–0	2–0	6–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	7–0
Drogheda United	0–1	0–1	2–2	—	1–2	1–1	0–4	0–3	1–4	0–1
Dundalk	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	—	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	3–1
Galway United	0–2	0–3	1–4	1–2	0–3	—	0–1	0–1	0–3	0–0
Shamrock Rovers	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–0	3–1	4–0	—	1–0	2–0	3–1
Sligo Rovers	1–2	3–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	0–1	—	2–0	4–0
St Patrick's Athletic	0–0	2–3	1–1	3–0	3–2	5–2	0–0	2–1	—	1–1
UCD	0–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	1–6	2–1	1–3	—

Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

Home \ Away	BOH	BRW	DER	DRO	DUN	GAL	SHM	SLI	StP	UCD
Bohemians	—	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	2–0
Bray Wanderers	1–2	—	1–2	1–2	1–0	4–0	1–2	0–3	0–3	4–0
Derry City	0–0	1–1	—	2–2	0–0	4–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1
Drogheda United	0–2	1–4	0–3	—	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–3	4–3	3–1
Dundalk	1–3	2–2	0–2	1–0	—	6–1	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–0
Galway United	0–3	0–6	0–3	1–2	2–2	—	2–3	0–8	0–2	3–4
Shamrock Rovers	1–1	5–2	1–0	4–0	2–2	4–0	—	1–2	1–0	6–0
Sligo Rovers	1–2	3–0	1–1	2–0	5–0	7–1	2–0	—	0–0	4–2
St Patrick's Athletic	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–2	6–1	1–1	1–0	—	2–2
UCD	2–0	1–2	2–2	5–4	3–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	2–1	—

Source: www.rsssf.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Awards

Top goalscorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Éamon Zayed	Derry City[1]	22
2	Eoin Doyle	Sligo Rovers	20
3	Danny North	St. Patrick's Athletic	15
	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers	15
5	Mark Quigley	Dundalk	13

Source:^[7]

PFAI Players' Player of the Year

Winner	Club
Éamon Zayed	Derry City[10]

PFAI Young Player of the Year

Winner	Club
Enda Stevens	Shamrock Rovers[10]

PFAI Team of the Year

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Gerard Doherty			Derry City
2	2DF	Patrick Sullivan			Shamrock Rovers
3	2DF	Stewart Greacen			Derry City
4	2DF	Craig Sives			Shamrock Rovers
5	2DF	Enda Stevens			Shamrock Rovers
6	3MF	Stephen Bradley			St Patrick's Athletic
7	3MF	Daryl Kavanagh			St Patrick's Athletic
8	3MF	Richie Ryan			Sligo Rovers
9	3MF	Mark Quigley			Dundalk
10	4FW	Éamon Zayed			Derry City
11	4FW	Eoin Doyle			Sligo Rovers

Player of the Month

Month	Player	Club
March	Mark Quigley	Dundalk
April	Gary Dempsey	Bray Wanderers
May	Eoin Doyle	Sligo Rovers
June	Danny North	St. Patrick's Athletic
July	Conor McCormack	Shamrock Rovers
August	Patrick Sullivan	Shamrock Rovers
September	Joseph Ndo	Sligo Rovers
October	Karl Sheppard	Shamrock Rovers
November	Stephen Paisley[note 1]	Shelbourne

Notes

1. Stephen Paisley was playing in First Division.

Promotion/relegation play-off

Galway United, the tenth-placed team in the 2011 Premier Division, and Monaghan United, the third-placed team from the 2011 First Division, played off to see who would play in the 2012 Premier Division. The playoff was contested in a two-legged format.^[11]

Monaghan United v Galway United

1 November 2011	Monaghan United	2–0	Galway United	Kingspan Century Park
19.45 GMT	Isichei 13' S. Brennan 87'

Galway United v Monaghan United

4 November 2011	Galway United	1–3	Monaghan United	Terryland Park
19.45 GMT	Murphy 82'		26', 33' O'Brien 51' R. Brennan

Monaghan United won 5–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the Premier Division. Galway United were relegated to the First Division.

See also

• 2011 Dundalk F.C. season
• 2011 Shamrock Rovers F.C. season
• 2011 League of Ireland First Division
• 2011 A Championship
• 2011 League of Ireland Cup