2021 League of Ireland First Division

The 2021 League of Ireland First Division season was the 37th season of the League of Ireland First Division, the second tier of Ireland's association football league. The fixture list was released on 8 February 2021 and the competition commenced on 26 March 2021.^[1] Shelbourne were confirmed Champions and promoted to the League of Ireland Premier Division on 1 October 2021.^[2]

League of Ireland First Division

Season	2021
Dates	26 March 2021 – 29 October 2021
Champions	Shelbourne (2nd title)
Promoted	Shelbourne, UCD
Matches played	180
Goals scored	366 (2.03 per match)
Top goalscorer	Colm Whelan (18 league goals + 3 playoff goals)
Biggest home win	UCD 6-0 Galway United (13 August 2021)
Biggest away win	Wexford 0–6 UCD (30 April 2021)
Highest scoring	Wexford 4-4 Athlone (21 July 2021)
← 2020 2022 → All statistics correct as of 30 October 2021.

Overview

The First Division has 10 teams. Each team plays each other three times for a total of 27 matches in the season.

Teams

Athlone Town

Bray Wanderers

Cobh Ramblers

Cork City

Treaty United

Galway United

Wexford

Dublin

Dublin teams
Cabinteely
Shelbourne
UCD

Locations of the First Division teams

Cabinteely

UCD

Shelbourne

Locations of Dublin First Division teams

Team changes

Shelbourne and Cork City joined following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2020 season.^[3][4] Drogheda United and Longford Town departed following their promotion from the 2020 First Division.^[5][4]

Additional teams

On 10 November 2020 a newly formed Limerick based club Treaty United announced that they would apply for a 2021 League of Ireland licence. ^[6] Former Dublin based League of Ireland club St Francis FC and Wexford based Yola FC also both expressed interest in joining for 2021 by the deadline for expressions of interest which was 10 November 2020. An application was made by a brand new entity under the name Dublin County F.C. but did not ultimately materialise. ^[7] Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely F.C. merged at the end of the season, keeping the name Bray Wanderers.^[8]

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Athlone Town	Athlone	Athlone Town Stadium	5,000
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Carlisle Grounds	4,000
Cabinteely	Dublin (Cabinteely)	Stradbrook Road	1,620
Cobh Ramblers	Cobh	St. Colman's Park	3,000
Cork City	Cork	Turners Cross	7,845
Galway United	Galway	Eamonn Deacy Park	5,000
Shelbourne	Dublin (Drumcondra)	Tolka Park	3,700
Treaty United	Limerick	Markets Field	5,000
UCD	Dublin (Belfield)	UCD Bowl	3,000
Wexford	Crossabeg	Ferrycarrig Park	2,500

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Athlone Town	Paul Doolin	Kurtis Byrne	Nike	Hayden & Co. Solicitors
Bray Wanderers	Gary Cronin	Aaron Barry	Umbro	Matt Britton Carpets
Cabinteely	Pat Devlin	Daniel Blackbyrne	Nike	Edufit
Cobh Ramblers	Darren Murphy (interim)	John Kavanagh	Joma	Metropole Hotel
Cork City	Colin Healy	Gearoid Morrissey	Adidas	University College Cork
Galway United	John Caulfield	Conor McCormack	O'Neill's	Comer Property Management
Shelbourne	Ian Morris	Luke Byrne	Umbro	Hamptons Homes
Treaty United	Tommy Barrett	Jack Lynch	Umbro	UPMC
UCD	Andy Myler	Jack Keaney	O'Neill's	O'Neill's
Wexford	Ian Ryan	Karl Manahan	Bodibro	Wallace's Asti

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Wexford	Brian O'Sullivan	Mutual Consent	10 May 2021[9]	10th	Ian Ryan	15 May 2021[10]
Cobh Ramblers	Stuart Ashton	Sacked	22 July 2021[11]	9th	Darren Murphy (interim)	23 July 2021[12]
Athlone Town	Adrian Carberry	Sacked	17 August 2021[13]	6th	Paul Doolin	18 August 2021[14]
Shelbourne	Ian Morris	Mutual Consent	29 October 2021[15]	1st	Damien Duff	3 November 2021[16]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Shelbourne (C, P)	27	16	9	2	49	23	+26	57	Promotion to League of Ireland Premier Division
2	Galway United	27	15	6	6	39	25	+14	51	Qualification for Promotion play-offs
3	UCD (O, P)	27	13	7	7	55	38	+17	46
4	Treaty United	27	11	9	7	36	27	+9	42
5	Bray Wanderers	27	9	10	8	36	31	+5	37
6	Cork City	27	8	9	10	37	28	+9	33
7	Athlone Town	27	9	6	12	32	43	−11	33
8	Cobh Ramblers	27	8	4	15	25	46	−21	28
9	Cabinteely	27	8	1	18	26	47	−21	25
10	Wexford	27	6	3	18	29	56	−27	21

Source: sseairtricityleague, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

Matches 1–18

Teams play each other twice (once at home, once away).

Home \ Away	ATH	BRW	CAB	COB	COR	GAL	SHE	TRU	UCD	WEX
Athlone Town	—	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–2	3–1	1–3	1–4	2–3	3–0
Bray Wanderers	1–2	—	3–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–4	0–0	4–0	3–1
Cabinteely	0–1	0–3	—	1–0	1–0	0–3*	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–2
Cobh Ramblers	0–0	1–1	1–0	—	1–0	0–4	1–2	0–2	0–4	3–2
Cork City	0–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	—	1–1	1–3	2–3	1–1	5–0
Galway United	2–1	1–2	1–0	2–0	2–3	—	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–0
Shelbourne	1–0	3–3	1–0	2–2	2–1	4–0	—	2–2	3–1	1–0
Treaty United	1–0	2–0	1–4	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	—	2–1	1–0
UCD	2–2	0–0	4–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	0–0	3–2	—	2–1
Wexford	4–4	0–1	2–3	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–2	0–6	—

Updated to match(es) played on 7 August 2021. Source: SSE Airtricity League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

*Note Cabinteely v Galway Utd postponed on 9 April 2021 (Galway awarded a 3-0 victory by FAI^[17]).

Matches 19-27

Home \ Away	ATH	BRW	CAB	COB	COR	GAL	SHE	TRU	UCD	WEX
Athlone Town	—	—	2–1	1–2	—	1–0	—	—	—	0–2
Bray Wanderers	0–1	—	1–2	—	0–0	—	—	1–0	—	—
Cabinteely	—	—	—	1–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	0–2	—	—
Cobh Ramblers	—	1–2	—	—	—	0–1	2–0	—	0–2	—
Cork City	3–1	—	—	4–0	—	3–0	0–2	—	—	4–0
Galway United	—	1–0	—	—	—	—	3–1	0–0	4–1	2–1
Shelbourne	1–1	1–1	—	—	—	—	—	1–0	1–1	4–0
Treaty United	1–1	—	—	3–0	0–0	—	—	—	—	1–1
UCD	6–0	4–3	5–2	—	1–0	—	—	2–1	—	—
Wexford	—	4–2	2–1	3–1	—	—	—	—	2–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 29 October 2021. Source: SSE Airtricity League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Source: https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie

As of matches played 29 October 2021.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Colm Whelan	UCD	19
2	Ryan Brennan	Shelbourne	15
3	Liam Kerrigan	UCD	12
4	Cian Murphy	Cork City	11
5	Kyle Robinson	Wexford	9
	Ruairí Keating	Galway United

Play-offs

First Division play-off Semi-finals

First leg

Bray Wanderers v Galway United

3 November 2021	Bray Wanderers	0–0	Galway United	Carlisle Grounds
19:45 IST		Report

Treaty United v UCD

3 November 2021	Treaty United	0–3	UCD	Markets Field
19:45 IST		Report	Paul Doyle 34' Colm Whelan 79', 92'

Second leg

Galway United v Bray Wanderers

7 November 2021	Galway United	0–1 (0–1 agg.)	Bray Wanderers	Eamonn Deacy Park
17:00 IST		Report	Brandon Kavanagh 22'	Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan

UCD v Treaty United

7 November 2021	UCD	1–2 (4–2 agg.)	Treaty United	UCD Bowl
17:00 IST	Adam Verdon 67'	Report	Conor Melody 8' Anthony O’Donnell 52'	Referee: Alan Patchell

First Division play-off Final

Bray Wanderers v UCD

19 November 2021	Bray Wanderers	0–2	UCD	Dalymount Park
19:45 IST		Report	Colm Whelan 68' Paul Doyle 86'	Referee: Oliver Moran

Promotion/relegation play-off

Waterford v UCD

26 November 2021	Waterford	1–2	UCD	Richmond Park
19:45 IST	Anthony Wordsworth 5' Niall O'Keeffe  87'	Report	Dara Keane 26' Colm Whelan 34'	Referee: Paul McLaughlin

See also

• 2021 League of Ireland Premier Division
• 2021 FAI Cup