# 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. Shelbourne were confirmed Champions and promoted to the League of Ireland Premier Division on 1 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
### Team changes

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

### 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. 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. Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely F.C. merged at the end of the season, keeping the name Bray Wanderers.

### 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 | 10th | Ian Ryan | 15 May 2021 |
| Cobh Ramblers | Stuart Ashton | Sacked | 22 July 2021 | 9th | Darren Murphy (interim) | 23 July 2021 |
| Athlone Town | Adrian Carberry | Sacked | 17 August 2021 | 6th | Paul Doolin | 18 August 2021 |
| Shelbourne | Ian Morris | Mutual Consent | 29 October 2021 | 1st | Damien Duff | 3 November 2021 |

## 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 | Qualification for Promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Treaty United | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 36 | 27 | +9 | 42 | Qualification for Promotion play-offs |
| 5 | Bray Wanderers | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 31 | +5 | 37 | Qualification for Promotion play-offs |
| 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 | |

## 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 | — |
*Note Cabinteely v Galway Utd postponed on 9 April 2021 (Galway awarded a 3-0 victory by FAI).

### 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 | — |

## 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 |
| 5 | Ruairí Keating | Galway United | 9 |