# 1971–72 League of Ireland

Below are the statistics of League of Ireland in the 1971/1972 season.

## Overview

It was contested by 14 teams, and Waterford won the championship.

## Final classification

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Waterford (C) | 26 | 21 | 2 | 3 | 66 | 35 | +31 | 44 | Qualification to European Cup first round |
| 2 | Cork Hibernians | 26 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 70 | 17 | +53 | 40 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 3 | Bohemians | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 37 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Finn Harps | 26 | 18 | 0 | 8 | 62 | 34 | +28 | 36 | |
| 5 | Shamrock Rovers | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 28 | |
| 6 | St Patrick's Athletic | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 33 | 36 | −3 | 25 | |
| 7 | Dundalk | 26 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 39 | 46 | −7 | 25 | |
| 8 | Cork Celtic | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 23 | |
| 9 | Shelbourne | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 22 | |
| 10 | Athlone Town | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 21 | |
| 11 | Drogheda | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 30 | 42 | −12 | 18 | |
| 12 | Drumcondra | 26 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 24 | 52 | −28 | 16 | |
| 13 | Limerick | 26 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 29 | 53 | −24 | 15 | |
| 14 | Sligo Rovers | 26 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 34 | 71 | −37 | 14 | |
* 1 2 The points for the Athlone Town 1-0 Shelbourne match were awarded to Shelbourne.
* ↑ Drumcondra were taken over by, and merged into, Home Farm and changed their club name to Home Farm Drumcondra for next season.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ATH | BOH | CCF | CHF | DRO | DRU | DUN | FHA | LIM | SHM | SHE | SLI | StP | WAT |
| Athlone Town | — | 1–2 | 4–4 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–4 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Bohemians | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Cork Celtic | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 |
| Cork Hibernians | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | — | 8–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 6–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 |
| Drogheda United | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | — | 5–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Drumcondra | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| Dundalk | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | 3–2 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Finn Harps | 7–0 | 3–1 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | — | 2–1 | 5–3 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Limerick | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | — | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | — | 2–1 | 6–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Shelbourne | 3–5 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 5–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Sligo Rovers | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–4 | 2–1 | 0–4 | — | 1–2 | 4–7 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | — | 1–3 |
| Waterford | 3–2 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 7–2 | 3–2 | — |
* ↑ The points from the match between Athlone Town and Shelbourne FC (1–0) were awarded to Shelbourne.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Alfie Hale | Waterford | 22 |
| 1 | Tony Marsden | Cork Hibernians | 22 |
| 3 | Brendan Bradley | Finn Harps | 18 |
| 4 | Terry Harkin | Finn Harps | 17 |
| 5 | Miah Dennehy | Hibernians | 15 |
| 5 | Turlough O'Connor | Dundalk | 15 |
| 7 | Carl Davenport | Cork Celtic | 11 |
| 7 | Dave Kirby | Waterford | 11 |
| 7 | Johnny Matthews | Waterford | 11 |
| 7 | Gerry Mitchell | Sligo Rovers | 11 |
| 7 | Jackie Mooney | Bohemians | 11 |
| 7 | Frank O'Neill | Shamrock Rovers | 11 |