2011 League of Ireland

League of Ireland

Season	2011
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 League of Ireland, also known as Airtricity League for sponsorship reasons, was the 91st season of the League of Ireland, the highest football league of the Republic of Ireland. It was contested in a two-division format, consisting of the Premier Division and the First Division. The league began on 4 March and ended on 29 October 2011.^[1][2] Defending champions Shamrock Rovers retained the league title with victory over UCD on 25 October 2011.^[3][4][5][6]

Premier Division

Premier Division

Champions	Shamrock Rovers 17th title
Relegated	Galway United
Champions League	Shamrock Rovers
Europa League	Sligo Rovers St. Patrick's Athletic Bohemians
Matches played	180
Goals scored	503 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Éamon Zayed Derry City 22 goals
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)[7]
Longest unbeaten run	Derry City (18 games)[7]
Longest winless run	Galway United (32 games)[7]
Longest losing run	Galway United (22 games)[7]

The Premier Division consists of ten teams. Each team plays every other team four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 36 matches.

Teams

Drogheda United as last-placed team of the 2010 season were originally to be directly relegated to 2011's First Division. However, they were spared from relegation after Sporting Fingal withdrew their licence application for the 2011 season on 10 February 2011^[8] and subsequently folded one day later.^[9]

2010 First Division champions Derry City were promoted.

Galway United and Bray Wanderers retained their spots in the higher of the two League of Ireland divisions in the 2010 relegation/promotion playoffs.

Bray

Derry

Drogheda

Dublin

Dundalk

Galway

Sligo

Dublin teams
Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers
St Patrick's Athletic
UCD

Locations of Premier Division teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Bohemians	Dublin	Dalymount Park	4,300
Bray Wanderers	Bray	Carlisle Grounds	3,250
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell	3,000
Drogheda United	Drogheda	Hunky Dorys Park	2,000
Dundalk	Dundalk	Oriel Park	6,000
Galway United	Galway	Terryland Park	5,000
Shamrock Rovers	Dublin	Tallaght Stadium	8,600
Sligo Rovers	Sligo	The Showgrounds	5,500
St. Patrick's Athletic	Dublin	Richmond Park	5,340
UCD	Dublin	UCD Bowl	3,000

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shamrock Rovers (C)	36	23	8	5	69	24	+45	77	2012–13 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Sligo Rovers	36	22	7	7	73	19	+54	73	2012–13 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ^1
3	Derry City	36	18	14	4	63	23	+40	68	Refused entry into 2012–13 European competitions ^2
4	St Patrick's Athletic	36	17	12	7	62	35	+27	63	2012–13 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ^1,2
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	36	1	3	32	20	115	−95	6	Qualification to promotion/relegation playoffs

Updated to games played on 28 October 2011.
Source: League of Ireland
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Sligo Rovers won the 2011 FAI Cup competition and qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since they finished second in the league, the fourth-placed team of the league also qualified for the Europa League.
² Because Derry City, the third-placed team of the league, went into liquidation two years ago which led to a European ban for three years and thus were refused entry to the 2012–13 European competitions by UEFA, Bohemians, the fifth-placed team of the league, claimed the Europa League spot in the first qualifying round.^[10]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

First half of season 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: League of Ireland 1 ^^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season 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: League of Ireland 1 ^^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 28 October 2011.

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Éamon Zayed	Derry City	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
6	Matthew Blinkhorn	Sligo Rovers	12
7	Chris Fagan	Bohemians	11
8	Karl Sheppard	Shamrock Rovers	10
9	Gareth McGlynn	Derry City	9
	Billy Dennehy	Shamrock Rovers	9
	John Dillon	Sligo Rovers	9

Discipline

Over 360 Premier games 585 yellow cards and 28 red cards were issued to the 10 teams.

First Division

First Division

Champions	Cork City
Promoted	Cork City Shelbourne Monaghan United
Relegated	None
Matches played	159
Goals scored	431 (2.71 per match)
Biggest home win	Limerick 6-0 Wexford Youths
Biggest away win	Athlone Town 0-7 Cork City
Highest scoring	Wexford Youths 3-5 Mervue United

The First Division consisted of eleven teams, one less than in 2010. Each team played every other team three times for a total of 30 matches, with at least one home and one away match against every opponent.

Teams

Derry City as champions of the 2010 First Division were promoted to the Premier Division. They were originally to be replaced by last-placed Premier Division team Drogheda United; however, Drogheda were spared from relegation when Sporting Fingal withdrew their licence application^[8] and subsequently disbanded.^[9]

2010 runners-up Waterford United and third-placed team Monaghan United unsuccessfully participated in the promotion/relegation playoffs and thus retained their First Division spots for this season.

Salthill Devon as last-placed team also had to compete in a promotion/relegation playoff against the best non-reserves side of the 2010 A Championship, Cobh Ramblers. Salthill Devon retained its First Division spot for this season by beating the lower league team 3–1 on aggregate.

There was a name change with Cork City Football Club replacing Cork City FORAS Co-op.^[11]

Athlone Town

Cork City

Finn Harps

Limerick

Mervue United
Salthill Devon

Monaghan United

Shelbourne

Waterford United

Wexford Youths

Longford Town

Locations of First Division teams

Team	Base	Stadium	Capacity
Athlone Town	Athlone	Lissywoolen Stadium	5,000
Cork City	Cork	Turner's Cross	7,485
Finn Harps	Ballybofey	Finn Park	7,500
Limerick	Limerick	Jackman Park	2,450
Longford Town	Longford	Flancare Park	6,850
Mervue United	Galway	Terryland Park	6,500
Monaghan United	Monaghan	Gortakeegan	3,000
Salthill Devon	Galway	Drom	2,000
Shelbourne	Dublin	Tolka Park	9,680
Waterford United	Waterford	RSC	3,100
Wexford Youths	Crossabeg	Ferrycarraig Park	2,500

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Cork City (C) (P)	30	20	9	1	73	26	+47	69	Promotion to 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division
2	Shelbourne (P)	30	22	2	6	62	24	+38	68
3	Monaghan United	30	21	4	5	60	27	+33	67	Qualification to promotion/relegation playoffs
4	Limerick FC	30	20	6	4	49	22	+27	66
5	Waterford United	30	13	3	14	37	31	+6	42
6	Longford Town	30	12	4	14	38	41	−3	40
7	Mervue United	30	10	4	16	37	45	−8	34
8	Athlone Town	30	9	5	16	25	53	−28	32
9	Finn Harps	30	8	4	18	29	45	−16	28
10	Wexford Youths	30	4	2	24	29	69	−40	14
11	Salthill Devon	30	2	5	23	18	74	−56	11

Source: League of Ireland
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Matches 1–20

Home ╲ Away	ATH	COR	FHA	LIM	LON	MER	MON	SAL	SHE	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	2–0	0–4	0–3	2–0
Cork City	2–0		5–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	1–0	4–1	2–3	1–0
Finn Harps	1–0	0–2		2–2	1–2	2–0	2–2	0–0	0–3	1–0	0–1
Limerick FC	3–0	0–0	1–0		1–0	2–0	0–2	3–0	0–3	1–0	0–1
Longford Town	2–0	1–3	3–2	1–2		2–1	1–3	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–1
Mervue United	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–2	2–1		3–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–0
Monaghan United	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–2		3–0	0–1	2–0	2–1
Salthill Devon	1–1	1–5	0–4	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–5		0–1	0–2	2–1
Shelbourne	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–0	2–3	4–1		2–1	4–2
Waterford United	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	4–0	0–1		0–1
Wexford Youths	0–1	1–2	0–2	2–3	0–2	3–5	1–2	1–3	0–1	1–2

Source: League of Ireland
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 21–30

Home ╲ Away	ATH	COR	FHA	LIM	LON	MER	MON	SAL	SHE	WAT	WEX
Athlone Town		0–7	0–1			4–1	0–5		0–2
Cork City			5–2	3–3	3–1		3–1				2–2
Finn Harps				1–2	1–2		0–3	2–0			4–1
Limerick FC	3–1				1–0			1–1		3–0	6–0
Longford Town	0–2					2–2		1–1	1–3	2–1
Mervue United		1–2	1–0	0–1			0–1		0–2
Monaghan United				0–1	3–2			3–0		3–1	2–0
Salthill Devon	1–3	0–4				0–5			1–4	1–3
Shelbourne		1–2	4–0	1–2			1–2				3–0
Waterford United	5–1	1–3	0–0			2–0			1–0
Wexford Youths	3–3				1–3	0–3		5–2		0–2

Source: League of Ireland
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 29 October 2011.

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Graham Cummins	Cork City	24
2	Philip Hughes	Shelbourne	20
3	David Cassidy	Shelbourne	15
4	Sean Brennan	Monaghan United	14
5	Conan Byrne	Shelbourne	13
6	Davin O'Neill	Cork City	12
7	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps	11
	Declan O'Brien	Monaghan United	11
9	Danny Furlong	Wexford Youths	10
10	Denis Behan	Limerick	9
	Paudie Quinn	Limerick	9
	Paul Murphy	Waterford United	9

Awards

Monthly awards

SWAI Airtricity League Player of the Month Award

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	Shelbourne

Annual awards

Winners in Bold^[12]

PFAI Players' Player of the Year

Nominees	Club
Eoin Doyle	Sligo Rovers
Daryl Kavanagh	St. Patrick's Athletic
Mark Quigley	Dundalk
Richie Ryan	Sligo Rovers
Patrick Sullivan	Shamrock Rovers
Éamon Zayed	Derry City

PFAI Young Player of the Year

Nominees	Club
Daniel Lafferty	Derry City
James McClean	Derry City
Enda Stevens	Shamrock Rovers

First Division Player of the Year

Nominees	Club
Sean Brennan	Monaghan United
David Cassidy	Shelbourne
Graham Cummins	Cork City

PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year

Goalkeeper: Gerard Doherty (Derry City)
Defence: Patrick Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers), Stewart Greacen (Derry City), Craig Sives (Shamrock Rovers), Enda Stevens (Shamrock Rovers)
Midfield: Stephen Bradley (St Patrick's Athletic), Daryl Kavanagh (St Patrick's Athletic), Richie Ryan (Sligo Rovers), Mark Quigley (Dundalk)
Attack: Éamon Zayed (Derry City), Eoin Doyle (Sligo Rovers)

Playoffs

Premier Division Promotion/Relegation play-off

The tenth-placed team in the Premier Division and the third-placed team of the First Division competed for one spot in the 2012 Premier Division. The playoff was contested in a two-legged format. The winner on aggregate score of these matches will play in the 2012 Premier Division. Had the score been level after the completion of both matches, extra time would have been added and, if necessary, a penalty shootout conducted. Monaghan United defeated Galway United 5–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the Premier Division, while Galway United were relegated to the First Division.

1st Leg

Monaghan United v Galway United

1 November 2011	Monaghan United	2 – 0	Galway United	Gortakeegan, Monaghan
19.45 GMT	Isichei  13' S. Brennan  87'

2nd Leg

Galway United v Monaghan United

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

First Division Promotion/Relegation play-off

Due to the withdrawal of Sporting Fingal at the start of the season (leaving the First Division one team short), as well as the discontinuation of the third tier A Championship competition, there will be no play-off at this level. It is expected that A Championship teams could apply for a place in the 2012 First Division, provided that they meet the licensing criteria.

League of Ireland clubs in Europe 2011–12

UEFA Champions League

After winning the league title in 2010, Shamrock Rovers are representing the Republic of Ireland in the Champions League in 2011. This is the first time the club have participated in the UEFA Champions League since it replaced the European Cup in 1992. Shamrock Rovers entered the draw in the Second qualifying round and were drawn against Estonian club FC Flora Tallinn, 2010 Meistriliiga Winners. Tallaght Stadium hosted its first UEFA Champions League game in the First leg and Shamrock Rovers recorded their first ever win in either the Champions League or European Cup since their first European Cup game in 1957 in a 1–0 victory over Flora Tallinn. The Second leg in Estonia finished 0–0 and Shamrock Rovers advanced 1–0 on aggregate to play 2010–11 Danish Superliga Champions, F.C. Copenhagen in the Third Qualifying Round. Shamrock Rovers trailed the tie 1–0 following the first-leg at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Rovers lost the second-leg at Tallaght Stadium 2–0 and were beaten 3–0 on aggregate, Copenhagen advanced to the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League play-off round while Shamrock Rovers entered the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round.

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shamrock Rovers	1–0	Flora Tallinn	1–0	0–0

First leg

Shamrock Rovers v Flora Tallinn

12 July 2011	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Flora Tallinn	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
20:00	Turner  34'	Report		Attendance: 5,026 Referee: Jakob Kehlet (Denmark)

Second leg

Flora Tallinn v Shamrock Rovers

19 July 2011	Flora Tallinn	0 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn
16:45		Report		Attendance: 2,970 Referee: Dimitar Meckarovski (Macedonia)

Shamrock Rovers won 1–0 on aggregate

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Copenhagen	3–0	Shamrock Rovers	1–0	2–0

First leg

Copenhagen v Shamrock Rovers

27 July 2011	Copenhagen	1 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
19:00	Ottesen  4'	Report		Attendance: 11,571 Referee: Pavle Radovanović (Montenegro)

Second leg

Shamrock Rovers v Copenhagen

2 August 2011	Shamrock Rovers	0 – 2	Copenhagen	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
19:45		Report	N'Doye  42' Bolaños  73'	Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Halis Özkahya (Turkey)

Copenhagen won 3–0 on aggregate.

UEFA Europa League

St. Patrick's entered the first qualifying round after replacing Sporting Fingal in the competition after they ceased operations. St Patrick's were drawn against Icelandic club Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja. After trailing 1–0 from the first leg in Reykjavík St Patrick's won 2–0 at home, to win 2–1 on aggregate to advance to the second qualifying round, they were drawn against Kazakh club FC Shakhter Karagandy. Bohemians entered the competition in the second qualifying round, they were drawn against Slovenian club NK Olimpija Ljubljana. St Patrick's trailed the tie 2–1 following the 1st leg in Kazakhstan but managed to beat Karagandy 2–0 at home in Richmond Park to win the tie 3–2 on aggregate. Bohemians trailed Olimpija Ljubljana 2–0 after the 1st leg in Slovenia, Bohemians were leading the second leg 1–0 and needed another goal to put the tie into extra-time however an Own-goal by Defender Ger O'Brien with 10 minutes to go put the tie out of reach for Bohemians. St Patrick's advanced to the next round to face Ukrainian club FC Karpaty Lviv while Sligo Rovers F.C. entered the competition in this round were drawn against FC Vorskla Poltava also from Ukraine. St Patrick's lost the first leg 2–0 in Ukraine, following a dispute between Saint Patrick's players and the club's Board of Directors over Bonus Payments put the second-leg in doubt as the players threatened to boycott the game in Tallaght Stadium.^[13] An agreement was made at 2pm on 4 August, just under six hours until kick-off.^[14] Saint Patrick's lost the game 3–1 and were beaten by Karpaty Lviv 5–1 on aggregate. Sligo Rovers drew 0–0 with Vorskla Poltava in the first-leg of their game in Ukraine. The 'Bit O' Red' needed a victory in the second leg in Sligo to win the tie however Vorskla scored two goals within a minute of each other to win the game 2–0 and advance to the next round. Shamrock Rovers entered the 2011–12 Europa League play-off round as an unseeded team, they were drawn against Serbian Champions Partizan. The first leg at Tallaght Stadium finished 1–1, Gary McCabe scoring an equaliser for the Hoops in the 81st minute. The Serbian champions got the first goal again in second leg in Stadion FK Partizan. An Equaliser from Patrick Sullivan for Shamrock Rovers sent the tie into Extra time. Karl Sheppard won a penalty for the League of Ireland club in the 113 minute and Stephen O'Donnell scored the penalty for Rovers to send the Dublin club into the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage, the first time a League of Ireland man's club has reached the group stages round in European football.

First qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ÍBV Vestmannaeyar	1–2	St Patrick's Athletic	1–0	0–2

First leg

ÍBV Vestmannaeyja v St. Patrick's Athletic

30 June 2011	ÍBV Vestmannaeyja	1 – 0	St. Patrick's Athletic	Hásteinsvöllur, Vestmannaeyjar
19:00	Andri Ólafsson  50' (pen.)	Report		Attendance: 555 Referee: Michael Svendsen (Denmark)

Second leg

St. Patrick's Athletic v ÍBV Vestmannaeyja

7 July 2011	St. Patrick's Athletic	2 – 0	ÍBV Vestmannaeyja	Richmond Park, Dublin
19:45	Daly  24' Doyle  36'	Report		Attendance: 2,100 Referee: Nerijus Dunauskas (Lithuania)

St Patrick's Athletic won 2–1 on aggregate.

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Olimpija Ljubljana	3–1	Bohemians	2–0	1–1
Shakhter Karagandy	2–3	St Patrick's Athletic	2–1	0–2

First-Leg

Olimpija Ljubljana v Bohemians

14 July 2011	Olimpija Ljubljana	2 – 0	Bohemians	Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana
19:00	Vršič  45+2 (pen)', 76'	Report		Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Carlos Xistra (Portugal)

Shakhter Karagandy v St Patrick's Athletic

14 July 2011	Shakhter Karagandy	2 – 1	St Patrick's Athletic	Stadion Shakhter, Karagandy
14:00	Vasiljević  52', 86'	Report	D. McMillan  79'	Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia)

Second-Leg

Bohemians v Olimpija Ljubljana

21 July 2011	Bohemians	1 – 1	Olimpija Ljubljana	Dalymount Park, Dublin
19:45	Fagan  34'	Report	O'Brien  81' (o.g.)	Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni (Italy)

Olimpija Ljubljana won 3–1 on aggregate.

St Patrick's Athletic v Shakhter Karagandy

21 July 2011	St Patrick's Athletic	2 – 0	Shakhter Karagandy	Richmond Park, Dublin
19:45	E. McMillan  14' Doyle  70'	Report		Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Sébastien Delferiere (Belgium)

St Patrick's Athletic won 3–2 on aggregate.

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Karpaty Lviv	5–1	St Patrick's Athletic	2–0	1–3
Vorskla Poltava	2–0	Sligo Rovers	0–0	2–0

First-leg

Karpaty Lviv v St Patrick's Athletic

28 July 2011	Karpaty Lviv	2 – 0	St Patrick's Athletic	Ukraina Stadium, Lviv
17:30	Fedetskyi  34' Varankow  90+3'	Report		Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Martin Strömbergsson (Sweden)

Vorskla Poltava v Sligo Rovers

28 July 2011	Vorskla Poltava	0 – 0	Sligo Rovers	Butovsky Vorskla Stadium, Poltava
18:00		Report		Attendance: 8,500 Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

Second-leg

St Patrick's Athletic v Karpaty Lviv

4 August 2011	St Patrick's Athletic	1 – 3	Karpaty Lviv	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin^1
20:45	McMillan  57'	Report	Zenjov  22' Khudobyak  64' Oshchypko  83'	Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania)

Karpaty won 5–1 on aggregate.

Sligo Rovers v Vorskla Poltava

4 August 2011	Sligo Rovers	0 – 2	Vorskla Poltava	Showgrounds, Sligo Town
17:45		Report	Zakarlyuka  16' Rebenok  17'	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Emir Alecković (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Vorskla Poltava won 2–0 on aggregate.

Notes

• Note 1: St Patrick's Athletic will play their home match at Tallaght Stadium as their own Richmond Park did not meet the UEFA criteria.

Play-off round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shamrock Rovers	3–2	Partizan	1–1	2–1 (aet)

First leg

Shamrock Rovers v Partizan

18 August 2011	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1	Partizan	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
19:45	McCabe  81'	Report	Tomić  14'	Attendance: 4,650 Referee: Hannes Kaasik (Estonia)

Second leg

Partizan v Shamrock Rovers

25 August 2011	Partizan	1 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Shamrock Rovers	Stadion FK Partizan, Belgrade
19:30	Volkov  35'	Report	Sullivan  58' O'Donnell  113' (pen.)	Referee: Ján Valášek (Slovakia)

Shamrock Rovers won 3–2 on aggregate.

Group Stage

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
PAOK	6	3	3	0	10	6	+4	12
Rubin Kazan	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11
Tottenham Hotspur	6	3	1	2	9	4	+5	10
Shamrock Rovers	6	0	0	6	4	19	−15	0

Shamrock Rovers v Rubin Kazan

15 September 2011	Shamrock Rovers	0 – 3	Rubin Kazan	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin[15]
19:00		Report	Martins  3' Noboa  50' Gökdeniz  60'	Attendance: 6,920[16] Referee: Zsolt Szabó (Hungary)

Tottenham Hotspur v Shamrock Rovers

29 September 2011	Tottenham Hotspur	3 – 1	Shamrock Rovers	White Hart Lane, London
21:05	Pavlyuchenko  60' Defoe  62' Giovani  66'	Report	Rice  50'	Attendance: 24,782[17] Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

PAOK v Shamrock Rovers

20 October 2011	PAOK	2 – 1	Shamrock Rovers	Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki
21:05	Lazăr  12' Vieirinha  63'	Report	Sheppard  48'	Attendance: 12,776[18] Referee: Tony Asumaa (Finland)

Shamrock Rovers v PAOK

3 November 2011	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 3	PAOK	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
19:00	Dennehy  51'	Report	Salpingidis  7', 38' Fotakis  36'	Attendance: 6,100[19] Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

Rubin Kazan v Shamrock Rovers

30 November 2011	Rubin Kazan	4 – 1	Shamrock Rovers	Central Stadium, Kazan
18:00	Valdez  10', 51' Natkho  36' Martins  62'	Report	Oman  12'	Attendance: 15,740[20] Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)

Shamrock Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur

15 December 2011	Shamrock Rovers	0 – 4	Tottenham Hotspur	Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
19:00		Report	Pienaar  29' Townsend  38' Defoe  45' Kane  90+1'	Attendance: 8,500[21] Referee: Stephan Studer (Switzerland)

See also

• 2011 A Championship
• 2011 Setanta Sports Cup
• 2011 FAI Cup
• 2011 League of Ireland Cup
• 2011–12 FAI U19 League

References

1. "2011 League of Ireland". Soccerway.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
2. "Battle set to commence in Airtricity League". RTÉ Sport. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
3. McDonnell, Daniel (26 October 2011). "Super sub Kelly seals the deal with late clincher". Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
4. "UCD 1-2 Shamrock Rovers". RTÉ Sport. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
5. "Shamrock Rovers - 2011 League Champions". Extratime.ie. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
6. "Shamrock Rovers retain Irish title". UEFA.com. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
7. "Airtricity League - 2011". WhoScored.com. WhoScored.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
8. "Sporting Fingal withdraw licence application". League of Ireland official site. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
9. "Sporting Fingal cease operations". RTÉ News. 10 February 2011.
10. "Derry City are refused entry to Europa League by Uefa". BBC Sport. 21 February 2012.
12. http://extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7056/
13. St Pat’s refuse to play in crucial Euro match - Irish Independent
14. St Patrick's Athletic Europa League game to go ahead
15. "Tallaght to host Hoops' Europa games". rte.ie. 8 September 2011.
16. "Shamrock Rovers vs. Rubin Kazan – 15 September 2011". Soccerway. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
17. "Tottenham Hotspur vs. Shamrock Rovers – 29 September 2011". Soccerway. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
18. "PAOK vs. Shamrock Rovers – 20 October 2011". Soccerway. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
19. "Shamrock Rovers vs. PAOK – 3 November 2011". Soccerway. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
20. "Rubin Kazan' vs. Shamrock Rovers – 30 November 2011". Soccerway. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
21. "Basic CMYK" (PDF). Retrieved 17 February 2012.

External links

• Official site
• 2011 League of Ireland at Soccerway