List of League of Ireland top scorers

A list of League of Ireland top scorers.

A Division

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1921–22	Jack Kelly	St James's Gate	11
1922–23	Bob Fullam	Shamrock Rovers	27
1923–24	Dave Roberts	Bohemians	20
1924–25	Billy Farrell	Shamrock Rovers	25
1925–26	Billy Farrell	Shamrock Rovers	24
1926–27	David Byrne	Shamrock Rovers	17
	John McMillan	Shelbourne	17
1927–28	Charles Heinemann	Fordsons	24
1928–29	Eddie Carroll	Dundalk	17
1929–30	Johnny Ledwidge	Shelbourne	16
1930–31	Alex Hair	Shelbourne	29
1931–32	Pearson Ferguson	Cork	21
	Jack Forster	Waterford	21
1932–33	George Ebbs	St James's Gate	20
1933–34	Alf Rigby	St James's Gate	13
1934–35	Alf Rigby	St James's Gate	17
1935–36	Jimmy Turnbull [1]	Cork	37
1936–37	Robert Sclater (Note 1)	Shelbourne	20
1937–38	Willie Byrne	St James's Gate	25
1938–39	Paddy Bradshaw	St James's Gate	22
1939–40	Paddy Bradshaw	St James's Gate	29
1940–41	Mick O'Flanagan	Bohemians	19
1941–42	Tommy Byrne	Limerick	20
1942–43	Sean McCarthy [2]	Cork United	16
1943–44	Sean McCarthy [2]	Cork United	16
1944–45	Sean McCarthy [2]	Cork United	26
1945–46	Paddy O'Leary	Cork United	15
1946–47	Paddy Coad	Shamrock Rovers	11
	Alf Hanson	Shelbourne	11
1947–48	Sean McCarthy [2]	Cork United	13
1948–49	Bernard Lester	Transport	12
	Eugene Noonan	Waterford	12
	Paddy O'Leary	Cork Athletic	12
1949–50	Dave McCulloch	Waterford	19
1950–51	Dessie Glynn	Drumcondra	20
1951–52	Shay Gibbons	St Patrick's Athletic	26
1952–53	Shay Gibbons	St Patrick's Athletic	22
1953–54	Danny Jordan	Bohemians	14
1954–55	Jimmy Gauld	Waterford	30
1955–56	Shay Gibbons	St Patrick's Athletic	21
1956–57	Tommy Hamilton	Shamrock Rovers	15
	Donal Leahy	Evergreen United	15
1957–58	Donal Leahy	Evergreen United	16
1958–59	Donal Leahy	Evergreen United	22
1959–60	Austin Noonan	Cork Celtic	27
1960–61	Dan McCaffrey [3]	Drumcondra	29
1961–62	Eddie Bailham	Shamrock Rovers	21
1962–63	Mick Lynch	Waterford	12
1963–64	Eddie Bailham	Shamrock Rovers	18
	Jimmy Hasty	Dundalk	18
	Johnny Kingston	Cork Hibernians	18
1964–65	Jackie Mooney	Shamrock Rovers	16
1965–66	Mick Lynch	Waterford	17
1966–67	Johnny Brooks	Sligo Rovers	15
	Danny Hale [4]	Dundalk	15
1967–68	Carl Davenport	Cork Celtic	15
	Ben Hannigan	Dundalk	15
1968–69	Mick Leech	Shamrock Rovers	19
1969–70	Brendan Bradley	Finn Harps	18
1970–71	Brendan Bradley	Finn Harps	20
1971–72	Alfie Hale	Waterford	22
	Tony Marsden	Cork Hibernians	22
1972–73	Alfie Hale	Waterford	20
	Terry Harkin	Finn Harps	20
1973–74	Terry Flanagan	Bohemians	18
	Turlough O'Connor	Bohemians	18
1974–75	Brendan Bradley	Finn Harps	21
1975–76	Brendan Bradley	Finn Harps	29
1976–77	Syd Wallace	Waterford	16
1977–78	Turlough O'Connor	Bohemians	24
1978–79	John Delamere (Note 2)	Shelbourne	17
1979–80	Alan Campbell	Shamrock Rovers	22
1980–81	Eugene Davis	Athlone Town	23
1981–82	Michael O'Connor	Athlone Town	22
1982–83	Noel Larkin	Athlone Town	18
1983–84	Alan Campbell	Shamrock Rovers	24
1984–85	Tommy Gaynor	Limerick City	17
	Michael O'Connor	Athlone Town	17

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Notes

• ^1 including 1 for Waterford
• ^2 including 2 for Sligo Rovers

Premier Division

Mark Farren , the Premier Division top scorer in 2008 and the First Division top scorer in 2010

Éamon Zayed , the Premier Division top scorer in 2011

Richie Towell , the Premier Division top scorer in 2015

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1985-86	Tommy Gaynor	Limerick	15
1986-87	Mick Byrne	Shamrock Rovers	12
1987-88	Jonathan Speak	Derry City	24
1988-89	Billy Hamilton	Limerick	21
1989-90	Mark Ennis	St. Patrick's Athletic	19
1990-91	Peter Hanrahan	Dundalk	18
1991-92	John Caulfield	Cork City	16
1992-93	Pat Morley	Cork City	20
1993-94	Stephen Geoghegan	Shamrock Rovers	23
1994-95	John Caulfield	Cork City	16
1995-96	Stephen Geoghegan	Shelbourne	19
1996-97	Tony Cousins	Shamrock Rovers	16
	Stephen Geoghegan	Shelbourne
1997-98	Stephen Geoghegan	Shelbourne	17
1998-99	Trevor Molloy	St. Patrick's Athletic	15
1999-00	Pat Morley	Cork City	20
2000-01	Glen Crowe	Bohemians	25
2001-02	Glen Crowe	Bohemians	21
2002-03	Glen Crowe	Bohemians	18
2003	Jason Byrne	Shelbourne	21
2004	Jason Byrne	Shelbourne	25
2005	Jason Byrne	Shelbourne	22
2006	Jason Byrne	Shelbourne	15
2007	David Mooney	Longford Town	19
2008	David Mooney	Longford Town	15
	Mark Farren	Derry City
	Mark Quigley	St Patrick's Athletic
2009	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers	24
2010	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers	20
2011	Éamon Zayed	Derry City	22
2012	Gary Twigg	Shamrock Rovers	22
2013	Rory Patterson	Derry City	18
2014	Christy Fagan	St Patrick's Athletic	20
	Patrick Hoban	Dundalk
2015	Richie Towell	Dundalk	25
2016	Sean Maguire	Cork City	18
2017	Sean Maguire	Cork City	20
2018	Patrick Hoban	Dundalk	29
2019	Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe	Derry City	14
2020	Patrick Hoban	Dundalk	10
2021	Georgie Kelly	Bohemians	21
2022	Aidan Keena	Sligo Rovers	18
2023	Jonathan Afolabi	Bohemians	15
	Jack Moylan	Shelbourne
2024	Patrick Hoban	Derry City	14
	Pádraig Amond	Waterford
2025	Pádraig Amond	Waterford	14 [7]

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

First Division

Andrew Myler was the First Division top scorer with two clubs in two successive seasons – Monaghan United in 1999–2000 and Athlone Town in 2000–01

Kevin McHugh was the First Division top scorer for four seasons – 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004 and 2012

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1985–86	Con McLoughlin	Finn Harps	11
	Harry McLoughlin	Sligo Rovers
1986–87	Aleksandar Krstić	Derry City	18
1987–88	Con McLoughlin	Finn Harps	19
1988–89	Pat O'Connor	Home Farm	14
1989–90	John Ryan	Bray Wanderers	16
1990–91	Jim Barr	Monaghan United	12
	Con McLoughlin	Finn Harps
1991–92	Con McLoughlin	Finn Harps	12
	Barry Ryan	Limerick City
1992–93	Mick Byrne	Monaghan United	15
	Richie Parsons	Longford Town
1993–94	Karl Gannon	Home Farm	16
1994–95	Michael O'Byrne	UCD	14
1994–95	Philip Power	Home Farm	14
1995–96	Jonathan Speak	Finn Harps	17
1996–97	Richie Hale	Kilkenny City	13
	Tony Izzi	Cobh Ramblers
1997–98	Fergal Coleman	Galway United	13
1998–99	Tony Izzi	Cobh Ramblers	13
1999–00	Robbie Farrell	Home Farm Fingal	17
	Andrew Myler	Monaghan United
	Keith O'Connor	Longford Town
2000–01	Andrew Myler	Athlone Town	29 (Note 2)
2001–02	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps	27 (Note 3)
2002–03	Willie Bruton	Cobh Ramblers	14
	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps
2003	Alan Murphy	Galway United	21
2004	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps	24
2005	Kieran O'Reilly	Cobh Ramblers	17
2006	Philip Hughes	Dundalk	21
2007	Conor Gethins	Finn Harps	15
2008	Robbie Doyle	Sporting Fingal	17
2009	Conan Byrne	Sporting Fingal	21
2010	Graham Cummins	Cork City	18
	Mark Farren	Derry City
	Willie John Kiely	Waterford United
2011	Graham Cummins	Cork City	24
2012	Sean Maguire	Waterford United	13
	Kevin McHugh	Finn Harps
	Danny Furlong	Wexford Youths	13 (Note 2)
2013	David O'Sullivan	Longford Town	21
2014	David O'Sullivan	Longford Town	21
2015	Daniel Furlong	Wexford Youths	30
2016	Gary O'Neil	UCD	13
2017	Georgie Kelly	UCD	17
2018	David O'Sullivan	Shelbourne	15
2019	Rob Manley	Cabinteely	17
2020	Yousef Mahdy	UCD	16 (Note 1)
2021	Colm Whelan	UCD	21 (Note 3)
2022	Phoenix Patterson	Waterford	20 (Note 3)
2023	Ronan Coughlan	Waterford	36 (Note 3)
2024	Dean Ebbe	Athlone Town	17 (Note 2)

Source: ^[6]

Notes

• ^1 Including 1 goal in playoffs
• ^2 Including 2 goals in playoffs
• ^3 Including 3 goals in playoffs

All–Time

Jason Byrne , the League of Ireland Premier Division top scorer in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and second in the all–time list.

	Player	Goals
1	Brendan Bradley	235 [8] [9]
2	Jason Byrne	217
3	Pat Morley	182
4	Turlough O'Connor	178
5	Kevin McHugh	173
6	Donal Leahy	162
7	Glen Crowe	159
8	Stephen Geoghegan	158
9	Johnny Matthews	156
10	Alfie Hale	153
11	Paul McGee	143
12	Eric Barber	141
13	Philip Hughes	138
14	Sean McCarthy	135
	Jonathan Speak	135
16	Mick Leech	132
17	Andrew Myler	131
18	Eugene Davis (footballer)	130
	Jack Fitzgerald	130
20	John Caulfield	129
	Austin Noonan	129
22	Declan O'Brien	135
23	Éamon Zayed	127
24	Paddy Coad	126
25	Shay Gibbons	120
26	Paddy O'Leary	118
	Derek Swan	118
28	Mick Byrne	117
	Des Kennedy	117
	Michael O'Connor	117
31	David Byrne	115
32	Dessie Glynn	111
33	Con McLoughlin	110
34	Paddy Ambrose	109
	Ronnie Whelan Snr.	109
36	Barry O'Connor	107
	Trevor Vaughan	107
38	Gary Hulmes	106
39	Tim O'Keefe	105
40	Paul Newe	103
	Danny Furlong	103
41	Terry Eviston	101
42	Richie Parsons	100
	Aaron Greene	100

Source: ^{[6] [10]}

Notes

• ^1 Player still active

References

1. "Jimmy Turnbull – The Forgotten Prince of Strikers". www.corkpastandpresent.ie. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
2. "Sean McCarthy". Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
3. "Dan McCaffrey RIP". ulstergaawriters.com. 6 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
4. "Danny Hale". Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats. 6 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
5. Graham, Alex (2005). Football in the Republic of Ireland a Statistical Record 1921–2005. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN   1-86223-135-4.
6. "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF . Retrieved 6 July 2016.
7. "Premier Division 2025 » Statistics: Top Scorer". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
8. Anderson, Gary (2 March 2017). "Home is where the heart is for League of Ireland's greatest goalscorer". extratime.com. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
9. "'I hope he doesn't pass me!' - LOI's all-time top scorer on record-chasing Byrne". The 42. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
10. "Goal machine Byrne sets targets high". www.sseairtricityleague.ie. Retrieved 2 October 2016.