List of Shamrock Rovers F.C. seasons

Barry Murphy holding the First Division trophy aloft in Cobh, County Cork

This is a list of seasons played by Shamrock Rovers Football Club in Irish and European football, from 1922 (year of entry into the League of Ireland) to the most recent completed season. The list details the club's achievements in all major ^[1] competitions, and the top scorers for each league season.

Shamrock Rovers are recognised as being founded in 1901 (some sources suggest 1899), and were elected to the League of Ireland in 1922. They reached the final of the inaugural FAI Cup in the season before their election to the league and won the league title at their first attempt the following year. ^[2] The club have won the League of Ireland a record 17 times, the FAI Cup a record 24 times, the League of Ireland Shield a record 18 times, the League of Ireland Cup once and have participated in European competition since 1958, when they became the first Irish side to do so. ^{[3] [4]} The club have finished bottom of the league once in their 94 seasons of participation, when they had to apply for re-election in 1976. ^[5] The club were relegated for the first time in 2005 following an eight-point deduction and a play-off with Dublin City. ^[6] Shamrock Rovers are the most successful club in the Republic of Ireland's footballing history. ^[7]

Seasons

Season	League of Ireland									FAI Cup [B]	Shield/ League Cup [C]	Europe [D]		Top goalscorer(s) [E]
	Division [A]	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos					Name	Goals
1922–23		22	18	3	1	77	19	39	1st	R2	R2 [C]			Bob Fullam	27
1923–24		18	7	3	8	35	32	17	7th	R1	3rd			Willie O'Shea	8
1924–25		18	13	5	0	67	12	31	1st	W	1st			Billy Farrell	25
1925–26		18	13	3	2	62	21	29	2nd	RU	2nd			Billy Farrell	24
1926–27		18	14	4	0	60	20	32	1st	R1	1st			David Byrne	17
1927–28		18	9	7	2	41	18	25	3rd	R1	2nd			David Byrne	7
1928–29		18	10	4	4	58	28	24	3rd	W	2nd			John Joe Flood	13
1929–30		18	12	2	4	44	22	26	3rd	W	2nd			David Byrne	11
1930–31		22	9	5	8	54	49	23	7th	W	7th			David Byrne	18
1931–32		22	13	6	3	70	34	32	1st	W	1st			Paddy Moore	18
1932–33		18	11	2	5	48	32	24	2nd	W	1st			Tommy Doyle	17
1933–34		18	9	4	5	28	23	22	3rd	R1	2nd			Jackie Coote	6
1934–35		18	5	6	7	27	33	16	6th	R1	1st			Synnott	6
1935–36		22	10	2	10	61	58	22	6th	W	6th			Paul Scully	18
1936–37		22	8	3	11	46	55	19	9th	R2	3rd			Matt Regan/Charlie Reid/Joe Ward	7
1937–38		22	14	4	4	71	47	32	1st	SF	1st			Joe Ward	18
1938–39		22	16	4	2	60	32	36	1st	R1	6th			Owen McNally	14
1939–40		22	13	4	5	51	39	30	2nd	W	6th			Jimmy Dunne	15
1940–41		20	9	3	8	48	43	21	4th	SF	6th			Jimmy Clark	16
1941–42		18	12	4	2	52	23	28	2nd	SF	1st			Davy Cochrane	11
1942–43		18	8	4	6	36	28	20	4th	R2	5th			Paddy Coad	12
1943–44		14	5	5	4	38	27	15	3rd	W	2nd			Paddy Coad	15
1944–45		14	6	5	3	20	20	17	3rd	W [F]	8th			Paddy Coad/Liam Crowe/Tommy Eglington/Bobby Rogers	3
1945–46		14	6	2	6	40	31	14	4th	RU	4th			Tommy Eglington	11
1946–47		14	7	3	4	34	21	17	3rd	R1	6th			Paddy Coad	11
1947–48		14	4	6	4	26	24	14	4th	W	2nd			Paddy Coad	9
1948–49		18	6	8	4	33	25	20	4th	R1	5th			Paddy Mullen	9
1949–50		18	7	4	7	39	30	18	7th	R2	1st			Bob Duffy	11
1950–51		18	7	3	8	33	30	17	6th	R2	2nd			Christy Boggan	8
1951–52		22	12	5	5	43	18	29	3rd	R2	1st			Billy Burns	15
1952–53		22	12	3	7	40	27	27	3rd	R1	9th			Danny Jordan	9
1953–54		22	11	8	3	44	20	30	1st	SF	3rd			Paddy Ambrose	13
1954–55		22	12	4	6	63	37	28	3rd	W	1st			Paddy Ambrose	14
1955–56		22	15	1	6	54	30	31	2nd	W	1st			Paddy Ambrose	20
1956–57		22	15	6	1	68	24	36	1st	RU	1st			Tommy Hamilton	15
1957–58		22	15	1	6	55	26	31	2nd	RU	1st	European Cup	PR	Maxie McCann	9
1958–59		22	15	4	3	58	29	34	1st	R1	2nd	DNQ		Liam Tuohy	10
1959–60		22	12	3	7	54	31	27	4th	R2	10th	European Cup	PR	Dermot Cross	11
1960–61		22	9	7	6	40	29	25	6th	R2	5th	DNQ		Paddy Ambrose/Eddie Bailham	8
1961–62		22	14	3	5	51	32	31	3rd	W	3rd	DNQ		Eddie Bailham	21
1962–63		18	7	5	6	36	25	19	5th	SF	1st	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Jackie Mooney	11
1963–64		22	14	7	1	68	27	35	1st	W	1st	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup [G]	R1	Eddie Bailham	18
1964–65		22	14	3	5	40	22	31	2nd	W	1st	European Cup	PR	Jackie Mooney	16
1965–66		22	15	4	3	59	23	34	2nd	W	1st	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup [G]	R2	Bobby Gilbert/Liam Tuohy	14
1966–67		22	8	4	10	31	31	20	7th	W	3rd	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R2	Frank O'Neill	8
1967–68		22	11	5	6	44	26	27	4th	W	1st	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Mick Leech/Damien Richardson	10
1968–69		22	14	3	5	56	28	31	2nd	W	3rd	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Mick Leech	19
1969–70		26	14	8	4	55	29	36	2nd	R1	Grp [C]	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Eric Barber	15
1970–71	[H]	26	14	7	5	49	38	35	2nd	R2	Grp [C]	DNQ		Damien Richardson	15
1971–72		26	12	4	10	52	41	28	5th	QF	Grp [C]	DNQ		Frank O'Neill	11
1972–73		26	12	6	8	45	32	30	5th	R2	RU [C]	DNQ		Mick Leech	10
1973–74		26	11	5	10	31	33	27	7th	R1	Grp	DNQ		Donal Murphy	12
1974–75		26	10	5	11	40	38	25	8th	QF	Grp	DNQ		Robbie Cooke	7
1975–76		26	4	7	15	27	49	15	14th	R1	R1	DNQ		Robbie Cooke	7
1976–77		26	7	3	16	26	46	17	11th	R1	W	DNQ		Mick Leech	8
1977–78		30	14	12	4	45	22	40	4th	W	Grp	DNQ		Ray Treacy	17
1978–79		30	17	3	10	45	25	37	5th	SF	RU	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R2	Ray Treacy	8
1979–80		30	14	10	6	61	29	38	4th	R4	SF	DNQ		Alan Campbell	22
1980–81		30	14	8	8	37	29	36	5th	R4	R1	DNQ		Liam Buckley	11
1981–82	[I]	30	21	3	6	50	23	76	2nd	QF	RU	DNQ		Liam Buckley	21
1982–83	[J]	26	10	8	8	39	25	38	6th	QF	Grp	UEFA Cup	R2	Liam Buckley	11
1983–84	[J]	26	19	4	3	64	15	42	1st	RU	Grp	DNQ		Alan Campbell	24
1984–85		30	22	5	3	63	21	49	1st	W	SF	European Cup	R1	Mick Byrne	12
1985–86	Premier	22	15	3	4	44	17	33	1st	W		European Cup	R1	Paul Doolin	11
1986–87	Premier	22	18	3	1	51	16	39	1st	W	RU	European Cup	R1	Mick Byrne	12
1987–88	Premier	33	16	9	8	53	30	41	4th	R4	RU	European Cup	R1	Mick Byrne	11
1988–89	Premier	33	8	13	12	34	42	29	7th	SF	QF	DNQ		Roddy Collins	8
1989–90	Premier	33	16	8	9	45	37	40	4th	R2	Grp	DNQ		Vinny Arkins	9
1990–91	Premier	33	14	9	10	51	37	37	6th	RU	SF	DNQ		Vinny Arkins	14
1991–92	Premier	33	9	15	9	33	30	33	6th	R1	Grp	DNQ		Derek Swan	7
1992–93	Premier [K]	32	8	12	12	39	35	28	8th	QF		DNQ		Derek Swan	8
1993–94	Premier	32	21	3	8	62	30	66	1st	R1		DNQ		Stephen Geoghegan	23
1994–95	Premier	33	14	9	10	45	36	51	6th	QF	QF	UEFA Cup	PR	Derek Tracey	8
1995–96	Premier	33	14	8	11	32	32	50	5th	QF		DNQ		Mark Reid	10
1996–97	Premier	33	10	13	10	43	46	43	7th	R2		DNQ		Tony Cousins	16
1997–98	Premier	33	14	10	9	41	32	52	4th	R2	Grp	DNQ		Tony Cousins	15
1998–99	Premier	33	9	13	11	34	40	40	8th	R1	RU	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R1	Jason Sherlock	8
1999–00	Premier	33	13	11	9	49	36	50	5th	R2	QF	DNQ		Billy Woods/Sean Francis	7
2000–01	Premier	33	10	12	11	50	47	42	7th	SF	QF	DNQ		Sean Francis	13
2001–02	Premier	33	17	6	10	54	32	57	2nd	SF	SF	DNQ		Sean Francis	14
2002–03	Premier	27	12	7	8	42	29	43	3rd	RU [L]	N/A [L]	UEFA Cup	QR	Noel Hunt	11
2003	Premier	36	10	14	12	45	46	44	7th	R2	QF	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R2	Trevor Molloy	9
2004	Premier	36	10	8	18	41	47	38	9th	R3	Grp	DNQ		Stephen Grant	6
2005	Premier	33	9	8	16	33	52	27	11th	QF	R2	DNQ		Paddy McCourt	7
2006	First	36	21	12	3	53	13	72	1st	SF	QF	DNQ		Tadhg Purcell	11
2007	Premier	33	14	9	10	36	26	51	5th	R2	SF	DNQ		Tadhg Purcell	12
2008	Premier	33	8	13	12	33	35	37	7th	R4	R2	DNQ		Padraig Amond	9
2009	Premier	36	21	10	5	51	27	73	2nd	QF	QF	DNQ		Gary Twigg	24
2010	Premier	36	19	10	7	57	34	67	1st	RU	SF	Europa League	QR	Gary Twigg	20
2011	Premier	36	23	8	5	69	24	77	1st	QF	R2	Europa League	Grp	Gary Twigg	15
2012	Premier	30	14	10	6	56	37	52	4th	QF	RU	Champions League	QR	Gary Twigg	22
2013	Premier	33	13	13	7	43	28	52	5th	SF	W	DNQ		Gary McCabe/Ronan Finn	8
2014	Premier	33	18	8	7	43	26	62	4th	SF	RU	DNQ		Gary McCabe/Eamon Zayed	8
2015	Premier	33	18	11	4	56	27	65	3rd	2R	SF	Europa League	QR	Michael Drennan	12
2016	Premier	33	16	7	10	46	34	55	4th	QF	SF	Europa League	QR	Gary McCabe	10
2017	Premier	33	17	3	13	49	34	54	3rd	SF	RU	Europa League	QR	Gary McCabe	15
2018	Premier	36	18	8	10	57	27	62	3rd	R1	R2	Europa League	QR	Graham Burke	13
2019	Premier	36	23	6	7	62	21	75	2nd	W	R2	Europa League	QR	Aaron Greene	11
2020	Premier	18	15	3	0	44	7	48	1st	RU	N/A	Europa League	QR	Jack Byrne	9
2021	Premier	36	24	6	6	59	28	78	1st	2R	N/A	Champions League	QR	Danny Mandroiu	15
2022	Premier	36	24	7	5	61	22	79	1st	QF	N/A	UEFA Europa Conference League	Grp	Graham Burke	11
2023	Premier	36	20	12	4	67	27	72	1st	R1	N/A	Champions League	R1	Graham Burke	12
2024	Premier	36	17	10	9	48	34	52	2nd	R2	N/A	UEFA Europa Conference League	Grp	Johnny Kenny	17

Key

Champions

Runners-up

Promoted

Relegated

Division shown in bold when it changes due to promotion or relegation. Top scorers shown in bold are players who finished the season as top scorer of their division.

Key to league record: P = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

Key to divisions: Premier = LOI Premier Division First = LOI First Division

Key to rounds: DNQ = Did not qualify QR = Qualifying Round PR = Preliminary Round R1 = First Round R2 = Second Round R3 = Third Round R4 = Fourth Round R5 = Fifth Round

Grp = Group Stage QF = Quarter-finals SF = Semi-finals RU = Runners-up W = Winners

Notes

A. ^ Prior to 1985 there was just one division. Six new teams were introduced for the 1985–86 season and the league was split into two divisions.

B. ^ Shamrock Rovers reached the final of the inaugural FAI Cup in 1921–22 as a Leinster Senior League side and lost to St. James's Gate in a replay.

C. ^ ^{a b c d e} The League of Ireland Shield was introduced in 1921 with the League of Ireland as League and FAI Cup fixtures were insufficient to last a full season. The club didn't compete in the inaugural Shield competition as it wasn't a member of the League. The competition usually comprised one round of fixtures, though it was also played over two rounds and on a knockout basis during certain seasons. The Shield was played on a sectional basis from 1969 to its abolition in 1973. The League of Ireland Cup replaced the Shield in 1973.

D. ^ Prior to UEFA's foundation in 1954, European competition was restricted to a number of different tournaments with limited entry which are not recognised as European Cups.

E. ^ Only League goals are counted, goals scored in other competitions are not included.

F. ^ Largest recorded attendance for a FAI Cup final of 44,238, Shamrock Rovers F.C. 1–0 Bohemian F.C., April 22 1945, Dalymount Park, Dublin.

G. ^{a b} While the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is considered to be the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, UEFA do not consider the tournament to be an official UEFA contest.

H. ^ Shamrock Rovers and Cork Hibernians were level on points at the end of the 1970–71 season. Cork Hibs won the resultant play-off for the title. The statistics above do not include that play-off.

I. ^ An experimental points system was operated for the 1981–82 season whereby a team was awarded four points for an away win, three points for a home win, two points for an away draw and one point for a home draw.

J. ^{a b} In 1982–83 three points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The system reverted the following season to the pre-1981–82 system, i.e. two points for a win and one point for a draw.

K. ^ In 1992–93 the Premier Division 'split' into two sections of six after the 22nd series of games had been played on 17 January. Rovers did not qualify for the top six and finished in second place of the bottom six (Group 'B') or eighth place overall.

L. ^{a b} The Premier Division was cut to 10 teams and shortened in length by maintaining only 3 rounds of fixtures in the 2002–03 season. The FAI Cup final was played in October '02 making it two FAI Cup finals in one year. The League Cup competition was not played. These measures were aimed at easing the transition from a "Winter schedule"(Autumn-Summer) to "Summer Soccer"(Spring-Winter).

References

Specific

1. Major competitions include the League of Ireland, the FAI Cup, the League of Ireland Shield/League Cup and all European competitions. Regional competitions like the Leinster Senior Cup and President's Cup, All-Ireland ones like the Intercity Cup and other minor tournaments in both junior and senior football are not included.
2. "eircom League history". FAI. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
3. "Roll of Honour". Shamrock Rovers Football Club. Archived from the original on 17 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
4. "Rovers invited to Munich commemoration". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
5. "(Republic of) Ireland League Tables". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
6. "Misery for Rovers as City clinch promotion". BreakingNews.ie. 25 November 2005. Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
7. "Shamrock Rovers". eircom league of ireland. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.

General

• "Ireland - List of Topscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
• The Hoops by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins ( ISBN   0-7171-2121-6)