First Division Season Club-by-Club Review

The First Division play offs are this weekend but how did we get here? In this article Tom O’Connor has gone through each team giving an brief outline of how the season went and who got the goals, assists and cleans sheets in this coronavirus shortened league campaign. 

Assists have the potential to be subjective so if you find a discrepancy with our figures please let us know - extratimelive@gmail.com.

Drogheda United (First Division Winners)

Top scorer: Mark Doyle (13)

Top assists: Jake Hyland (6)

Clean sheets: David Odumosu (6)

Following play-off defeats to Finn Harps in the last two seasons, Drogheda were amongst the favourites for the First Division title this year and Tim Clancy’s men didn’t disappoint. Spearheaded by the goals of Mark Doyle, the Boynesiders suffered only three defeats all season.

They leapfrogged Bray Wanderers in the final couple of games to take the First Division title on the final night of the season.

While they averaged over two goals a game (39 across 18 league games), credit must also go to their defence with rookie former Dundalk under-19 ‘keeper David Odomosu saving two penalties and full backs James Brown and Conor Kane a constant menace down the flanks.

Bray Wanderers (Runners Up)

Top Scorer: Gary Shaw (7)

Top assists: Dylan Barnett (11)

Clean sheets: Brian Maher (10)

The Seagulls invested in a blend of youth and experience for 2020 with the evergreen Paul Keegan and the much travelled Gary Shaw complementing Irish underage internationals Brian Maher and Seán McEvoy as the headline signings at the Carlisle Grounds.

With 13 games gone Gary Cronin’s men had accumulated 29 points - nine wins and two draws - meaning that they were a point clear of Drogheda at the summit of the table.



However, ultimately it was a defeat to their aforementioned title rivals which saw the Wicklow side relinquish first place and, despite recording three wins in their final four games, it was in second place they remained.

They now face Galway in the Carlisle Grounds this weekend and a match preview can be found here:

UCD AFC (3rd)

Top Scorer: Yoyo Mahdy (15)

Top assists: Liam Kerrigan (7)

Clean sheets: Lorcan Healy (5)

With just the one win from their opening four matches, including a heavy 5-1 defeat away to Drogheda United, the Students began the 2020 season in a manner which wouldn’t suggest promotion contenders.

Since then though, the Belfield Bowl outfit have outscored every team in the league - finishing top scorers with 44 goals and have a pair of forwards with almost 30 goals between them.

Former Waterford FC Academy product Colm Whelan netted 14 in his debut season with the experienced Yoyo Mahdy recording 15.  

With 8-0, 6-0 and 5-1 scorelines and netting in 15 of their 18 league games (nine wins, three draws and six defeats), it’s unlikely that their play-off fixture against Longford will be a goalless bore. For a full preview of this weekend’s fixture see here:

Longford Town (4th)

Top Scorer: Rob Manley (9)

Top assists: Shane Elworthy, Rob Manley, Dean Byrne (3)

Clean sheets: Lee Steacy (7)

Having appointed Daire Doyle as manager at the end of last season and keeping many of those who had narrowly missed out on promotion in 2019, hopes were high that the Midlanders would return to the Premier Division for 2020.

Last season’s miserly defence was enhanced with the signing of Dylan Hand from Dundalk, while the 2019 First Division top goalscorer Rob Manley joined the attack.

They started the season in excellent form, keeping five clean sheets in their opening six league games - winning four of those matches. However, a 3-1 defeat to rivals Cabinteely saw Longford go on a run of only two wins in six games in the middle section of the season.

They finished with three wins from their final six games to at least ensure a play-off spot against UCD - a team they beat 3-1 in their most recent fixture.

Galway United (5th)

Top Scorer: Carlton Ubaezuono (4) 

Top assists: Shane Duggan (5)

Clean sheets: Kevin Horgan (4), Micheál Schlingermann (1), Matt Connnor (1)

Where to begin? United began the regular season with a postponement against Athlone due to heavy rain and finished by earning a play-off spot a day after the First Division had finished.

In between, they parted company with manager and club legend Alan Murphy, appointed league and cup winning manager John Caulfield as the new boss, won games in the final minute, came from 2-0 down to win a match 6-2 and rescued a draw in the final minute of the final game courtesy of a 25 yard strike from Shane Duggan.

That was a point which ultimately earned them a play-off position. One has to imagine the Galway United story of 2020 has more to be written.

Cabinteely (6th)

Top Scorer: Shane Barnes (5) 

Top assists: Kieran Marty Waters (5)

Clean sheets: Mick Kelly (3), Corey Chambers (2)

If a season was ever defined by one result, it was Cabinteely’s 3-0 loss against UCD in their eighth game of the season. After seven games, Pat Devlin’s side had recorded six wins and a draw, recording four clean sheets along the way, three from Mick Kelly.

The influential goalkeeper suffered a season ending injury before that UCD game and they went on to record one clean sheet in their final 11 games - though it must be noted that deputy Corey Chambers put in a number of impressive performances.

On top of this, what began with 14 goals in the opening seven league games finished with a total of 22 goals in 18 league games.

One win in their final five league matches was ultimately not enough to see the Stradbrook men cling onto their playoff place, though it took an arbitration hearing on Wednesday to reinstate Wexford’s original match results that ended their playoff hopes to compound a miserable end to the season.

Cobh Ramblers (7th)

Top Scorer: Charlie Lyons (4)

Top assists: Dave Hurley (9)

Clean sheets: Seán Barron (8), Paul Hunt (1)

When your top scorer is a defender with four goals, a play-off position is always a big stretch. However, Stuart Ashton’s troops almost achieved such a feat courtesy of a string of clean sheets from summer signing Seán Barron. The former Avondale Utd and Waterford GAA stopper recorded eight clean sheets in a dozen league games.

It was the slow start of the Rams with one win in their opening six games. Many of their 23 goals came from set pieces and on only four occasions did they score more than once.  

Shamrock Rovers II (8th)

Top Scorer: Brandon Kavanagh (9)

Top assists: Brandon Kavanagh (5)

Clean sheets: Kian Clarke (2), Leon Pohls, Alex Moody (1)

All eyes were going to be on Shamrock Rovers II during this season to see how the second incarnation of a Hoops B team would turn out in the First Division.

Aside from the odd senior player inclusion when the likes of Liam Scales (one game) and Seán Kavanagh (twice) were included in the team to improve their match fitness, Aidan Price’s squad generally relied on young players to give them game time at adult level while playing a passing style of football.

The statistics indicate that Brandon Kavanagh had a strong season - both Kavanagh and Thomas Oluwa also made a substitute appearance each with the senior side while Dean Williams made eight sub appearances and one start with Stephen Bradley’s team.

Rovers can take lots of positives from the season and their players will have benefitted from their playing experience.

Athlone Town (9th)

Top Scorer: Ronan Manning (8)

Top assists: Ronan Manning (5)

Clean sheets: Aaron Myles (2)

Much like Brandon Kavanagh of Shamrock Rovers II, Ronan Manning carried the scoring threat for Athlone Town as well as providing most assists courtesy of his dead ball prowess. The former Galway United Academy player and Republic of Ireland schools international was a shining light for Adrian Carberry’s side.

Another bright spark was winger Adam Lennon, who recorded three assists in his first season operating at this level. He was a member of the successful Leinster Schoolboys team who won the interprovincial series last November alongside his Athlone Town team mate Jack Reynolds.

Between the two teenagers, they recorded five league goals (Reynolds got three with Lennon two) in 2020.

Wexford FC (10th)

Top Scorer: Karl Fitzsimons (4)

Top assists: Conor Crowley (4)

Clean sheets: Tom Murphy (2)

With the backbone of a number of former UCD players, including Tom Murphy, Dan Tobin and Conor Crowley, and with the addition of attacking talent such as Kaleem Simon Strawbridge and the return of Jack Doherty, Brian O’Sullivan’s Wexford side had some experienced characters in their 2020 squad.

However scoring only 13 goals in 18 games and keeping just two clean sheets resulted in the side battling at the bottom end of the table. Wins over Cabinteely (5-1), Athlone Town (3-1) and Longford Town (2-1), coupled with draws against UCD (1-1), Cabinteely (0-0) and Galway (0-0) indicated the potential in the squad.

However, 2020 will be remembered by fans of Wexford, Cabinteely and Galway for the off field result of last Wednesday.   

    About Tom O'Connor

    Dundalk based reporter following the league since Monaghan United’s goalless draw against Athlone Town in 1996. Special interest in education and underage football. Shortlisted for the 2018 FAI Communications Award for series on Life beyond … View Full Profile