Airtricity Premier Series 1 Stats Focus
Credit:
With just over a third of the season gone, the 68 matches played in the Airtricity Premier Division have produced 159 goals scored at an average of 2.34 goals per game, slightly up on recent seasons where the average hovered around the two goal mark. 74 different players have scored to date.
St. Pat’s have scored more goals at home than any other side with 14, while Galway United have only hit the net on one occasion at Terryland Park. Shamrock Rovers have unsurprisingly got the tightest defence with only five goals conceded, yet second placed Sligo Rovers have matched them for clean sheets with eight apiece. The most frequent score has been a 1-0 away win, occurring on 12 separate occasions.
Golden Boot
An astonishing run of nine goals in five games has catapulted Sligo Rovers’ Eoin Doyle to the top of the Premier Division goalscorers’ chart. A trio of Derry City players are leading the chasing pack, with Eamon Zayed the only other player aside from Doyle to have bagged a hat-trick thus far. Gary Twigg’s third brace of the season on Friday night has the Scot right in the mix once more, while Republic of Ireland U19 international Conor Murphy has blazed a trail for Pat Devlin’s side, with five goals to his name already in his debut season with the Seagulls.
Sharing the Burden
Below is a table which shows how many players have scored for each team so far in the 2011 season. Unsurprisingly, the bottom two of Drogheda United and Galway United are the sides struggling to get a variety of names on the scoresheet. The fact that both clubs have only managed to score in five of their fourteen outings to date also leads us to believe that the bottom placings may well be decided by the remaining three fixtures between the sides, the next of which takes place on Thursday night in Galway.
Home or Away
The trend in recent years has been for home wins to generally outnumber away wins, but not by a large margin. Bohemians are the cause of the slight reversal in this statistic as they have only one home victory so far, yet they remarkably top the table on their travels with 17 points from a possible 21.
Fair play
Based on the data collected by our match reporters, Padraig Sutton has brandished more cards than any other referee in the division, with an average of 4.8 per game. Somewhat surprisingly given that only 11 reds have been shown, there have been 12 games that have seen six or more players booked.
UCD top the fair play league with only 15 yellows and a solitary red card collected, while Derry City have amassed 26 yellows as well as three reds. Galway United’s Shaun Kelly is the league’s most booked player with six cautions that have also led to him being sent off once.
St. Pat’s have scored more goals at home than any other side with 14, while Galway United have only hit the net on one occasion at Terryland Park. Shamrock Rovers have unsurprisingly got the tightest defence with only five goals conceded, yet second placed Sligo Rovers have matched them for clean sheets with eight apiece. The most frequent score has been a 1-0 away win, occurring on 12 separate occasions.
Golden Boot
An astonishing run of nine goals in five games has catapulted Sligo Rovers’ Eoin Doyle to the top of the Premier Division goalscorers’ chart. A trio of Derry City players are leading the chasing pack, with Eamon Zayed the only other player aside from Doyle to have bagged a hat-trick thus far. Gary Twigg’s third brace of the season on Friday night has the Scot right in the mix once more, while Republic of Ireland U19 international Conor Murphy has blazed a trail for Pat Devlin’s side, with five goals to his name already in his debut season with the Seagulls.
| Goalscorer | Goals |
|---|---|
| Eoin Doyle | 10 |
| Eamon Zayed | 7 |
| James McClean | 6 |
| Gareth McGlynn | 6 |
| Gary Twigg | 6 |
| Anto Flood | 5 |
| Conor Murphy | 5 |
| Jason Byrne | 5 |
Sharing the Burden
Below is a table which shows how many players have scored for each team so far in the 2011 season. Unsurprisingly, the bottom two of Drogheda United and Galway United are the sides struggling to get a variety of names on the scoresheet. The fact that both clubs have only managed to score in five of their fourteen outings to date also leads us to believe that the bottom placings may well be decided by the remaining three fixtures between the sides, the next of which takes place on Thursday night in Galway.
| Bohemians | 7 |
| Bray Wanderers | 8 |
| Derry City | 7 |
| Drogheda United | 5 |
| Dundalk | 8 |
| Galway United | 5 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 9 |
| Sligo Rovers | 7 |
| St. Pat’s Athletic | 9 |
| U.C.D | 9 |
Home or Away
The trend in recent years has been for home wins to generally outnumber away wins, but not by a large margin. Bohemians are the cause of the slight reversal in this statistic as they have only one home victory so far, yet they remarkably top the table on their travels with 17 points from a possible 21.
| Home Wins | 25 |
| Draws | 16 |
| Away Wins | 27 |
Fair play
Based on the data collected by our match reporters, Padraig Sutton has brandished more cards than any other referee in the division, with an average of 4.8 per game. Somewhat surprisingly given that only 11 reds have been shown, there have been 12 games that have seen six or more players booked.
UCD top the fair play league with only 15 yellows and a solitary red card collected, while Derry City have amassed 26 yellows as well as three reds. Galway United’s Shaun Kelly is the league’s most booked player with six cautions that have also led to him being sent off once.
About Alan Dooley
is one of Extratime's longest serving contributors. Based in County Galway, Alan has been following the League of Ireland since the mid-1980s. His first memory of the drama of domestic football was Vinny Arkins, then … View Full Profile