The 2001–02 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 17th season of the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

. The division was made up of 12 teams. Shelbourne were crowned champions for the tenth time.

Regular season

The season saw each team playing three rounds of games, playing every other team three times, totalling 33 games. The 2002–03 season would see the

reduced from 12 to 10 teams. As a result, three teams were automatically relegated. The season is best remembered for the controversy involving allegations of St Patrick's Athletic fielding ineligible players. St. Pat's originally had 9 points deducted for fielding Paul Marney in the first three games of the season. This was later revoked after arbitration. However Shelbourne appealed against this decision which was taken to the High Court where the appeal was rejected. It was then discovered by the Shelbourne chief executive, Ollie Byrne, that Charles Livingstone Mbabazi had not been registered by St. Pat's for the first five games of the season and so the club had 15 points deducted, three points for each game. The decision of the FAI appeal board to dismiss St. Pat's appeal in the Livingstone case saw Shelbourne confirmed as league champions.

Final table

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Promotion/relegation play-off

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

who finished in ninth place played off against

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

, the third placed team from the

2001–02 League of Ireland First Division The 2001–02 League of Ireland First Division season was the 17th season of the League of Ireland First Division. Overview The First Division was contested by 10 teams and Drogheda United won the division. The 2002–03 season would see the Lea ...

1st leg

2nd leg

win 6-5 on penalties after extra time and retain their place in the Premier Division.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001-02 League of Ireland

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

League of Ireland Premier Division seasons