Dundalk entered the 2021 season as the FAI Cup holders, and were still the League of Ireland Cup holders, having won it in 2019, because of the competition not running in 2020. Having qualified for European football for the eighth season in a row, they were entered in the new UEFA Europa Conference League. 2021 was Dundalk's 13th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 86th in all, and their 95th in the League of Ireland.

Quick Facts season, Team Manager ...

Dundalk

2021 season
Team Manager	Shane Keegan (until 17 April) Jim Magilton (Interim from 19 April) Vinny Perth (from 16 June)
Premier Division	6th
FAI Cup	Semi final
President's Cup	Winners
Conference League	QR3
Top goalscorer	League: Patrick Hoban (12) All: Patrick Hoban (20)
Highest home attendance	3,600 (est) (Vs. Derry City, 19 November 2021)
Home colours Away colours
← 2020 2022 →

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Jim Magilton was the club's new Sporting Director going into the new term, having taken up the role at the end of the 2020 season. Shane Keegan was named the First Team Manager at the beginning of the season, replacing Interim Head Coach from 2020, Filippo Giovagnoli, who was retained as First Team Coach. Giovagnoli could not be named manager because he did not hold a UEFA Pro Licence.

For the second season in a row, both the League of Ireland Cup and the Leinster Senior Cup were deferred because of delays and restrictions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Having not been held in 2020, the President's Cup (the traditional season curtain-raiser) was played on 12 March between League Champions Shamrock Rovers and FAI Cup holders Dundalk. Dundalk won the match on penalties, 4–3, after it had finished 1–1 in 90 minutes.^[2]

The league season started a week later on 19 March 2021 and after a run of defeats at the start of the league campaign, which saw Dundalk lie second from bottom after five matches, both Keegan and Giovagnoli resigned. Sporting Director Jim Magilton assumed a caretaker manager role, pending the appointment of a new manager.^[3] On 16 June, Vinny Perth, who had been sacked midway through the previous season, returned to the club as manager.^[4] They continued to struggle in the league and were briefly threatened with a promotion/relegation play-off,^[5] before recovering somewhat to end the season in sixth place.^[6]

In the FAI Cup, a run of six appearances in a row in the final (a joint record for the competition) was ended when they were knocked out at the semi-final stage by St Patrick's Athletic, managed by former captain Stephen O'Donnell.^[7]

In Europe, they defeated Newtown A.F.C. of Wales in the first qualifying round of the new Europa Conference League 5–0 on aggregate, which included a club European record equaling 4–0 victory in the first leg.^[8] In the second qualifying round, they overcame Levadia Tallinn 4–3 on aggregate with Will Patching scoring a stoppage time winner in the second leg in Estonia.^[9] They were knocked out in the third qualifying round by Vitesse Arnhem, 4–3 on aggregate, after a 2–1 defeat in the second leg at 'home' in Tallaght Stadium, which saw a Michael Duffy goal after 40 seconds incorrectly disallowed for offside.^[10]

Before the season ended, the club was returned to local ownership when a consortium led by former co-owner Andy Connolly and sports technology firm STATSports agreed a takeover with Peak6. Sporting Director Jim Magilton left the club in the aftermath of the takeover.^[11]

First-Team Squad (2021)

Sources:^[12][13][14] Note: Substitute appearances in brackets

More information No., Name ...

No.	Name	DOB	Pos.	Debut	League		FAI Cup		Europe		Others		Totals
					Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	Alessio Abibi	4 December 1996	GK	2021	20	0	1	0	6	0	1	0	28	0
3	Brian Gartland	4 November 1986	DF	2013	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
4	Andy Boyle	7 March 1991	DF	2013	35	1	4	0	6	0	1	0	46	1
5	Chris Shields[lower-alpha 1]	27 December 1990	MF	2012	16	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	17	3
6	Sonni Nattestad	5 August 1994	DF	2021	8 (5)	0	1 (1)	0	6	0	1	1	22	1
7	Michael Duffy	28 July 1994	MF	2017	31 (3)	4	3	1	4	2	0	0	41	7
8	Sam Stanton	19 April 1994	MF	2021	25 (4)	1	4	0	6	0	1	0	40	1
9	Patrick Hoban	28 July 1991	FW	2013	26 (1)	12	4	7	1 (2)	1	0 (1)	0	35	20
10	Greg Sloggett	3 July 1996	MF	2020	21 (8)	1	4 (1)	0	3 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	39	1
11	Patrick McEleney	26 September 1992	MF	2016	17 (4)	2	0 (1)	1	6	2	1	0	29	5
12	Cameron Yates	14 February 1999	GK	2021	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
13	Raivis Jurkovskis	7 December 1996	DF	2021	26 (2)	0	4 (1)	0	5 (1)	0	1	0	40	0
14	Peter Cherrie	1 October 1983	GK	2009	15	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	18	0
15	Darragh Leahy	15 April 1998	DF	2020	18 (5)	0	3 (1)	0	6	0	1	0	34	0
16	Seán Murray	11 October 1993	MF	2019	17 (10)	6	4	2	0 (3)	0	0	0	34	8
17	Ole Erik Midtskogen[lower-alpha 2]	12 April 1995	FW	2021	5 (7)	1	1	0	0 (3)	0	0	0	16	1
17	Sami Ben Amar[lower-alpha 3]	2 March 1998	FW	2021	8 (6)	1	2 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	17	2
18	Will Patching[lower-alpha 4]	18 October 1998	MF	2020	15 (1)	0	3 (1)	0	5	3	0	0	25	3
19	Wilfried Zahibo[lower-alpha 5]	21 August 1993	MF	2021	6 (6)	0	1 (1)	0	1 (4)	0	0	0	19	0
20	Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe[lower-alpha 6]	3 March 1994	FW	2021	5 (7)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	13	2
21	Daniel Cleary	9 March 1996	DF	2018	24	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	27	1
23	Cameron Dummigan	2 June 1996	DF	2019	26 (3)	0	5	0	1 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	37	0
24	Mayowa Animasahun[lower-alpha 7]	8 August 2003	DF	2021	0 (6)	0	1 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
25	Val Adedokun[lower-alpha 8]	14 February 2003	MF	2020	4 (2)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	8	0
27	Daniel Kelly	21 May 1996	MF	2019	12 (7)	3	1 (1)	0	5 (1)	0	0	0	27	3
28	Ryan O'Kane	16 August 2003	MF	2021	1 (7)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	10	0
29	David McMillan	14 December 1988	FW	2015	9 (11)	4	1 (1)	0	5 (1)	3	1	0	29	7
77	Jeongwoo Han[lower-alpha 9]	26 December 1998	FW	2021	6 (7)	1	2	1	0 (2)	1	0	0	17	3
90	Jesús Pérez[lower-alpha 10]	1 October 1997	MF	2021	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0

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1. transferred to Linfield on 1 July 2021
2. departed club 13 August 2021
3. signed for the club 17 August 2021
4. on loan at Derry City until 1 July 2021
5. signed 17 April 2021
6. on loan to Derry City as of 1 July 2021
7. signed professional contract on 10 August 2021
8. transferred to Brentford on 24 August 2021
9. signed 25 March 2021
10. on loan to Forward Madison as of 1 July 2021

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 12 DF  IRL Andrew Quinn (at Bray Wanderers until 31 December 2021) 20 FW  ENG Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe (at Derry City until 31 December 2021) 22 MF  USA Taner Dogan (at Forward Madison until 31 December 2021) 90 MF  USA Jesús Pérez (at Forward Madison until 31 December 2021) — DF  CAN Terique Mohammed (at York United until 31 December 2021)

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  Win   Draw   Loss

President's Cup

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

12 March 2021	Shamrock Rovers	1–1 (3–4 p)	Dundalk	Tallaght Stadium
19:45 GMT	Danny Mandroiu  22' Liam Scales 47' Chris McCann  59' Joey O'Brien  60'	Report	Raivis Jurkovskis  26' Daniel Cleary  32' Sonni Nattestad 42' Sonni Nattestad  59' Chris Shields  60'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Damien MacGraith
	Penalties
	Dylan Watts Aaron Greene Joey O'Brien Rory Gaffney Graham Burke Roberto Lopes		Patrick Hoban Greg Sloggett Daniel Cleary Chris Shields Andy Boyle Darragh Leahy

Premier Division

Sligo Rovers v Dundalk

20 March 2021 Round 1	Sligo Rovers	1–1	Dundalk	The Showgrounds
18:00	Romeo Parkes 23'	Report	Patrick McEleney 16'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Neil Doyle

Dundalk v Finn Harps

26 March 2021 Round 2	Dundalk	1–2	Finn Harps	Oriel Park
17:45	Patrick Hoban 48'	Report	Adam Foley 43', 63'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Derek Tomney

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

2 April 2021 Round 3	Shamrock Rovers	2–1	Dundalk	Tallaght Stadium
19:45	Danny Mandroiu 35' Dylan Watts 76'	Report	Patrick Hoban 89'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Paul McLoughlin

Dundalk v Bohemians

9 April 2021 Round 4	Dundalk	0–1	Bohemians	Oriel Park
19:45		Report	Georgie Kelly 13' (pen.)	Attendance: 0 Referee: Rob Harvey

Dundalk v St Patrick's Athletic

17 April 2021 Round 5	Dundalk	1–1	St Patrick's Athletic	Oriel Park
18:00	Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe 85'	Report	Sam Bone 59'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Damien MacGraith

Derry City v Dundalk

20 April 2021 Round 6	Derry City	1–1	Dundalk	Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium
19:45	Cameron McJannet 61'	Report	David McMillan 54'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Rob Hennessy

Dundalk v Drogheda United

24 April 2021 Round 7	Dundalk	2–1	Drogheda United	Oriel Park
18:00	David McMillan 24' Jeongwoo Han 71'	Report	Chris Lyons 90'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Adriano Reale

Waterford v Dundalk

30 April 2021 Round 8	Waterford	0–3	Dundalk	Waterford Regional Sports Centre
19:45		Report	Andy Boyle 25' Chris Shields 43' (pen.) Michael Duffy 46'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Derek Tomney

Longford Town v Dundalk

3 May 2021 Round 9	Longford Town	2–2	Dundalk	Bishopsgate
17:45	Dylan Grimes 6' Rob Manley 14'	Report	Junior 20' Chris Shields 81'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Damien MacGraith

Dundalk v Sligo Rovers

7 May 2021 Round 10	Dundalk	0–1	Sligo Rovers	Oriel Park
19:45		Report	Jordan Gibson 39' Garry Buckley  53'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Robert Hennessy

Finn Harps v Dundalk

14 May 2021 Round 11	Finn Harps	1–1	Dundalk	Finn Park
17:45	Barry McNamee 19'	Report	Ole Erik Midstkogen 49'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Neil Doyle

Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers

21 May 2021 Round 12	Dundalk	2–1	Shamrock Rovers	Oriel Park
19:45	Patrick McEleney 11' Daniel Kelly 59'	Report	Joey O'Brien 13'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Rob Harvey

Bohemians v Dundalk

24 May 2021 Round 13	Bohemians	5–1	Dundalk	Dalymount Park
17:45	Georgie Kelly 5', 50', 64' Tyreke Wilson 51' Promise Omochere 90' Tyreke Wilson  51'	Report	Greg Sloggett 80' Cameron Dummigan  74'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Ben Connolly

St Patrick's Athletic v Dundalk

28 May 2021 Round 14	St Patrick's Athletic	0–2	Dundalk	Richmond Park
19:45		Report	Sam Bone o.g. 32' David McMillan 51'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Neil Doyle

Dundalk v Waterford

12 June 2021 Round 15	Dundalk	1–3	Waterford	Oriel Park
19:45	Patrick Hoban 30' (pen.)	Report	John Martin 44', 75' Shane Griffin 62'	Attendance: 100 Referee: John McLoughlin

Dundalk v Longford Town

19 June 2021 Round 16	Dundalk	1–1	Longford Town	Oriel Park
19:45	Chris Shields 28'	Report	Aaron McNally 12'	Attendance: 100 Referee: Robert Hennessy

Drogheda United v Dundalk

21 June 2021 Round 17	Drogheda United	0–1	Dundalk	Head In The Game Park
19:45		Report	Michael Duffy 35'	Attendance: 100 Referee: Graham Kelly

Dundalk v Derry City

25 June 2021 Round 18	Dundalk	2–1	Derry City	Oriel Park
19:45	Daniel Kelly 36' Patrick Hoban 56' (pen.)	Report	Eoin Toal 60'	Attendance: 100 Referee: Rob Harvey

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

2 July 2021 Round 19	Shamrock Rovers	3–1	Dundalk	Tallaght Stadium
19:45	Liam Scales 37' Sean Gannon 45' Aaron Greene 75'	Report	Patrick Hoban 11'	Attendance: 1000 Referee: Damien MacGraith

Dundalk v Finn Harps

17 July 2021 Round 20	Dundalk	1–0	Finn Harps	Oriel Park
16:00	David McMillan 33'	Report		Attendance: 200 Referee: Rob Harvey

Dundalk v St Patrick's Athletic

8 August 2021 Round 21	Dundalk	1–4	St Patrick's Athletic	Oriel Park
15:00	Patrick Hoban 25'	Report	Melvin-Lambert 11' Smith 41', 79' Forrester 71' (pen.)	Attendance: 200 Referee: Rob Harvey

Derry City v Dundalk

15 August 2021 Round 22	Derry City	1–0	Dundalk	Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium
15:00	McGonigle 50' (pen.)	Report		Attendance: 1,150 Referee: Damien MacGraith

Dundalk v Drogheda United

20 August 2021 Round 23	Dundalk	1–2	Drogheda United	Oriel Park
19:45	Michael Duffy 58'	Report	Mark Doyle 35', 56'	Attendance: 500 Referee: Ben Connolly

Waterford v Dundalk

3 September 2021 Round 24	Waterford	1–1	Dundalk	Waterford Regional Sports Centre
19:45	Wordsworth 77'	Report	Sean Murray 5'	Attendance: 1,800 (est) Referee: John McLoughlin

Longford Town v Dundalk

11 September 2021 Round 25	Longford Town	1–0	Dundalk	Bishopsgate
19:30	O'Driscoll 45' Robinson  56' Manley  85'	Report	Jeongwoo Han  90'	Attendance: 1,000 (est) Referee: Derek Tomney

Sligo Rovers v Dundalk

15 September 2021 Round 26	Sligo Rovers	2–1	Dundalk	The Showgrounds
19:45	Andre Wright 20' Lewis Banks 52'	Report	Patrick Hoban 18'	Attendance: 1,650 Referee: Ben Connolly

Dundalk v Sligo Rovers

24 September 2021 Round 27	Dundalk	4–1	Sligo Rovers	Oriel Park
19:45	Sean Murray 12', 20' Patrick Hoban 63', 90'	Report	Johnny Kenny 14'	Attendance: 1,800 Referee: Robert Harvey

Dundalk v Bohemians

27 September 2021 Round 28	Dundalk	2–1	Bohemians	Oriel Park
19:45	Sam Stanton 44' Patrick Hoban 58'	Report	Tyreke Wilson 71'	Attendance: 1,800 Referee: Neil Doyle

Finn Harps v Dundalk

1 October 2021 Round 29	Finn Harps	2–2	Dundalk	Finn Park
20:00	Tunde Owolabi 18', 68'	Report	Michael Duffy 59' Patrick Hoban 62' (pen.)	Attendance: 1,500 (est) Referee: Adriano Reale

Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers

8 October 2021 Round 30	Dundalk	1–0	Shamrock Rovers	Oriel Park
19:45	Sean Murray 32'	Report		Attendance: 1,800 Referee: Rob Harvey

Bohemians v Dundalk

15 October 2021 Round 31	Bohemians	1–1	Dundalk	Dalymount Park
19:45	Georgie Kelly 90' (pen.)	Report	Sami Ben Amar 30'	Attendance: 2,400 (est) Referee: Damien MacGraith

St Patrick's Athletic v Dundalk

25 October 2021 Round 32	St Patrick's Athletic	1–0	Dundalk	Richmond Park
19:45	Billy King 26'	Report		Attendance: 1,500 (est) Referee: Graham Kelly

Dundalk v Waterford

29 October 2021 Round 33	Dundalk	1–0	Waterford	Oriel Park
19:45	Daniel Kelly 45'	Report		Attendance: 2,400 (est) Referee: John McLoughlin

Drogheda United v Dundalk

5 November 2021 Round 34	Drogheda United	0–1	Dundalk	Head In The Game Park
19:45		Report	Daniel Cleary 86'	Attendance: 1,861 Referee: Rob Harvey

Dundalk v Longford Town

7 November 2021 Round 35	Dundalk	2–0	Longford Town	Oriel Park
17:00	Patrick Hoban 46' Sean Murray 53'	Report		Attendance: 2,000 (est) Referee: Adriano Reale

Dundalk v Derry City

19 November 2021 Round 36	Dundalk	1–2	Derry City	Oriel Park
19:45	Sean Murray 33'	Report	Ciaron Harkin 45' Jamie McGonigle 52'	Attendance: 3,600 (est) Referee: Neil Doyle

League table

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shamrock Rovers (C)	36	24	6	6	59	28	+31	78	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	St Patrick's Athletic	36	18	8	10	56	42	+14	62	Qualification to Europa Conference League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3	Sligo Rovers	36	16	9	11	43	32	+11	57	Qualification to Europa Conference League first qualifying round
4	Derry City	36	14	12	10	49	42	+7	54
5	Bohemians	36	14	10	12	60	46	+14	52
6	Dundalk	36	13	9	14	44	46	−2	48
7	Drogheda United	36	12	8	16	45	43	+2	44
8	Finn Harps	36	11	11	14	44	52	−8	44
9	Waterford (R)	36	12	6	18	36	56	−20	42	Qualification to Relegation play-offs
10	Longford Town (R)	36	2	9	25	22	71	−49	15	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Close

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[15]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the 2021 FAI Cup (St Patrick's Athletic) qualified for European competition based on their league position, the final spot awarded to the Cup winner passed to the next best-placed team i.e fourth-placed team.

FAI Cup

Treaty United v Dundalk

25 July 2021 Round 1	Treaty United	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Dundalk	Markets Field
14:00		Report	Patrick McEleney 104'	Attendance: 200 Referee: Neil Doyle

Dundalk v St Mochta's

27 August 2021 Round 2	Dundalk	5–1	St Mochta's	Oriel Park
19:45	Sami Ben Amar 8' Patrick Hoban 51' (pen.), 52', 61' Jeongwoo Han 73'	Report	McCaffrey 12'	Attendance: 500 Referee: Graeham Kelly

Finn Harps v Dundalk

17 September 2021 Quarter-final	Finn Harps	3–3	Dundalk	Finn Park
20:00	Tunde Owolabi 25' Jordan Mustoe  28' Sean Boyd 84', 90'	Report	Patrick Hoban 29' (pen.), 65' Sean Murray 39'	Attendance: 1,690 Referee: Damien MacGraith

Dundalk v Finn Harps

21 September 2021 QF Replay	Dundalk	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Finn Harps	Finn Park
19:45	Sean Murray 39' Patrick Hoban 97' (pen.) Michael Duffy 105'	Report	Sean Boyd 6'	Attendance: 2,000 (est) Referee: Ben Connolly

St Patrick's Athletic v Dundalk

22 October 2021 Semi-final	St Patrick's Athletic	3–1	Dundalk	Richmond Park
19:45	Billy King 26' Matty Smith 57' Darragh Burns 86'	Report	Patrick Hoban 41'	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Neil Doyle

Europa Conference League

First qualifying round

Dundalk v Newtown

8 July 2021 1st Leg	Dundalk	4–0	Newtown	Oriel Park
17:45	Michael Duffy 32' David McMillan 38' Will Patching 62' Jeongwoo Han 90'	Report		Attendance: 120 Referee: Barbeno Luca (San Marino)

Newtown v Dundalk

13 July 2021 2nd Leg	Newtown	0–1	Dundalk	Park Hall, Oswestry
17:45	Michael Duffy 52'	Report		Attendance: 174 Referee: Andrei Chivulete (Romania)

Dundalk won 5–0 on aggregate.

Second qualifying round

Dundalk v Levadia Tallinn

22 July 2021 1st Leg	Dundalk	2–2	Levadia Tallinn	Tallaght Stadium
20:00	Will Patching 3' David McMillan 27'	Report	Bogdan Vaštšuk 2', 19'	Attendance: 880 Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (Czechia)

Levadia Tallinn v Dundalk

29 July 2021 2nd Leg	Levadia Tallinn	1–2	Dundalk	A. Le Coq Arena
17:30	Ernest Agyiri 17'	Report	David McMillan 44' Will Patching 90'	Attendance: 1,875 Referee: Thorvaldur Árnason (Iceland)

Dundalk won 4–3 on aggregate.

Third qualifying round

Vitesse Arnhem v Dundalk

5 August 2021 1st Leg	Vitesse Arnhem	2–2	Dundalk	GelreDome
18:00	Bero 20' Openda 89' Openda  90'	Report	McEleney 65', 76'	Attendance: 8,756 Referee: Anastasios Papapetrou (Greece)

Dundalk v Vitesse Arnhem

12 August 2021 2nd Leg	Dundalk	1–2	Vitesse Arnhem	Tallaght Stadium
20:00	Hoban 71' (pen.)	Report	Bero 28' Gboho 38'	Attendance: 1,475 Referee: Alain Durieux (Luxembourg)

Dundalk lost 4–3 on aggregate.