1961–62 Irish League
# 1961–62 Irish League

The 1961–62 Irish League was the 61st edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 12 teams, and Linfield won the championship after a 3-1 playoff win over Portadown.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Linfield (C) | 22 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 62 | 32 | 1.938 | 31 | Qualification for the European Cup preliminary round |
| 2 | Portadown | 22 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 56 | 32 | 1.750 | 31 | Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 3 | Ballymena United | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 47 | 32 | 1.469 | 29 | |
| 4 | Ards | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 46 | 38 | 1.211 | 27 | |
| 5 | Glenavon | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 62 | 43 | 1.442 | 26 | |
| 6 | Crusaders | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 42 | 43 | 0.977 | 25 | |
| 7 | Glentoran | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 45 | 35 | 1.286 | 25 | |
| 8 | Distillery | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 56 | 62 | 0.903 | 20 | |
| 9 | Coleraine | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 37 | 39 | 0.949 | 18 | |
| 10 | Derry City | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 22 | 38 | 0.579 | 14 | |
| 11 | Bangor | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 31 | 56 | 0.554 | 13 | |
| 12 | Cliftonville | 22 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 17 | 73 | 0.233 | 5 | |

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARD | BAN | BLM | CLI | COL | CRU | DIS | DER | GLV | GLT | LIN | POR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ards | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–1 |
| Bangor | 2–0 | | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 2–6 |
| Ballymena United | 1–2 | 2–1 | | 7–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–3 |
| Cliftonville | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–3 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–5 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–5 | 0–4 |
| Coleraine | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | | 4–1 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Crusaders | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 3–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–4 |
| Distillery | 2–2 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 6–0 | 4–2 | 2–3 | | 2–3 | 2–2 | 4–3 | 4–6 | 2–1 |
| Derry City | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Glenavon | 5–2 | 5–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 7–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 4–0 | | 2–3 | 2–1 | 3–4 |
| Glentoran | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 4–4 | | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Linfield | 3–2 | 4–1 | 6–1 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 9–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 2–1 |
| Portadown | 3–3 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 | |

## Top scorers (including play-off)

| Pos | Player | Club | Pld | Goals |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mick Lynch | Ards | 22 | 20 |
| 2 | Eamon Gorman | Portadown | 23 | 19 |
| = | Joe Meldrum | Distillery | 21 | 19 |
| 4 | Billy Johnston | Glenavon | 19 | 18 |
| = | Trevor Thompson | Glentoran | 21 | 18 |
| 6 | Tommy Dickson | Linfield | 22 | 17 |
| = | Jimmy Jones | Glenavon | 20 | 17 |
| = | Jimmy Small | Ballymena United | 17 | 17 |
| 9 | Ken Hamilton | Distillery | 22 | 16 |
| 10 | Hugh Barr | Linfield | 18 | 12 |
| = | Roy Torrens | Derry City | 19 | 12 |
| = | Jim Weatherup | Crusaders | 22 | 12 |
