Northern Ireland Players with Twenty-plus Goals in a Season

A list of (Northern) Ireland players to have scored more than twenty goals in a Football League/Premier League season...

• The top scoring Northern Ireland in the Football League was Derek Dougan with 222 goals. He twice topped 20 goals in a season across his 18 season career.
• Jimmy Dunne scored 20+ goals on four occasions, more than any other Ireland international. These were all in the top-flight in four consecutive seasons.
• Colin Clarke scored 20+ goals in three consecutive seasons in three different Divisions.
• Peter Doherty is the only player to have scored 20+ goals for a relegated team (Manchester City in 1937/38. He also the only player to have scored 20+ goals before and after the Second World War.
• Only one player who was not capped at full level appears on the list below, Under-21 international Billy Kee.
• All stats to the end of the 2020/21 season.

Season	Team	Tier	App	Gls
George Best	63/64-81/82		411	147
1967/68	Man. United	(I)	41	28	t
Bobby.Campbell	73/74-87/88		476	179
1981/82	Bradford C.	(IV)	45	24		P
1982/83	Bradford C.	(III)	40	25
1984/85	Bradford C.	(III)	46	23		C
Colin Clarke	80/81-92/93		398	134
1984/85	Tranmere R.	(IV)	45	22
1985/86	Bournemouth	(III)	46	26
1986/87	Southampton	(I)	33	20
Johnny Crossan	80/81-92/93		398	134
1963/64	Sunderland	(II)	42	22		P
Hugh Davey	23/24-27/28		111	71
1923/24	Bournemouth	(III)	34	20
1925/26	Reading	(III)	24	24		C
Tom Davis	32/33-37/38		163	108
1933/34	New Brighton	(III)	35	24
1934/35	New Brighton	(III)	42	26
1936/37	Oldham A.	(III)	39	33
Peter Doherty	33/34-52/53		406	197
1936/37	Manchester C.	(I)	41	30
1937/38	Manchester C.	(I)	41	23		R
1949/50	Doncaster R.	(III)	35	27	t	C
Jack Doran	20/21-23/24		92	46
1920/21	Brighton & HA	(III)	40	21
1921/22	Brighton & HA	(III)	31	23
Derek Dougan	57/58-74/75		546	222
1963/64	Peterboro’ U.	(III)	38	20
1966/67	Leicester C.	(I)	31	16	25
	Wolves	(II)	11	9
Jimmy Dunne	25/26-36/37		245	173
1929/30	Sheffield U.	(I)	39	36
1930/31	Sheffield U.	(I)	41	41
1931/32	Sheffield U.	(I)	37	33
1932/33	Sheffield U.	(I)	40	26
Stuart Elliott	02/03-08/09		223	67
2004/05	Hull City	(III)	36	27	t	P
Will Grigg	08/09-date		376	117
2014/15	MK Dons	(III)	44	20		P
2015/16	Wigan A.	(III)	40	25	t	C
Terry Harkin	62/63-70/71		261	126
1964/65	Crewe A.	(IV)	42	35	*
1967/68	Southport	(III)	41	21
Willie Irvine	62/63-72/73		286	133
1964/65	Burnley	(I)	33	22
1965/66	Burnley	(I)	42	29		t
Billy Kee (U21)	09/10-18/19		379	127
2017/18	Accrington St.	(IV)	46	25		C
Andy Kirk	04/05-07/08		150	52
2004/05	Boston U.	(IV)	25	18	25
	Northampton	(IV)	8	7
Ian Lawther	59/60-75/76		598	180
1960/61	Sunderland	(II)	37	24
1964/65	Scunthorpe U.	(III)	22	13	24
	Brentford	(III)	23	11
Davy Boy Martin	34/35-38/39		132	74
1936/37	Nott'm Forest	(II)	37	29
Billy McAdams	53/54-67/68		343	147
1959/60	Manchester C.	(I)	30	22
1962/63	Brentford	(IV)	34	22		C
Jimmy McCambridge	30/31-36/37		194	92
1931/32	Cardiff C.	(III)	38	26
Sammy McCrory	46/47-59/60		457	188
1950/51	Ipswich T.	(III)	45	21	±
1957/58	Southend U.	(III)	38	30		t
Jimmy.McLaughlin	60/61-73/74		461	126
1960/61	Shrewsbury T.	(III)	42	20
1961/62	Shrewsbury T.	(III)	42	22
1965/66	Swansea T.	(III)	42	20
Peter McParland	52/53-63/64		352	122
1959/60	Aston Villa	(II)	41	22		C
Willie Millar	28/29-34/35		146	79
1930/31	Barrow	(III)	40	25
1931/32	Barrow	(III)	30	30
Pat Nelis	21/22-25/26		86	28
1921/22	Accrington St.	(III)	11	14	20
	Nott'm Forest	(II)	10	6		C
Jimmy Quinn	81/82-99/00		575	210
1987/88	Swindon T.	(II)	42	21
1993/94	Reading	(III)	46	35	t	C
1997/98	Peterboro’ U.	(IV)	42	20
George Reid	20/21-24/25		82	44
1921/22	Walsall	(III)	34	21
Dick Rowley	25/26-33/34		181	77
1929/30	Southampton	(II)	25	25	29
	Tottenham H.	(II)	9	4
Tom Shanks	98/99-08/09		128	53
1903/04	W. Arsenal	(II)	30	24		P
Derek Spence	72/73-83/84		348	97
1980/81	Southend U.	(IV)	46	21		C
Dave Walsh	46/47-55/56		293	137
1946/47	West Brom	(II)	38	28
1947/48	West Brom	(II)	35	22
1948/49	West Brom	(II)	41	23		P
Kevin Wilson	79/80-99/00		596	149
1986/87	Ipswich T.	(II)	42	20

• Other (Northern) Ireland players to have scored 100+ goals in their career...

Tommy Eglington	46/47-60/61		565	112
Billy Gillespie	10/11-31/32		472	137
Jimmy McIlroy	50/51-67/68		576	132

Bobby Campbell (Bradford City)

Derek Dougan (Leicester City)

Dave Walsh (West Bromwich Albion)

KEY
App - League appearances.

Gls - Season's goal tally (League games only)
Tier - (ie, to 1991/92 Division One = (I), Division Two = (II), etc; 1992/93-2003/04 Premier League = (I), Division One = (II), etc; from 2004/05 Premier League = (I), Championship = (II), League One = (III), etc)

t - Divisional topscorer

C - club finished as champions of their division (and were promoted if lower than tier I.

P - club promoted

R - club relegated

* - some sources credit Harkin with 34 goals in the 1964/65 season.

± - some sources credit McCrory with just 19 goals in the 1950/51 season.

Performances by Club

Team	Total	Notes
Accrington St.	2	*/#
AFC Bournemouth	3
Arsenal	1
Aston Villa	1
Barrow	2
Boston U.	1	*
Bradford C.	3
Brentford	2	*
Brighton & HA	2
Burnley	2
Cardiff C.	1
Crewe Alex.	1
Doncaster R.	1
Hull C.	1
Ipswich T.	1
Leicester C.	1	*
Manchester C.	3
Manchester U.	1
MK Dons	1
New Brighton	2
Northampton T.	1	*
Nott'm Forest	2	*
Oldham A.	1
Peterborough U.	2
Reading	2
Scunthorpe U.	1	*
Sheffield U.	4
Shrewsbury T.	2
Southampton	3	*
Southend U.	2
Southport	1
Sunderland	2
Swansea T.	1
Swindon T.	1
Tottenham H.	1	*
Tranmere R.	1
Walsall	1
West Brom	3
Wigan A.	1
Wolves	1	*

* One instance of player transferring from or two the club during the season.

# Technically two different clubs. Original Accrington Stanley folded in 1966. New Accrington Stanley founded in 1968.

Performances by Tier

Number of occurences of a player scoring 20+ goals in a season. Players who scored in two different divisions during the season credited with 0.5 to each tier.

I	II	III*	IV
11.5	13.0	28.5	9.0

* III also includes Division 3 (North) and Division 3 (South) 1921-1958.

Stats for the English Premier and Football League/EFL only. Does not include English non-league, Irish League, Scottish League etc.

See Also:

20+ Goals in the Scottish League

Northern Ireland's Top Goalscorers