| Full name | St Patrick’s Athletic Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Saints, SuperSaints, Pat's | ||
| Founded | 1929 | ||
| Ground | Richmond Park, Inchicore, Dublin (Capacity: 5,340 (3,000 seated)) |
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| Chairman | Garrett Kelleher | ||
| Manager | Liam Buckley | ||
| League | League of Ireland (Premier Division) |
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| 2011 | 4th | ||
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| Current season | |||
St Patrick's Athletic Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a football club from Dublin, Ireland. They compete in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Founded in 1929, they are based in the Dublin suburb of Inchicore and play their home matches at Richmond Park. They have won the League of Ireland title 7 times and the FAI Cup twice. Their club colours are red and white, while their nicknames include The Saints and Pat's. Their current manager is Liam Buckley.
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St Patrick's Athletic F.C. was founded in 1929. The first season was played in Phoenix Park but in 1930 St Pats moved into Richmond Park. Known as the Saints or simply as 'Pats' the club quickly climbed up the junior and intermediate ranks of Irish football and by the end of the 1940s were established as the top non-League of Ireland side in the country. After winning the FAI Intermediate Cup in 1948 and 1949 moves were made by the League of Ireland to entice St Pats into their competition.
In 1951 the club was admitted, along with Cork side Evergreen United, to the senior ranks of the League of Ireland. St Pats made an immediate impact, winning the league championship at their first attempt. Two more league championship successes followed in 1954/1955 and 1955/1956. The club had to wait until 1959 before their first FAI Cup success, repeating the feat in 1961. Despite several appearances in the final since 1961 the Saints have so far failed to secure a third Cup win.
Many of the Pats players of that golden era are still recalled fondly today – Ginger O'Rourke, Harry Boland ('The Legend', 1926–2000), Jimmy Timber Cummins (a cousin of one of the founders – Bart Cummins) Jimmy Growler Cummins (a brother of Bart Cummins) Irish international Shay Gibbons, Ronnie Whelan Snr. and Willie Peyton are players who contributed greatly during this era.
St Pats struggled throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s with only the odd cup final or young star emerging to brighten things for long suffering Pats fans. Among those players to emerge was Noel Campbell. Campbell spent a number of years with St Pats (gaining the first of his Irish caps) before moving to SC Fortuna Köln where he would play 8 seasons. Perhaps the brightest star to play for St Pats was Paul McGrath. McGrath was signed by Saints' manager Charlie Walker from junior side Dalkey United. Within a year he had won the PFAI Player of the Year award and earned himself a move to Manchester United.
The appointment of Brian Kerr as manager in 1986 was a major turning point in the fortunes of the club. Kerr worked on limited resources to create team capable of challenging the best. The championship in the decade. At the end of the 1988/89 season St Pats left Richmond Park for what the board of directors called "a short time" while redevelopment work was done.
Playing in Harold's Cross, Kerr's blend of young players (Paul Osam, Curtis Fleming, Pat Fenlon, John McDonnell) and experienced campaigners disregarded by other clubs (Damian Byrne, Dave Henderson) won the club's first league championship in 34 years on Easter Monday 1990. Most Irish football commentators expected the young Saints to dominate Irish football for some time. A series of takeover attempts saw the club thrust into turmoil and Kerr was forced to break up the team. In the summer of 1992 the club were hours away from extinction before a group of local investors raised £82,000 to save the club.
Having spent four years in Harold's Cross the club returned to a new look Richmond Park in 1993, their spiritual home in Dublin's Inchicore. Brian Kerr began the task of creating a winning setup once again. With the aid of a newly appointed Chief Executive, and former player, Pat Dolan and by the club's new Chairman, Tim O'Flaherty, the league trophy returned to Richmond Park in 1996.
A new generation of footballing heroes emerged in Pats colours with greats such as Eddie Gormley, Paul Osam and Ricky O'Flaherty together with exciting young stars such as Colin Hawkins and Trevor Molloy thousands flocked to Inchicore for Friday nights under the floodlights in Richmond Park. When Kerr resigned to take up the Director of Coaching job with the FAI, the good work was continued by Pat Dolan and then Liam Buckley installed as manager. The glory continued as further league championships were secured in 1998 and 1999 which led to European qualification and a creditable 0–0 draw with the famous Celtic at Celtic Park, the club lost the return leg in Tolka Park, Dublin but the away draw was a major boost for Irish football against such a famous club in the world game. The club however suffered a humiliating setback in the same competition one year later when they lost 10–0 on aggregate to Zimbru Chişinău.
Into the new millennium the success continued. St. Pats won both the League of Ireland Cup and Leinster Senior Cup in 2000/01. Controversy dogged the club in the 2001/02 season due to player registration irregularities. The club had 9 points deducted due to fielding an ineligible player (Paul Marney) in their first 3 games of the season, but this decision was revoked upon arbitration, on 22 March 2002. They then had 15 points deducted for playing Charles Mbabazi Livingstone in the first 5 matches of the season in spite of not having registered him until 12 September 2001. St. Pats argued that they did not intentionally seek to gain advantage as the player was registered correctly the previous season, there was nothing underhand about it. An FAI arbitration panel would reject the Saints appeal of the point deduction and to this day the Saints still contest that they are the rightful league champions. That season also saw St. Patrick's come close to merging with fellow League of Ireland club St. Francis. This move was greeted with anger by club supporters and although St. Francis went out of business (and therefore the league) the merger never happened.
New Club Chairman Andrew O'Callaghan was appointed in the summer of 2002 and has worked to modernize the club and face the new challenges of UEFA licensing and ground development. St. Pats made Irish footballing history in 2002 by becoming the first club to progress in the Intertoto Cup with a victory over Croatian team NK Rijeka over two legs – the club were eventually knocked out of the competition only on away goals to KAA Gent of Belgium.
The club marked its 75th anniversary in 2004. In 2005 the club where forced to investigate the idea of sharing a new stadium in Tallaght with Shamrock Rovers in order to comply with the FAI's wish for Dublin clubs to ground share. The move was met with furious protests by the club's supporters and a group calling themselves 'Pats for Richmond' was set up to organise demonstrations. In July 2006 St. Pats signalled their intention to stay in Richmond Park by purchasing the Richmond House pub (also known as McDowell’s) for use as an official clubhouse. The club lost yet another FAI Cup Final in December 2006 and their hunt for their 3rd victory in the elusive competition continues. In early 2007 the club was purchased by wealthy property magnate Garrett Kelleher. After a number of months of negotiations, Kelleher finally announced himself as Chairman of St Patrick's Athletic on 19 July 2007.[1] One of his first acts on taking over St Pats was to appoint ex manager Brian Kerr as director of football. It was widely reported in Irish newspapers that Kelleher was preparing to spend €50 million on upgrading St. Pats' Richmond Park home.
During both the 2008 and 2009 seasons St. Pats progressed through two rounds of the UEFA Cup / Europa League, thus becoming only the second League of Ireland club (after Cork City in 2004 and 2005) to achieve such progress in two consecutive European campaigns. The 2008 campaign under Johnny McDonnell saw wins over JFK Olimps Riga and Elfsborg, while Jeff Kenna led Pats to wins over Valletta FC and Krylia Sovetov in 2009.
In September 2009 Kenna resigned and was replaced for two games by Maurice O'Driscoll. Pete Mahon then took over until the end of the season.
Pete Mahon was appointed as manager for the 2010 season with John Gill as his assistant. The Super Saints reached their first Setanta Sports Cup final, were they met local rivals Bohemians after overcoming Sligo Rovers 6–2 over 2 legs. They lost the final at the Tallaght Stadium 1–0 however. The Saints were knocked out of the FAI Cup by arch rivals Shamrock Rovers in a semi-final replay at Richmond Park, after knocking Dundalk, Belgrove and Sporting Fingal out. They were near the top of the table for the majority of the season, however fell off somewhat near the end and finished in mid-table. The demised of Sporting Fingal saw the Saints take their European place for the 2011 season. The Saints won the 2011 Leinster Senior Cup after beating Dublin rivals Bohemians 2-0 at Dalymount Park.The Saints bid to end their 50 year drought of winning the FAI Cup came to a heartbreaking end, after knocking Crumlin United, Waterford United and Cork City out, the Saints faced old rivals Shelbourne in the semi-final. The Saints drew 1-1 at Tolka Park, failing to make use of their one man advantage for the whole second half. The game went to a replay at Richmond Park and theing were going well when David McMillan opened the scoring for the Saints, but goalkeeper Gary Rogers was extremely harshly sent off early on and Shels went on to win 3-1. Similar to the 2010 season, the Saints were near the top of the table for the most part of the season in 2011, but their title challenge petered out towards the end of the season and the Saints finished fourth meaning they would participate in UEFA Europa League qualifiers in the 2012 season. The Saints decided not to renew manager Pete Mahon's contract for 2012, appointing former player and manager Liam Buckley to the job, giving him a two year contract [1].
Saints fans have widely become known as some of the most active and vocal throughout the country. Throughout the clubs history, any period of turmoil was always met with protest by the loyal saints. In 2001, an ultras group called the Shed End Invincibles were set up, for four years they created huge tifo displays, choreographed chants and created Richmond Park into a fortress. After a period of exile, the ultras group were reignited in 2009 under younger leadership. Since then, in just two short seasons their work has been applauded by other fans. Big banners, flares, and smoke screens are a common sight at St.Pats matches.
The club motto is Ni neart go cur le chéile (as Gaeilge). It translates to No strength without unity. St Patrick's Athletic is strongly linked with Inchicore and the local south west Dublin community. The club operate schoolboy teams at every age group from under 10 to under 18. They also play in the eircom League Under 21 league, having won it several times recently. In the past St. Patrick's Athletic Ladies played in the Dublin Women’s Soccer League (the de facto Ladies League of Ireland), winning the league championship in 1997! Many of that team won international honours and in 1998 Emma Byrne and Ciara Grant were transferred to Arsenal. As well as the senior ladies side are the several girls’ sides within the club.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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PFAI Player of the Year (6)
PFAI Young Player of the Year (2)
FAI National League Player of the Year (2)
League of Ireland Golden Boot (5)
P 1551 W 622 D 418 L 510 F 2284 A 2121 Pts 1879
Statistics are correct up to 02/08/2007
Above points tally is the amount of points earned in real terms. In most seasons the league used a 2 pts for a win system
If using a straight 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw system, St. Pats would've earned 2284 points
As of August 1 2011
| Appearances | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| Appearances | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 22 | 36 |
| Appearances | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Appearances | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Appearances | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 26 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 22 | 59 |
| Season | Competition | Country | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961–62 | Cup Winners' Cup Preliminary Round | Dunfermline Athletic F.C. | 1–4, 0–4 (1–8 agg.) | |
| 1967–68 | Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round | FC Girondins de Bordeaux | 1–3, 3–6 (4–9 agg.) | |
| 1988–89 | UEFA Cup First Round | Heart of Midlothian F.C. | 0–2, 0–2 (0–4 agg.) | |
| 1990–91 | European Cup First Round | FC Dinamo Bucureşti | 0–4, 1–1 (1–5 agg.) | |
| 1996–97 | UEFA Cup Preliminary Round | ŠK Slovan Bratislava | 3–4, 0–1 (3–5 agg.) | |
| 1998–99 | UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round | Celtic F.C. | 0–0, 0–2 (0–2 agg.) | |
| 1999–00 | UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round | FC Zimbru Chişinău | 0–5, 0–5 (0–10 agg.) | |
| 2002 | UEFA Intertoto Cup First Round | NK Rijeka | 3–2, 0–1 (3–3 agg.) won on away goals | |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup Second Round | K.A.A. Gent | 0–2, 3–1 (3–3 agg.) lost on away goals | ||
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round | Odense Boldklub | 0–0, 0–5 (0–5 agg.) | |
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round | JFK Olimps Rīga | 1–0, 2–0 (3–0 agg.) | |
| UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round | IF Elfsborg | 2–2, 2–1 (4–3 agg.) | ||
| UEFA Cup First Round | Hertha Berlin | 0–2, 0–0 (0–2 agg.) | ||
| 2009–10 | UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round | Valletta F.C. | 1–1,[2] 0–1[3](2–1 agg.) | |
| UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round | FC Krylia Sovetov Samara | 1–0, 2–3 (3–3 agg.) won on away goals | ||
| UEFA Europa League Play-off Round | FC Steaua Bucureşti | 1–2, 0–3 (1–5 agg.) | ||
| 2011–12 | UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round | ÍBV Vestmannaeyar | 0–1, 2–0 (2–1 agg.) | |
| UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round | FC Shakhter Karagandy | 1–2, 2–0 (3–2 agg.) | ||
| UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round | FC Karpaty Lviv | 0–2, 1–3 (1–5 agg.) |
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