Drumcondra F.C.

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Drumcondra
Full name Drumcondra Football Club
Nickname(s) Drums
Founded 1924
Dissolved Original Club 1972
Manager Gary Howlett (LSL)
League League of Ireland
Website Club home page
Home colours

Drumcondra Football Club is an Irish football club from Dublin. Based in Tolka Park, Drumcondra were elected to the League of Ireland in 1927. The Northside club won 5 League of Ireland titles before amalgamating with neighbours, Home Farm in 1972.

History

Prior to joining the League, Drums became the first non-league club to win the FAI cup in the 1926–27 season, completing an unlikely double by also lifting the Intermediate Cup along the way. Following election to the League however they would endure a twenty year wait before lifting their first title in 1948.[1] During the 1950s Drums rivalry with Shamrock Rovers became the stuff of Dublin folklore as huge crowds gathered to see the Northside/Southside derby fixtures between the two clubs.in the 1957 cup final played at Daymount Park Drums beat Shamrock Rovers 2-0, the goalscorers being Bunny Fullam(pen) and Willie Coleman. During this halcyon period for Drums the early 1960s saw the Tolka Park side make history as the first League of Ireland side to register an aggregate win in European competition when they knocked Danish side B 1909 Odense out of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (4-1 H,2-4 A) in the 1962–63 season. Although beaten 6-0 by Bayern Munich in the following round in Germany, they did restore pride with a 1-0 home win in the second leg, billy Dixon netting the winning goal. Drums also played Atlético Madrid (0-8 A,1-5 H), Nuremberg (0-5 A,1-4 H), Eintracht Frankfurt (0-2 H,1-6 A), and Vorwärts Berlin (1-0 H,0-3 A) in European competition.[2]

At the end of the 1971–72 season the team amalgamated with Home Farm, Drums final league game in their own right being a 1-1 draw with Shelbourne at Tolka on 5 April 1972. It was announced by Brendan Menton Sr., Home Farm honorary secretary at the time, that the all amateur club had taken over the entire share capital of their professional neighbouring club, Drumcondra F.C. Promotion of amateur football was to remain the main aim.[1] During the 1972–73 season the side played as Home Farm-Drumcondra however within a season the Drumcondra name was dropped and from the start of 1973–74 the side simply became Home Farm.

At the end of the 1971–72 season the team amalgamated with Home Farm, Drums final league game in their own right being a 1-1 draw with Shelbourne at Tolka on 5 April 1972. It was announced by Brendan Menton Sr., Home Farm honorary secretary at the time, that the all amateur club had taken over the entire share capital of their professional neighbouring club, Drumcondra F.C. Promotion of amateur football was to remain the main aim.[1] During the 1972–73 season the side played as Home Farm-Drumcondra however within a season the Drumcondra name was dropped and from the start of 1973–74 the side simply became Home Farm.


Drumcondra FC was revived in the mid 1970's as a schoolboy football club and continues to this day to field teams in both the North Dublin Schoolboys/girls League(NDSL) and Dublin & District Schoolboys League (DDSL) and also a junior side Drumcondra Juniors in the Amateur Football League (AFL).


The name of Drumcondra also lives on in the form of Leinster Senior League (LSL) side Drumcondra AFC who amalgamated with Drumcondra Athletic in the summer of 2008 to unite two factions who laid claim to the historical identity of the original club. They finished 2011–12 2nd out of 14 clubs in Sunday Senior 1A (Third Level) and were promoted to Sunday Senior 1(Second Level) finishing 4th at the end of the 2012-13 season.


Drums colours were essentially blue and gold/yellow although in later years they did play in a sky blue strip. At various times they wore blue/gold hoops with white shorts before adopting a more modern continental style gold with a blue v neck and blue shorts in 1954.


Honours

1948, 1949, 1958, 1961, 1965
1927, 1943, 1946, 1954, 1957
1945–46, 1946–47, 1950–51, 1961–62
1927

Records

  • Biggest League Win: 8-0 vs Sligo Rovers home, 22 January 1961.
  • Biggest League Defeat: 1-9 vs Cork United home, 13 January 1946.
  • Top League Scorer (season): 29, Dan McCaffrey, (1960–61).
  • Top League Scorer (total): 96, Des Glynn (1948–56).

Season Placings

  • 1928-29 - 4
  • 1929-30 - 7
  • 1930-31 - 11
  • 1931-32 - 9
  • 1932-33 - 10
  • 1933-34 - 7
  • 1934-35 - 9
  • 1935-36 - 9
  • 1936-37 - 6
  • 1937-38 - 12
  • 1938-39 - 8
  
  • 1939-40 - 6
  • 1940-41 - 6
  • 1941-42 - 9
  • 1942-43 - 3
  • 1943-44 - 6
  • 1944-45 - 4
  • 1945-46 - 2
  • 1946-47 - 2
  • 1947-48 - 1
  • 1948-49 - 1
  • 1949-50 - 2
  
  • 1950-51 - 3
  • 1951-52 - 6
  • 1952-53 - 2
  • 1953-54 - 3
  • 1954-55 - 6
  • 1955-56 - 8
  • 1956-57 - 2
  • 1957-58 - 1
  • 1958-59 - 5
  • 1959-60 - 9
  • 1960-61 - 1
  
  • 1961-62 - 7
  • 1962-63 - 3
  • 1963-64 - 8
  • 1964-65 - 1
  • 1965-66 - 7
  • 1966-67 - 8
  • 1967-68 - 7
  • 1968-69 - 9
  • 1969-70 - 14
  • 1970-71 - 14
  • 1971-72 - 12

Notable former players

Alf Girvan

Tom Davis,Peter Kavanagh and Con Martin were all dual internationals representing both the IFA and the FAI sides.

Notable former managers

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Irish Times 20 May 1972
  2. ↑ "Irish Clubs In European Cups". rsssf.com. Retrieved 5 September 2009. 
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