Ronan Finn

Ronan Finn (born in Dublin on 21 December 1987), is an Irish footballer, who is currently playing for League of Ireland Premier Division club Shamrock Rovers.

Club career

Finn spent eight months in the Cambridge United youth team in 2004–05. The former Republic of Ireland under-21 midfielder said: "I was flying out after school on Fridays, playing a game on Saturday and flying straight back because I had to finish school in Ireland. "Ricky Duncan (then youth manager) wanted me there more and more, but I’d been training with Bohemians as well and they wanted to sign me. "I weighed up my options and at the time Cambridge weren’t a club going forward, so it got to the February and I just told Ricky I needed to take a step back and go with my education and they respected that."

UCD

Ronan was signed by UCD in 2005 and went straight into the U-21 team. He was one of the star performers in the side and was a catalyst for the club winning a second straight Dr. Tony O'Neill U-21 League Championship, scoring the winning goal in the final against Shelbourne. His impressive displays earned him a call-up to the first team squad towards the end of the season. He made his League of Ireland debut for UCD in a 1–0 defeat against Longford Town in November 2005. He made his home debut the following week on the 18th against Shamrock Rovers, again as a substitute. He rounded off an eye-catching performance with his first senior goal for UCD.

Finn started the 2006 season back in the U-21s. He continued to impress and it was obvious that another call-up to the first team was not long away. He regularly began to make the match day squad from the beginning of June, making a couple of brief substitute appearances. However he got his chance to impress as he was handed his first senior start away to Sligo Rovers in August. Finn was the most outstanding player on the pitch, terrorising the Sligo defence with his dribbling skills and defence splitting passes which earned him the man-of-the-match award. This was enough to convince UCD manager Pete Mahon to make him one of the first names on the teamsheet for the remainder of the season.

Finn repaid his manager's trust in him and continued to be a thorn in any side that he came up against. He made his FAI Cup debut in the third round against Limerick FC and scored his first goals of the season, scoring twice in a 3–1 win. His displays did not go unnoticed and he was nominated for the PFAI Young Player of the Year award and also won the UCD Supporters' New Player of the Year with a landslide victory.

2007 proved to be a successful year for Finn as he secured his place as a first choice pick in centre midfield. He forged a strong partnership with fellow Irish U-21 international Shane McFaul. This partnership helped UCD reach the semi finals of both the League and FAI Cups.

With the retirement of Tony McDonnell and the departure of Shane McFaul, Ronan became one of the most experienced central midfielders at the club and formed a new partnership with Alan McNally in the centre. Finn began the 2008 season with some impressive and authoritative displays in the opening games against Derry and Bray. Unfortunately UCD struggled as the season went on and were eventually relegated after finishing bottom of the Premier Division.

Following relegation UCD lost almost all of its first team squad leaving Finn as the only experienced first team player left with the club. UCD chose to promote many members of last season's successful A Championship winning squad augmented with a few signings. Ronan was handed the captaincy of this extremely youthful and inexperienced squad and led them to promotion and an unexpected 2009 First Division title win while putting in many exceptional performances.

Sporting Fingal

Finn departed UCD after five seasons to join Sporting Fingal on 8 December 2009.^[1]

On 10 February 2011 the directors of Sporting Fingal FC confirmed that the club withdrew its application for a licence from the FAI to participate in the 2011 Airtricity League season.^[2] This decision was taken after funding targets integral to the club's continued existence were not reached during the off-season. After their demise, Finn became a free agent.

Shamrock Rovers

Following the demise of Sporting Fingal, Finn signed for Shamrock Rovers on a two-year deal in February 2011^[3]

He made his League debut for the Hoops in the opening night win over Dundalk.^[4] and helped the Hoops win the Setanta Sports Cup by beating Dundalk 2–0 in the final.

Finn was named man-of-the-match in two live televised Setanta games in a row, against Dundalk and in a 1–0 win over Bohemians.

Ronan completed a successful first season at Rovers helping them win the Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division and also playing in the Europa League group stages in 2011.

International career

Ronan was called up to the Republic of Ireland U21 squad for the first time in early 2007, for the annual Madeira Cup tournament. He won his first cap when he came on as a half-time substitute against Madeira. In May 2010, Finn made his Republic of Ireland U23 debut against England C in the 2009-11 International Challenge Trophy game at the Waterford Regional Sports Centre.^[5]

Honours

Club

UCD

• League of Ireland First Division (1): 2009

Shamrock Rovers

• League of Ireland (1): 2011
• Setanta Sports Cup (2): 2011, 2013

Individual

• Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year (1): 2012

References

External links