St Patrick's Athletic F.C.

St Patrick's Athletic

Full name	St Patrick’s Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s)	Pats, St Pats, The Saints
Founded	1929
Ground	Richmond Park, Inchicore, Dublin 8
Ground Capacity	5,340 (2,800 seated)
Chairman	Garrett Kelleher
Manager	Liam Buckley
League	League of Ireland Premier Division
2016	League of Ireland Premier Division, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

St Patrick's Athletic F.C. (Irish: Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is an Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played originally in the Phoenix Park but they moved to their current ground Richmond Park in 1930.

St. Patrick's Athletic have won some trophies in Irish Club Football, including eight League Titles, the fifth most in Irish Football, as well as three FAI Cups and three League Cups. The current manager is Liam Buckley, who is in his second spell in charge at the club after replacing Pete Mahon in 2011.

The club graduated through the ranks of the Leinster Senior League and duly took their place in the League of Ireland in 1951, and won the Championship at their first attempt. The club's glory years came in the 1950s and 1990s when they won 7 of their 9 league titles. The club also have the record for never having been relegated from the Premier Division . The club play in red and white colours, and their nicknames include The Saints, Supersaints and Pats. The Saints also have a lot of Dublin Derby games with the likes of Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians.

History

Leinster Senior League years

During the late 1940s and 1950s St Pat's played in the Leinster Senior League. During this period they won the league title on six occasions. This included four successive titles between 1947–48 and 1950–51. In 1947–48 St Pat's completed a treble after also winning both the FAI Intermediate Cup and Leinster Senior Cup. The 1948–49 season would see St Pat's win a Leinster Senior League / FAI Intermediate Cup double. In 1950–51 a young Shay Gibbons helped St Pat's win the Leinster Senior League title for a fourth time. After St Pat's first team joined the League of Ireland in 1951–52, their reserve team won two further Leinster Senior League titles in 1955–56 and 1956–57.

1950–1960

Entering the League of Ireland

In 1951–52 the club was admitted, along with Cork side Evergreen United, to 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 1954–55 and 1955–56. 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, it took the Saints till 2014 to win their third

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.

1960–1980

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 World cup Winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks also played one match for St Pats, making him by far the brightest star to turn out for the club in 1977.

1980–1990

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.

1990–1999

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.

2000–2004

Into the new century, 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. An FAI arbitration panel rejected the Saints' appeal against the point deduction and Shelbourne finished the season as 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.

Johnny McDonnell Reign (2004–2009)

The club marked its 75th anniversary in 2004, also in 2004 a change of management happened with former favourite Johnny McDonnell taking over the helm at the club. In 2005 the club were 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 the 2007 season Pat's were neck and neck with Drogheda United for the title, but Pat's slipped away and Drogheda United eventually finished up as champions.
It was the same again for the 2008 season with Pat's battling up the top with Bohemians for the title. Also this year Pat's were in Europe because their 2nd-place finish in 2007 allowed them qualify for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. During their European run St. Pat's progressed through two rounds of the UEFA Cup beating JFK Olimps Riga and Elfsborg but the run came to an end when they lost to Hertha BSC in the First Round proper. Pat's also lost out to Bohemians for the league title.

Jeff Kenna Season: European Run and Domestic Struggle (2009)

For the 2009 season Pat's replaced Johnny McDonnell with Jeff Kenna in January 2009. He didn't have the best of starts with a 3–0 home defeat to former club Galway United. He was immediately put under pressure when bad run of results put them into a relegation battle. Despite the poor league form, once again Pat's had another European run in the Europa League again progressing through two rounds of the 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. Pat's this time won games against Valletta FC and Russian Premier League side Krylia Sovetov to reach the play-off round where they were defeated by FC Steaua București. ^[2][3][4] In September 2009 with Pat's struggling, Kenna resigned and was replaced for two games by Maurice O'Driscoll. Pete Mahon then took over until the end of the season and avoided relegation, winning two must win games on the final two weeks of the season, away to Drogheda United and at home to Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers.

Pete Mahon Years (2009–2011)

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, where 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 archrivals 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. Mahon led a successful Europa League campaign, knocking out Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja from Iceland and FC Shakhter Karagandy from Kazakhstan before eventually being knocked out in the third qualifying round by Ukrainian side FC Karpaty Lviv. 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 things 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.

Return of Liam Buckley: Return of Success (2012 – present)

The Saints decided not to renew manager Pete Mahon's contract for the 2012 season, appointing former player and manager Liam Buckley to the job, giving him a two-year contract with former player and assistant manager at the club, Trevor Croly as his assistant. Buckley refurbished the squad by bringing in fourteen and getting rid of sixteen. Among the new signings were 6 Bohemian's players, notably Chris Forrester, Christy Fagan, and current captain Ger O'Brien. Meanwhile, 6 of those not retained by Pat's went in the opposite direction, an indication of the change in circumstances at both clubs.

Buckley immediately introduced a more attractive brand of football than was witnessed under Mahon, whose sides had generally punched above their weight but ultimately lacked the quality to seriously challenge for the title. Pat's started the season off well with the team playing wonderful football and being unbeaten in its first six games, which included the game against Shamrock Rovers which they demonstrated their wonderful football brilliantly in a memorable 5–1 win over their fierce rivals.^[5] Buckley took the reins of the club knowing of the European expectations at the club and he didn't disappoint, managing his side to a third qualifying round place after knocking both Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja and NK Široki Brijeg out after extra-time, to earn a tie with German powerhouse Hannover 96, who knocked the Saints out in the third qualifying round. Buckley's side finished 3rd in the league, 6 points off champions Sligo Rovers. He also guided his side to the 2012 FAI Cup Final, the club's first game at the Aviva Stadium, but lost 3–2 in extra-time to Derry City and extending the Saints' FAI Cup winning drought to 52 years.

The Saints then endured a tumultuous pre-season, losing Sean O'Connor, James Chambers, and Barry Murphy, as well as Buckley's number two, Trevor Croly, to rivals Shamrock Rovers. Crucially, though, Pat's held on to a number of other players who had been strongly linked with Rovers, including Chris Forrester and Ian Bermingham, and added some quality to the first XI in the form of Killian Brennan (who would go on to win both the PFAI Players' Player of the Year and FAI National League Player of the Year awards), and Conan Byrne (who contributed an impressive 9 league goals during the season).

St Patrick's Athletic clinched the 2013 League of Ireland title on 13 October 2013 after a 2–0 win against holders Sligo Rovers.^[6][7]

The 2014 season started off with silverware for the Saints as they beat Sligo Rovers 1–0 in the inaugural President of Ireland's Cup, with Keith Fahey scoring a brilliant volley into the top corner from 25 yards clinching the trophy.^[8] The club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the first hurdle in the second round, bowing out to Legia Warsaw. In the first leg they were denied a famous away win as Legia equalised in injury time to claim a 1–1 draw.^[9] An injury plagued Pats side lost the second leg 5–0 at Tallaght Stadium, conceding 3 in the last 10 minutes. On 9 September 2014, a team of second string players and young Saints beat Longford Town 2–1 away from home to win the 2014 Leinster Senior Cup with Sam Verdon and Jack Bayly scoring.^[10] The season ended in a perfect manner for Pats as they won the FAI Cup after a 53-year wait with a 2–0 win over Derry City at the Aviva Stadium, with Christy Fagan immortalising himself with the club's fans by scoring a brace.^[11][12] Fagan also won the 2014 League of Ireland Golden Boot with 20 goals as well as being voted the PFAI Player of the Year for 2014.^[13]

On 19 September 2015, the Saints won their third League of Ireland Cup, beating Galway United on penalties at Eamonn Deacy Park following a 0–0 draw after extra time, with young goalkeeper Conor O'Malley saving Andy O'Connell's final spot kick to win the cup.^[14]

In 2016 the Saints knocked Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg out of the UEFA Europa League on away goals before being narrowly beaten 2–1 on aggregate to Dinamo Minsk of Belarus in the second qualifying round. Pat's finished 7th in the 2016 season, meaning they would be without European football for the first time in 7 years for 2017. They did however successfully retain their League of Ireland Cup crown, beating Limerick 4–1 in the final at the Markets Field with two goals from Conan Byrne and one each for Jamie McGrath and Graham Kelly.^[15][16]

Fans

Saints fans have widely become known as some of the most active and vocal throughout the country. Throughout the club's history, any period of turmoil was always met with protest by the loyal saints. In 2001, an ultras group called the Shed End Invincibles^[17] 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 under new leadership. Since then, their work has been applauded by other fans. Big banners, flares, and smoke screens are a common sight at St.Pats matches. Overseas visitor are regularly found at Richmond Park on a match night, including a Norwegian Pats' supporters club. As well as this, the club's supporters share friendships with supporters of clubs such as Ravenna from Italy, Sheffield United of England and Hannover 96 of Germany. Fans of these clubs, along with Pats fans, regularly travel to one another's matches. Famous fans include former Irish manager Brian Kerr and American actor Wendell Pierce^[18]

Community

The club motto is Ní 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.

Women's Football

In 1996 St Patrick's Athletic F.C. took over the local women's football team O'Connell Chics.

First team squad

^[19] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Łukasz Skowron 2 DF Michael Barker 3 DF Ian Bermingham (captain) 4 DF Gavin Peers 5 DF Darren Dennehy 6 MF Owen Garvan 7 MF Conan Byrne 8 MF Graham Kelly 9 FW Chris Fagan 10 MF Killian Brennan 11 MF Jonathan Lunney 12 DF Lee Desmond 13 DF Rory Feely 14 MF Darragh Markey

No. Position Player 15 DF Jordi Balk 16 GK Barry Murphy 17 DF Ciaran Kelly 18 FW Kurtis Byrne 19 MF Steven Grogan 20 MF Billy Dennehy 21 MF Paul O'Conor 22 DF Ger O'Brien 23 MF Alex O'Hanlon 24 FW Aidan Keena 25 GK Pat Jennings 26 FW Josh O'Hanlon 29 MF Ian Turner

Technical staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Liam Buckley
Assistant Coach	Darius Kierans
Assistant Coach/Director of Underage Football	Ger O'Brien
Head of Player Recruitment/Coach	Dave Campbell
Goalkeeping Coach	Pat Jennings
Chartered Physiotherapist/Strength and Conditioning Coach	Mark Kenneally
Physio	Christy O'Neill
Club Doctor	Dr Matt Corcoran
Equipment Manager	David McGill
Under 19's Manager	Gareth Dodrill
Under 19's Assistant Manager	Martin Doyle
Under 19's Coach	Sean Doody
Under 17's Manager	Jamie Moore
Under 17's Assistant Manager	Darragh O'Reilly
Under 17's Assistant Manager	Sean Gahan
Under 15's Manager	Denis Hyland
Under 15's Assistant Manager	Sean O'Connor
Under 19's/17's/15's Coach	Keith Andrews
Under 19's/17's Goalkeeping Coach	Stephen O'Reilly

Youth Structure

The club field an Under 19, an Under 17 and an Under 15 team that compete in the League of Ireland U19 Division, League of Ireland U17 Division and League of Ireland U15 Division respectively.

NUI Maynooth Scholarship Scheme

Set up in 2010, St Patrick's Athletic have a scholarship scheme in place with NUI Maynooth. The scheme allows Pats to offer young players the opportunity to play with the club's Youth sides whilst undergoing their third level studies on a sports scholarship. There is a big St Pat's influence in the scheme with the Soccer Development Officer at Maynooth being former Pats defender Barry Prenderville as well as club captain Ger O'Brien managing the side to their first ever Collingwood Cup win in 2014, with teammate Brendan Clarke as his assistant. The scholarship scheme is a big asset to St Pat's, as it helps attract the top young talent in the country to the club ahead of their rivals. The scheme has also been a huge success, with the Saints Under 19s side winning the Dr. Tony O'Neill Cup in 2015 to become the best side in the country, as well as a whole host of players graduating from the Youth Setup into Liam Buckley's First Team squad such as Jake Carroll, Seán Hoare, Jamie McGrath, Jack Bayly, Darragh Markey, Paul Rooney, Kevin Farragher, Fuad Sule and many many more.^[20][21]

Youth Club Affiliations

In 2016, the club opted to disband their own youth teams that played in the Dublin & District Schoolboys Leagues, moving forward into a new model for the League of Ireland Under 19, Under 17 and up and coming Under 15's leagues. Pats struck up Affiliations with 3 of Ireland's top schoolboy clubs Crumlin United, Belvedere, Cherry Orchard, in the best interest of both clubs and their players/facilities.

Crumlin United

On 1 March 2016, the Saints announced an Affiliation Agreement with local side Crumlin United, one of the countries top schoolboy clubs, to improve Pats Youth Setup while also benefiting Crumlin and their young players.

St Patrick's Athletic FC are pleased to announce an affiliation agreement with Crumlin United FC. The vision of both clubs is to create the means and environment to nurture and develop young talent in the interest of players, clubs and domestic football.

The two clubs will work closely together to define a tangible plan for each young player to maximise their talent and ambition. This plan would see young players progress through to the underage and senior structures of the SSE Airtricity League and potentially beyond.

The partnership further strengthens the aspiration of St Pat's under the ownership of Garrett Kelleher to provide greater opportunities to young players from the immediate community enabling them to further their footballing ambitions in Ireland, a goal that Saints' manager Liam Buckley has promoted during his entire management.^[22]

Belvedere

On 29 March 2017, the Saints announced an official partnership with Belvedere.

This new agreement will see both clubs working together in the best interests of our young players moving forward during changing times in Irish football.

Director of Football Ger O'Brien spoke of the agreement saying: Belvedere has had a fantastic tradition of developing some of the best young players in the country over the last number of years and we are really happy to have agreed a partnership with them.

The landscape of both schoolboy and League of Ireland football has changed and will continue to evolve over the next few years with the addition of the U15 and U13 National Leagues, and we are looking forward to working with Belvedere throughout that process.

We feel that a huge amount of work has been put in by Belvedere to help develop players and our plan would be to continue that and give these players a pathway to playing League of Ireland football with St Pat's after their time in the DDSL.

Nine former Belvedere players helped the St Pat's U17s win the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Elite Division title in 2016, while the team was managed by Jamie Moore and Darragh O'Reilly who also have strong connections to Belvedere.

There has been a consistent presence of ex Belvedere players in our underage teams over the last couple of years. With the U15 league starting this July and the U13 league in the future, we hope to continue this trend and make it stronger.

Former Belvedere players Chris Forrester and Jake Carroll both made the move to the UK from St Pat's while defender Conor Fowler also signed for Chesterfield in July 2016 having moved to St Patrick's U17s from Belvedere.

Ger outlined the route St Pat's are taking in terms of development partnerships with Belvedere and other clubs in Dublin, including Crumlin United.

Forming partnerships with a number of top schoolboy clubs is something quite new but we feel it's the best way forward for our club, the schoolboy clubs and most importantly the players. It's unique in terms of having more than one club affiliated to St Pat's but the plans we have regarding our player pathway, education and development will be as good as any other model in the country.

This is not going to be a case of us simply taking players from these schoolboy clubs, we want to form proper relationships and will be providing various types of support to our partner clubs.

This is an exciting project for everyone to be involved in and we plan to further develop and grow it in the coming weeks, months and years.

Belvedere club Chairman Jimmy Scurry spoke to Belvedere's website about the announcement, saying: This is our first venture in being officially affiliated to a professional club and we're very much looking forward to the potential it offers for both our players and our club as a whole. We believe that our link-up with one of the League of Ireland's top clubs will, over time produce big dividends for both clubs.

I'd like wish to thank St Pat's Director of Football Ger O'Brien, First Team Manager Liam Buckley and their team for their professionalism, commitment and understanding throughout the process.

Belvedere Director of Coaching Darragh O'Reilly, who is also is St Pat's U17 Assistant Manager, also gave us his reaction to the agreement.

I'm really pleased that the link up is in place and we can now officially announce it. Since the idea was first explored there has been a willingness on both sides for it to happen so it's nice to get it done.

In my opinion the link up is a very positive move for both clubs and I think that it will prove to be very successful over the coming years.^[23]

Cherry Orchard

On 24 May 2017 St Patrick's Athletic announced an official partnership with local Ballyfermot side Cherry Orchard.

This new agreement will see both clubs working together in the best interests of our young players moving forward during changing times in Irish football.

Saints Director of Football Ger O'Brien have been spoke to the club's website saying: We are really happy to officially announce this partnership with Cherry Orchard and we are very excited to have added one of the biggest schoolboy names in Irish football to our group of partner clubs.

The agreement came about after long discussions with the Cherry Orchard committee and Karl (Keogh, Cherry Orchard Director of Football). They have done a huge amount of work in recent years in Elmdale which will only help their young players moving forward and we are looking forward to working alongside them and helping to continue their good work developing young players.

St Pat's and Cherry Orchard have always had a good relationship, with a number of Orchard players joining the club.

Darragh Markey and Jack Bayly are currently in our first team, while five Cherry Orchard's U16 team from the previous season were in the club's U17 squad.

We've have had a really good relationship with the club down the years. We've signed some really good players from Cherry Orchard. Darragh, Jack and Jamie McGrath, along with the boys in our U17s have all done really well. We know they also have a very strong academy which they've been working hard on for years and have always produced top players.

We are also planning to help Cherry Orchard and our other partners clubs in terms of coach education to help make their coaches better which helps the pathway and development of all of the players.

Cherry Orchard's Director of Football Karl Keogh spoke of the announcement saying: It was a long process of discussions as it was really important for it to be right for the interests of both clubs. Our committee have worked hard along with Ger, Liam Buckley and the St Pat's staff and we are really happy to enter into this partnership.

The main reason from our point of view was to protect the elite pathway for our players to elite football. Given the success of St Pat's in the last number of years with their U17s and U19s and also the amount of young players, including some of our former players, it will be of massive benefit to our club and that it is the right environment to put our players into.

Keogh says the changes in the structure of the League of Ireland was one of the reasons for this decision and that Pat's was their first choice.

Cherry Orchard have always been renowned for producing players of the highest calibre for the professional game in Ireland and the UK and given how professional the set up is at Pat's, we felt they offered the best environment for our players to progress into. Irish football has changed and will continue to change with the League of Ireland U15 and U13 divisions coming along, so this is an important move for us.

A lot of our players in recent years have signed for St Pat's and done really well. They've all had really good things to say about the environment there and we want to continue that. It makes sense for both clubs, as there has been un-written relationship over the years, now it's about kicking that on, making that stronger and hopefully having a lot of success going forward.

O'Brien explained how this new idea of having a number of partner clubs will actually work.

Our working relationships with Crumlin United and Belvedere have been really good. All of our teams trained in Pearse Park throughout the winter months and myself and our coaches have taken sessions at Crumlin. Some of the Belvedere teams have used our training facility in ALSAA and a number of their U14s and U15s have trained with our U17s. We plan to continue this along with Cherry Orchard and continue to develop it and make it stronger.

Cherry Orchard are one of the clubs close to us location wise and along with Crumlin and Belvedere, we want to create good relationships with these players and their parents, we want them to be our next generation of fans. We want to offer the players from Belvedere, Crumlin and Cherry Orchard a pathway from those clubs into our Academy and ideally into our first team or across the water to the UK.

We'll be working with all of the coaches and all of the players to create a strong St Pat's Academy brand which will help them develop their own careers too. We also have our strong link with Maynooth University from a scholarship and education point of view, this is another avenue that we can offer these young players are they grow older from an education point of view off the pitch.^[24]

Under 19's

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Eric Donnelly (captain) 2 DF Luke Heeney 3 DF Paul Cleary 4 DF Luke McNally 5 DF Ciaran Kelly 6 MF Jamie Lennon 7 MF Josh Hogan 8 MF Sean Quinn 9 FW Aidan Keena

No. Position Player 10 MF William McAdams 11 MF Cian McMullan 12 DF Tony Archbold 13 FW Neill Byrne 14 DF Lee Rock 15 MF Kyle Hogan 16 GK Sean Nolan 17 MF Jason Grouse 18 FW George Mukete

Under 17's

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Brian Maher (captain) 2 DF Padraig Finnerty 3 DF Ryan Burke 4 DF Aaron McGrath 5 DF Richie O'Farrell 6 MF Cian Lee 7 DF Adam Nugent 8 DF Cian Hughes 9 FW Jake Walker

No. Position Player 10 MF Mark Kelly 11 MF Kevin O'Reilly 12 MF Seanie Mahon 13 MF Keith Carter 14 DF Donagh McNamara 15 FW Alex Aspil 16 GK Harry Clarke 17 MF Conor Cowley 18 FW Anthony Purdy

Honours

• League of Ireland: 8'
  • 1951–52, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1989–90, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–1999, 2013
• FAI Cup: 3
  • 1958–59, 1960–61, 2014
• League of Ireland Cup: 4
  • 2000–01, 2003, 2015, 2016
• President of Ireland's Cup: 1
  • 2014
• League of Ireland Shield: 1
  • 1959–60
• Dublin City Cup: 3
  • 1953–54, 1955–56, 1975–76
• FAI Super Cup: 1
  • 1999–2000
• LFA President's Cup: 6
  • 1952–53, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1971–72, 1990–91, 1996–97
• Leinster Senior Cup: 8
  • 1947–48, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1999–2000, 2011, 2014
• FAI Intermediate Cup: 3
  • 1947–48, 1948–49, 1952–53
• Leinster Senior League: 6
  • 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1955–56, 1956–57
• FAI Junior Cup: 1
  • 1940–41
• FAI Youth Cup: 1
  • 1944–45
• Dr Tony O'Neill Cup: 2
  • 2000–01, 2014–15
• FAI Futsal Cup: 1
  • 2008

Notable players

Internationals

Republic of Ireland internationals

Synan Braddish Ray Brady Liam Buckley Noel Campbell George Cummins Kevin Doyle Tommy Dunne Keith Fahey Curtis Fleming

Shay Gibbons Eamonn Gregg Alfie Hale Joe Haverty Jackie Hennessy Mick Kearin Shay Keogh Mick Leech Dinny Lowry

Paul McGrath Barry Murphy (born 1959) Joe O'Cearuill Eamonn O'Keefe Frank O'Neill Stephen Quinn Freddie Strahan Keith Treacy Ronnie Whelan Snr

League of Ireland XI representatives

Killian Brennan Liam Buckley Damien Byrne Jody Byrne Jimmy Collins Fergus Crawford Robbie Gaffney Tommy Gaynor Eddie Gormley Eamonn Gregg Ben Hannigan Jackie Jameson

Daryl Kavanagh Mick Kearin Dermot Keely Conor Kenna Shay Keogh Alan Kirby Mick Leech John McDonnell Dave Mulcahy Barry Murphy (born 1985) Ger O'Brien

Tony O'Connor Ken Oman David Parkes Gavin Peers Aidan Price Gary Rogers John Russell Freddie Strahan Ronnie Whelan Snr Joseph N'Do Ryan Guy

Republic of Ireland B internationals

Dan Connor Pat Fenlon Martin Russell

Republic of Ireland U23 internationals

Kenny Browne James Chambers Brendan Clarke Billy Dennehy Shane Guthrie Conor Kenna Paul McGee

David McMillan Barry Murphy (born 1985) Gavin Peers Ger O'Brien Mark Quigley Ger Rowe

Republic of Ireland U21 internationals

Martin Bayly Ian Bermingham Stephen Bradley Stephen Brennan Paul Byrne Aaron Callaghan Pat Cregg Dan Connor Ian Daly Clive Delaney Lee Desmond Pat Dolan Robbie Doyle Christy Fagan

Rory Feely Pat Fenlon Michael Foley Chris Forrester Keith Foy Robbie Gaffney Owen Garvan Jason Gavin Liam George Eddie Gormley Colin Hawkins Dave Henderson Seán Hoare Alan Kirby

Mark Leech Stephen Maher Jamie McGrath Jason McGuinness Trevor Molloy Thomas Morgan Ian Morris Tony O'Dowd Alex O'Hanlon Ken Oman Stephen Paisley Enda Stevens Mark Timlin

Other internationals

Joseph N'Do Jeff Clarke Gordon Banks Barry Bridges Terry Venables

Ryan Guy John Moore George Miller Danny Trainor

Trevor Wood Neil Martin Charles Mbabazi Livingstone David Partridge

Award winners

PFAI Players' Player of the Year;

Paul McGrath (1981–82) Paddy Dillon (1987–88) Mark Ennis (1989–90) Eddie Gormley (1995–96)

Paul Osam (1998–99) Keith Fahey (2008) Killian Brennan (2013) Christy Fagan (2014)

PFAI Young Player of the Year

• Colin Hawkins (1997–98)
• Mark Quigley (2007)
• Chris Forrester (2012)

SWAI Goalkeeper of the Year

• Brendan Clarke (2013)

League of Ireland Player of the Year;

• Colin Hawkins (1998)
• Paul Osam (1999)
• Killian Brennan (2013)

League of Ireland Player of the Month

Sean Byrne Derek Carthy Jackie Jameson Paul McGrath Damien Byrne Mark Ennis Mick Moody Damien Byrne Dave Henderson Curtis Fleming John McDonnell Eddie Gormley

Ricky O'Flaherty Dave Campbell Colin Hawkins Keith Doyle Thomas Morgan Trevor Molloy Martin Russell Liam Kelly Charles Mbabazi Livingstone Ger McCarthy Darragh Maguire Chris Adamson

Alan Kirby Keith Fahey Mark Quigley Declan O'Brien Conor Kenna Dave Mulcahy Danny North Killian Brennan Anthony Flood Chris Forrester Christy Fagan

Harry Boland Hall of Fame

Jimmy 'Timber' Cummins John McDonnell Paul McGrath Paddy 'Ginger' O'Rourke Shay Gibbons Eddie Gormley Dave Henderson Paddy Dillon

Mark Ennis Paul Osam Dinny Lowry Curtis Fleming Ricky O'Flaherty Tommy Dunne Brian Kerr (Note 1) Liam Buckley

Notes

• ^1 Brian Kerr was a manager only.

Source:^[25]

League of Ireland Top Goalscorer

League of Ireland Top Scorer

Season	Player	Goals
1951–52	Shay Gibbons	26
1952–53	Shay Gibbons	22
1955–56	Shay Gibbons	21
1989–90	Mark Ennis	19
1998–99	Trevor Molloy	15
2008	Mark Quigley	15
2014	Christy Fagan	20

Source:^[26]

Records

• St. Pats Full League Record

P 1887 W 784 D 495 L 607 F 2766 A 2458 Pts 2442

Statistics are correct up to 8/7/2017
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 2847 points

• Record League Points Tally 73 in season 1998–99 (33 games)
• Record League Goals Tally 66 in season 2014 (33 games)
• Record League Victory 8–0 (h) v Limerick (10 December 1967)
• Record FAI Cup Victory 8–0 (h) v Pike Rovers (21 May 2016)
• Record League Cup Victory 5–1 v Athlone Town (13 October 1985)
• Record Leinster Senior Cup Victory 7–0 (h) v Tolka Rovers (9 February 2015)
• Record League Goal scorer Shay Gibbons – 108 goals
• Record League Goal scorer in one Season Shay Gibbons – 28 goals in 1954–55
• Record Goal scorer in Europe Christy Fagan – 6 goals
• Record Goal scorer in Europe in one season Declan O'Brien – 4 goals in 2009
• Record League Appearances Paul Osam – 308 appearances
• Record European Appearances Ian Bermingham – 22 appearances

Source:^[27]

European record

Record by competition

As of June, 2018

Competition	Appearances	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
European Cup/UEFA Champions League	4	8	0	3	5	2	23
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League	11	40	10	7	23	38	66
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1	2	0	0	2	1	8
UEFA Intertoto Cup	1	4	2	0	2	6	6
Overall	17	54	12	10	32	47	103

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	1st Leg	2nd Leg	Aggregate
1961–62	European Cup Winners' Cup	PR	Dunfermline Athletic	1–4 (A)	0–4 (H)	1–8
1967–68	Inter Cities Fairs Cup	1R	Bordeaux	1–3 (H)	3–6 (A)	4–9
1988–89	UEFA Cup	1R	Hearts	0–2 (H)	0–2 (A)	0–4
1990–91	European Cup	1R	Dinamo Bucharest	0–4 (A)	1–1 (H)	1–5
1996–97	UEFA Cup	PR	Slovan Bratislava	3–4 (H)	0–1 (A)	3–5
1998–99	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Celtic	0–0 (A)	0–2 (N)	0–2
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Zimbru	0–5 (H)	0–5 (A)	0–10
2002	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	NK Rijeka	2–3 (A)	1–0 (H)	3–3(a)
2R	K.A.A. Gent	0–2 (A)	3–1 (H)	3–3(a)
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Odense	0–0 (H)	0–5 (A)	0–5
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q	JFK Olimps	1–0 (A)	2–0 (H)	3–0
		2Q	Elfsborg	2–2 (A)	2–1 (H)	4–3
1R	Hertha Berlin	0–2 (A)	0–0 (N)	0–2
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Valletta	1–1 (H)	1–0 (A)	2–1
		3Q	Krylia Sovetov	1–0 (H)	2–3 (A)	3–3(a)
		PO	Steaua Bucharest	0–3 (A)	1–2 (N)	1–5
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	1Q	ÍBV	0–1 (A)	2–0 (H)	2–1
		2Q	Shakhter Karagandy	1–2 (A)	2–0 (H)	3–2
3Q	Karpaty Lviv	0–2 (A)	1–3 (N)	1–5
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	ÍBV	1–0 (H)	1–2 (aet) (A)	2–2(a)
		2Q	Siroki Brijeg	1–1 (A)	2–1 (aet) (H)	3–2
		3Q	Hannover 96	0–3 (N)	0–2 (A)	0–5
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Žalgiris	2–2 (A)	1–2 (H)	3–4
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Legia Warsaw	1–1 (A)	0–5 (N)	1–6
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Skonto Riga	1–2 (A)	0–2 (H)	1–4
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Jeunesse Esch	1–0 (H)	1–2 (A)	2–2(a)
		2Q	Dinamo Minsk	1–1 (A)	0–1 (H)	1–2

Notes

• (H): Home fixture
• (A): Away fixture
• (N): Home fixture with a Neutral Venue
• (a): (Away Goals Rule)
• (aet): (After Extra Time)
• 1R: First round
• 2R: Second round
• PR: Preliminary round
• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

Managers

Manager records

As of 27 July 2017

Manager	Career	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Loss %	Notes
Liam Buckley	2012–	265	137	52	78	431	284	147	51.7%	29.4%	Won 2013 League of Ireland Premier Division, 2014 FAI President's Cup, 2014 Leinster Senior Cup, 2014 FAI Cup, 2015 League of Ireland Cup, 2016 League of Ireland Cup
Pete Mahon	2009–11	114	54	27	33	175	111	64	47.4%	28.9%	Won 2011 Leinster Senior Cup
Maurice O'Driscoll (interim)	2009	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	0%	50%
Jeff Kenna	2009	38	13	5	20	29	49	−20	34.2%	52.6%
John McDonnell	2004–08	211	88	48	75	271	230	41	41.7%	35.5%
Eamonn Collins	2003–04	48	19	18	11	70	58	12	39.6%	22.9%	Won 2003 League of Ireland Cup
Pat Dolan	2000–03	55	20	17	18	66	63	3	36.4%	32.7%	Won 1999 FAI Super Cup, 2001–02 League of Ireland Cup, 1999–00 Leinster Senior Cup
Liam Buckley	1998–2000	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1998–99 League of Ireland Premier Division
Pete Mahon	1998	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Pat Dolan	1996–98	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1996–97 LFA President's Cup, 1997–98 League of Ireland Premier Division
Brian Kerr	1986–96	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1989–90 League of Ireland Premier Division, 1986–87 Leinster Senior Cup, 1989–90 Leinster Senior Cup, 1990–91 Leinster Senior Cup, 1990–91 LFA President's Cup, 1995–96 League of Ireland Premier Division
Jimmy Jackson	1985–86	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Eoin Hand	1984–85	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Charlie Walker	1979–84	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1982–83 Leinster Senior Cup
Ralph O'Flaherty	1978–79	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Barry Bridges	1976–78	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
George Richardson	1975–76	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1975–76 Dublin City Cup
Jack Burkett	1971–75	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1971–72 LFA President's Cup
John Colrain	1968–71	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Peter Farrell	1967–68	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Gerry Doyle	1966–67	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
George Lax	1965–66	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Shay Keogh	1963–65	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%
Unknown	1951–63	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	0%	0%	Won 1951–52 League of Ireland, 1952–53 LFA President's Cup, 1953–54 LFA President's Cup 1953–54 Dublin City Cup, 1954–55 League of Ireland, 1955–56 Dublin City Cup, 1955–56 LFA President's Cup, 1955–56 League of Ireland, 1959 FAI Cup, 1961 FAI Cup

References

External links

• St Patricks Athletic FC Official Website
• SaintsForum.net (Discussion forum for All Saints fans)
• St. Patrick's Athletic FAI Cup history