St Patrick's Athletic F.C.

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 and 1948 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

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]

Women's Football

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

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. Among the top players to have come through the Programme are Jake Carroll, Seán Hoare, Jamie McGrath, Jack Bayly, Darragh Markey, Paul Rooney, Fuad Sule among others.^[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.

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 Brian Maher Paul Cleary Ryan O'Shea Luke McNally Joe Manley Michael O'Keane Jason Grouse Luke Heeney (captain) Jake Walker Neill Byrne

No. Position Player Conor Cowley Cian Lee Mark Kelly Aaron Davis Adam Leonard Aaron Townley Padraig Finnerty Brian McGivern Jamie Bruton Coyne

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 Aaron Davis Karl O'Callaghan Kevin O'Reilly Conor Power Keith Carter Aaron McGrath (captain) Alex Aspil Brandon Bermingham Sean Mahon

No. Position Player Jack Kelly Adam Nugent Anthony Purdy Lee John McEntee Darragh Burns Sean Madden Scott Darcy Zak Delaney

Under 15's

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

No. Position Player Morgan Rice Cian O'Malley William Chelaru (captain) Darragh Meegan Jamie Doyle Kyle Conway Kenny Lee Ben McCormack

No. Position Player Kian Corbally Darragh Reilly Ross Fay Oliver Birch Aaron O'Reilly Cian Kavanagh Joshua Keeley

Internationals

Republic of Ireland internationals

League of Ireland XI representatives

Republic of Ireland B internationals

Republic of Ireland U23 internationals

Republic of Ireland U21 internationals

Other internationals

Award winners

PFAI Players' Player of the Year;

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

Harry Boland Hall of Fame

Notes

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]

Record by competition

As of June, 2019

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

Manager records

As of 11 October 2018