Sporting Fingal Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and 2010, the club played three seasons in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

. During their first two seasons they played in the First Division before winning promotion to the Premier Division. During the 2009 and 2010 seasons, the club also entered a team in the

A Championship The A Championship, also known as the Newstalk A Championship, was an association football league featuring League of Ireland reserve teams and emerging senior teams. It was a third level league in the Republic of Ireland football league system. ...

. During their short stay in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal were relatively successful. As well as gaining promotion to the Premier Division, they also won both the 2009 FAI Cup and the 2010 A Championship Cup and qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

on two occasions. In addition to fielding teams in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal also organised Powerchair Football,

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

football and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

teams. Their futsal team won the 2010

FAI Futsal Cup The FAI Futsal Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for futsal teams based in the Republic of Ireland. The winners qualify to represent the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Futsal Cup. The competition was intro ...

and qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup.

History

Community football club

Sporting Fingal F.C. was established in 2007 as a joint initiative involving both Fingal County Council and the property developer Gerry Gannon. John O'Brien, the senior executive officer with the council, proposed forming a community football club and Gannon became involved after the council advertised for investors. Gannon would become the club's majority shareholder while the council maintained a 26% stake. Liam Buckley was also involved in forming the club and subsequently served as both the director of football and club manager. Sporting Fingal F.C. was set up as a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...

on 19 November 2007 and the club was officially launched in February 2008 at an event attended by among others,

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...

and Brian Lenihan. At its launch the club also announced its ambitions to set up an academy and build its own stadium. The club also announced details about other backers and sponsors which included Keelings Group Ltd, a Fingal-based fruit and vegetable supplier,

Anglo Irish Bank Anglo Irish Bank was an Irish bank headquartered in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It began to wind down after nationalisation in 2009. In July 2011 Anglo Irish merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society, forming a new company named the Iri ...

and Dublin Airport Authority. In addition to fielding teams in the

, Sporting Fingal also organised Powerchair Football,

football and

teams. In 2009 Sporting Fingal EID joined the

Emerald Futsal League The Emerald Futsal League was a futsal league featuring teams based in the Republic of Ireland. It was initially planned that the league would develop into a full national league. However the vast majority of its member clubs are based in the Gr ...

and in 2010 won the

. Sporting Fingal won the cup after defeating Blue Magic 4–2 in the final. This led to Sporting representing the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup.

League of Ireland

Sporting Fingal successfully applied to join the

and were initially expected to join the

. However following the demise of Kilkenny City, the club were subsequently invited to join the First Division. Sporting Fingal made their League of Ireland debut on 8 March 2008 with a 5–1 defeat against

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

at Flancare Park. Peter Hynes scored Sporting's first goal in a competitive game. Despite their poor start, Sporting eventually finished fourth in the 2008 First Division. Robbie Doyle also emerged as the First Division top scorer. Sporting had a very successful 2009 season. After finishing third during the regular season, they gained promotion to the 2010 Premier Division after defeating Bray Wanderers 4–2 on aggregate in a promotion-relegation play-off. For a second season in a row a Sporting player, this time Conan Byrne, finished as the First Division top scorer. Sporting also won the 2009 FAI Cup after defeating Sligo Rovers 2–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. In doing so they also qualified for the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began ...

. Sporting finished fourth in the 2010 Premier Division and as a result qualified for both the

2011 Setanta Sports Cup The 2011 Setanta Sports Cup was the sixth staging of the all Ireland association football competition. It commenced on 14 February 2011 with the final played on 14 May 2011. The draw for the 2011 competition was made at Belfast City Hall on 13 ...

and the

2011–12 UEFA Europa League The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with t ...

. Their

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

also won the 2010 A Championship Cup, defeating Bohemians A 3–2 in the final.

Europe

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began ...

After winning the 2009 FAI Cup, Sporting Fingal qualified for the

. Sporting played Marítimo in the second qualifying round and were defeated 6–4 on aggregate. After finishing fourth in the 2010 Premier Division, Sporting Fingal also qualified for the

. However after the club disbanded in early 2011 they were replaced in the competition by St Patrick's Athletic. ;Second qualifying round ''Marítimo won 6–4 on aggregate.''

Demise

Sporting Fingal's demise was triggered by the collapse of the

Irish property bubble The Irish property bubble was the speculative excess element of a long-term price increase of real estate in the Republic of Ireland from the early 2000s to 2007, a period known as the later part of the Celtic Tiger. In 2006, the prices peaked ...

. Three of the club's main backers – Gerry Gannon, Dublin Airport Authority and

– were involved in the

Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy The Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy (also known as the circular transactions controversy) began in Dublin in December 2008 when Seán FitzPatrick, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank (the state's third-largest bank), admitted he had hi ...

. The

National Asset Management Agency The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA; ga, Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bhainistíocht Sócmhainní) is a body created by the government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish ...

placed restrictions on Gannon's business activities and on 26 November 2010 he resigned as Sporting Fingal's chairman, ending his involvement with the club. Gannon had been the club's main benefactor. In 2008 he made the club a "sponsorship payment" of €499,900 and in 2009 he also made a €750,000 "non-refundable contribution". Some reports estimated that Gannon invested more than €2m into the club. Despite this, however, Sporting posted a loss of more than €75,000 in 2009. The club were unable to find a replacement for Gannon and in February 2011 Sporting Fingal revealed it had serious financial problems when they were unable to pay their players' wages. This resulted in the club having to cancel the contracts of their playing squad. On 14 February they were due to play Lisburn Distillery in the first round of the

; however, they had to withdraw from the competition and were replaced by UCD. The club also withdrew its application for a licence to participate in the 2011 Premier Division. Drogheda United, who were originally relegated at the end of the 2010 Premier Division season, subsequently retained their place in the Premier Division after Sporting withdrew.

Grounds

Sporting Fingal's first team played their home First Division and Premier Division games at

Morton Stadium Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry Demesne, Santry in Ireland. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city and the home track of Clonliffe Harriers. It h ...

. Their

team played their home games at the ALSAA Sports Complex, near

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport (Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south of ...

. The club also used ALSAA as their main training facility. Sporting played their

home game against Marítimo at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known ...

and, before their demise, they intended to move to the same stadium for the 2011 season. In the long term Sporting Fingal planned to play at the Fingal Sports Complex.

Notable former players

Internationals

international *

Glen Crowe Glen Crowe (born 25 December 1977) is an Irish professional football forward who plays for Malahide United in the Leinster Senior League. He was a prolific goalscorer in the League of Ireland Premier Division and has represented the Repub ...

League of Ireland XI representatives *

Ger O'Brien Gerard O'Brien (born 2 July 1984) is an Irish former professional footballer who played in the League of Ireland as a defender. He is the current Director of Football of St Patrick's Athletic, who he spent 5 seasons playing with. His former ...

* Alan Kirby * Shaun Williams * Éamon Zayed ; Republic of Ireland U23 internationals ; Republic of Ireland U21 internationals Republic of Ireland U19 internationals * Robert Bayly * John Frost Republic of Ireland U18 international * Kevin Dawson

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

international * Éamon Zayed Wales U21 international * Steve Williams Latvia U19 international * Igors Labuts

Goalscorers

; First Division Top Scorer

Honours

* FAI Cup ** 2009: 1 * A Championship Cup ** 2010: 1 *

**2010: 1

References

External links

"Sporting Fingal: The team who formed, won a cup, reached Europe and folded - all in three years"
- BBC Sport, 5 May 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fingal Sporting Association football clubs established in 2007 Association football clubs disestablished in 2011 Defunct League of Ireland clubs Former League of Ireland First Division clubs Former League of Ireland Premier Division clubs 2007 establishments in Ireland 2011 disestablishments in Ireland