Brideville Football Club was an Irish association football club, originally based in

The Liberties, Dublin The Liberties (Irish: ''Na Saoirsí'' or occasionally ''Na Libirtí'') is an area in central Dublin, Ireland, located in the southwest of the inner city. Formed from various areas of special manorial jurisdiction, separate from the main city g ...

. They were active during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, playing in both 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 ...

and the Leinster Senior League. They were the first ever winners of the

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairv ...

and also played in two

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

finals.

History

Brideville had three spells playing in the

, which added up to seventeen seasons in total. After winning the

and then the Leinster Senior Cup in successive seasons, Brideville made their League of Ireland debut in 1925–26. They were elected to replace

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

. In 1925–26 Brideville's

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 Leinster Senior League. During their first spell in the League of Ireland, Brideville also made two

final appearances. In 1926–27, with a team that included

Fran Watters Fran Watters was an Ireland international footballer. Watters played for several clubs in the League of Ireland and in 1925–26 scored 15 goals for Shelbourne, helping them win their first ever League of Ireland title. Playing career Olymp ...

, they lost 1–0 in a replay to Drumcondra, then playing in the Leinster Senior League. In 1929–30, with a team that featured

Peadar Gaskins Peadar Gaskins was an Irish footballer who played as a defender. Career Gaskins was born in Dublin. He joined Shamrock Rovers in 1932 where he stayed for five seasons. He won five caps for the Republic of Ireland captaining the side in all of ...

Joe O'Reilly Joe O'Reilly (born 1 April 1955) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Leas-Chathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann since August 2020. He has served as a Senator for the Labour Panel since April 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2011 for ...

and Charlie Reid, they again lost 1–0 this time to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

. According to Doolan and Goggins, Brideville were unlucky not to win the 1930 final. They had created the "better chances to score" but failed to take them. Then with less than a minute to play,

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

, later to become a Brideville player, scored the winner. Some years later, Byrne admitted that he had actually handled the ball before scoring. At the end of the 1931–32 season Brideville failed to get re-elected to the League of Ireland. However in 1932–33 they won the Leinster Senior League and in 1935–36 when the League of Ireland was expanded from ten teams to twelve, Brideville rejoined. The other expansion team was Reds United. In 1937–38 they achieved their best finish in the league when they finished fourth. At the end of the 1942–43 season they once again failed to get re-elected. However Brideville returned after just one season and in 1944–45 they replaced St James's Gate. However their return lasted just one season. They failed to gain re-election for the following season and were replaced by

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Home ground

Between

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the It ...

and

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

Brideville played their home games at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer pa ...

. However in 1930 they were replaced as tenants by

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origina ...

. They then moved to

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. Raci ...

which they shared with

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

. During the 1939–40 season they also played at Green Lanes.

Honours

* Leinster Senior League **''Winners'': 1925–26, 1932–33: 2 *

**''Runners Up'': 1926–27, 1929–30: 2 * Leinster Senior Cup **''Winners'': 1924-25: 1 *

: 1 **''Winners'': 1923-24

League of Ireland Stats

Source:

Notable former players

Ireland internationals

The following Brideville players represented

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and/or 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 ...

at full international level.

and Charlie Reid both played for Brideville when they were capped.

Goalscorers

*Top League Scorer ''(season)'': 16, Patrick Quinlan ( 1930–31) *Top League Scorer ''(total)'': 27, Charlie Reid (1929-32 & 1936-37)

References

{{League of Ireland clubs Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Defunct League of Ireland clubs Former Leinster Senior League clubs Association football clubs established in the 1920s Association football clubs disestablished in the 1940s 1920s establishments in Ireland 1940s disestablishments in Ireland