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

The Liberties, Dublin The Liberties ( or occasionally ) is an area in central Dublin, Ireland, located in the southwest of the inner city. Formed from various areas of special manorial jurisdiction, initially separate from the main city government, it is one of Dub ...

. Founded in 1919, they were active during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, playing in both the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

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 Fairvie ...

and also played in two

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

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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. In 1925–26 Brideville's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

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, 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 soccer player who played as a defender. Career Gaskins was born in Dublin on 10 May 1908. He joined Shamrock Rovers in 1932 where he stayed for five seasons. He won five caps for the Republic of Ireland captaining ...

Joe O'Reilly Joe O'Reilly (born 1 April 1955) is an Irish Fine Gael politician has served as a senator for the Labour Panel since April 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2011 for the Industrial and Commercial Panel and from 1989 to 1992 for the Cultural and ...

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

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

. 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 May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

, 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 ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

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 (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

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 on J ...

Brideville played their home games at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. However, in 1930 they were replaced as tenants by

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

. They then moved to

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a Greyhound racing in Ireland, greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Bord na gCon, Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars ...

which they shared with

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

. During the 1939–40 season they also played at Green Lanes.Irish Press, September 4, 1939

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 (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and/or the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

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