St. Mochta's F.C. is an Irish association football club based in

Clonsilla Clonsilla () is an outer suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Ireland. Clonsilla is also a civil parish in the barony of Castleknock in the historic County Dublin. Location and access Clonsilla used to be a small village in the inner western part ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Their senior team play in the

Leinster Senior League Senior Division The Leinster Senior League Senior Division is the top division of the Leinster Senior League. It is organized by the Leinster Football Association. Together with the Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division and the Ulster Senior League S ...

. They also regularly compete in the

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 ...

, the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup ( ga, Corn Comortais Peile na hÉireann), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediat ...

, 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 the Leinster Senior Cup.

History

St. Mochta's were founded in September 1949 when founder Barth O'Brien put a motion to the AGM of the St. Mochta's Branch of the Catholic Young Men's Society (CYMS) that a football section be formed within the branch. At the time, it was unsure exactly what type of ''football'' the club would play, considering that it could mean

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

, or gaelic football. After a vote from aspiring members, association football or soccer was chosen. In its early years, the club played its football at Somerton on the same grounds where Castleknock GAA club now play and briefly in Coolmine Lane, close to

Coolmine railway station Coolmine railway station serves Coolmine, County Dublin, Ireland. It lies on the Dublin to Maynooth and Dublin Docklands to M3 Parkway railway station commuter routes.http://www.irishrail.ie/timetables Irish Rail printable Timetables A large ca ...

before permanently establishing themselves at Porterstown. In the early 1960s the CYMS became defunct but the club carried on as St. Mochta's.

Later years

In 2017 the club won the

for the first time. In October 2018, the Football Association of Ireland announced that St. Mochta's would be receiving €20,000 in funds to help fund a full-sized astroturf pitch at the club's Porterstown Road facility. In July 2019, the club celebrated its 70th anniversary with a glamour friendly tie against English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

. Hailed as 'the biggest club the .... side have ever played', the match ended in a 7-0 loss for St. Mochta's.

Notable former players

Republic of Ireland internationals

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 Republi ...

* Mark Kennedy

Republic of Ireland u21 internationals

Stephen Paisley Stephen Paisley (born 28 July 1983) is a former Irish professional football player. Paisley was a central defender. Career Early career Paisley played schoolboy football for Dublin sides St. Mochta's and Cherry Orchard before joining Englis ...

Others

* Philip Hughes * Dean Kelly

Honours

(1): Winners 2016-17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mochtas F.C. Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs Association football clubs in Dublin (city) 1949 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1949 Former Athletic Union League (Dublin) clubs