Stella Maris Football Club is an Irish association football club based in

Drumcondra, Dublin Drumcondra () is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council. The River Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area. History The village of Drumcondra was the central a ...

. Founded in 1943, the club caters for over 350 children, ranging in age from 5 to 18 years. Some thirty coaches and managers train, organise and oversee the teams and academy run by the club. The club enters several teams in the Dublin & District Schoolboy League and the Leinster Senior League. Stella Maris is best known for its

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

which has successfully produced dozens of players who have gone on to play for clubs throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. Many have also gone on to represent 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 the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

at international level.

History

Moore and Whelan

One of Stella Maris' earliest coaches was

Paddy Moore Paddy Moore (4 August 1909 – 24 July 1951) was an Irish professional footballer who played for, among others, Shamrock Rovers and Aberdeen. Moore was a dual internationalist and played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. ...

. During the 1940s and early 1950s, when Moore coached Stella Maris, he nurtured the talents of future

international

Ronnie Whelan Sr. Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album ''Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

Whelan was initially "discovered" by Moore's wife, who then brought him to the attention of her husband. Whelan was one of the early success stories of the Stella Maris academy.

Milk Cup

Stella Maris have been regular participants in the

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...

, playing against the youth teams of among others,

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Everton,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

as well as national youth teams representing

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. On 27 July 1994,

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 Republic ...

scored a hat-trick as Stella Maris defeated Estonia 8–0 in a Milk Cup game.

Women's teams

Stella Maris has also fielded women's teams in both the

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

and the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI ...

women's internationals

Stephanie Roche Stephanie Roche (born 13 June 1989) is an Irish association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for Shamrock Rovers Ladies F.C., Shamrock Rovers of Dublin and the Republic of Ireland women's national foot ...

and

Áine O'Gorman Áine Marie O'Gorman (born 13 May 1989) is an Irish footballer who plays for Women's National League club Shamrock Rovers. At club level, O'Gorman began her senior career with Stella Maris, played for Peamount United and UCD Waves, and also s ...

are both former Stella Maris players.

Home ground

In May 2014, Stella Maris opened a new clubhouse and a new

3G pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

at their base at Richmond Road. The facilities were officially opened by two former players,

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

Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional association football, footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella ...

, who were joined at the opening ceremony by Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief John Delaney. Stella Maris also play matches at a number of local pitches based at

Clonturk Clonturk () is an area on the Northside (Dublin), Northside of Dublin, in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the south of the suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, just north of the River Tolka, but previously, Clonturk had been ...

Park and Albert College Park.

Notable former players

;

internationals ;

women's internationals *

Aine O'Gorman Aine may refer to: * Áine, Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty * Áine (given name), an Irish female given name * Aine, Dahanu Aine is a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. It is located in the Dahanu taluka. ...

; Republic of Ireland B internationals * Vinny Arkins *

Dessie Baker Desmond "Dessie" Baker (born 25 August 1977 in Dublin) is an Irish footballer who plays for Leinster Senior League side Edenderry Town. He has three children. Early career From Tallaght Baker was a graduate of Dublin youth clubs Marks Celti ...

Brian Mooney Brian Mooney, (born 2 February 1966 in Dublin) is an Irish former footballer who made his name as a skilful winger in English football. Mooney was spotted in 1983 by Liverpool playing for Irish schoolboy club Home Farm F.C. where he had won a F ...

* Richie Byrne ; Republic of Ireland U23 international *

; Republic of Ireland U21 internationals ;

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

representatives * Vinny Arkins *

Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick Brady (born April 11, 1955) is an American politician and the U.S. representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes northern Houston, including The Woodlands. On April 14, 202 ...

Noel King Noel King (born 13 September 1956) is a former professional footballer and the current head coach of Women's National League club Shelbourne. For 10 years from 2000 until 2010 he was manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. ...

;

managers *

Eoin Hand Eoin Kevin Joseph Colin Hand (born 30 March 1946) is an Irish former footballer and football manager. As a player, his normal position was centre-half. He works as a television and radio football commentator for RTÉ in Ireland. Playing career ...

* Liam Tuohy *

Mick Cooke (football manager) Mick Cooke (born 14 August 1951) is an Irish association football manager and former player. Playing career A former youths international Cooke played in the qualifiers for Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team in the 1970 UEFA ...

;

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 us ...

managers *

Roddy Collins Roderick Collins (born 7 August 1962), is an Irish former professional football player and manager. During a playing career of 18 years, Collins played for many sides across England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. While towards the end of his ...

* Stephen Henderson * Gary Cronin *

Mick Cooke Mick Cooke (born 15 December 1973) is a Scotland, Scottish muli-instrumentalist who was the trumpet player of the indie band Belle & Sebastian for fifteen years before leaving in 2013 to concentrate on composing full-time.Taylor, Luke (2013)Int ...

;Actors *

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...

Notable former managers

1940s

Honours

FAI Youth Cup The FAI Youth Cup, also known as the FAI Umbro Youth Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organised by the FAI for youth association football clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Greenmount Rangers. The competit ...

**''Winners'': 1973–74, 1993–94:http://www.fai.ie lists Stella Maris as 1993–94 winners. The ''FAI Yearbook & Diary 1995'' omits the 1993–94 final. Other sources including, the Tipperary Southern & District Football League website, claims St. Michael's won the cup in both 1993–94 and 1994–95 2 **''Runners-up'': 1947–48, 1998–99: 2 * FAI Under-17 Cup **''Winners'': 1982–83: 2 **''Runners-up'': 1981–82, 1986–87, 1993–94: 2

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 2 Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs Association football academies in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs established in 1943 1943 establishments in Ireland Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Dublin Women's Soccer League teams