Sporting Fingal (Ireland)

Sporting Fingal FC was a League of Ireland football club from North Dublin. The concept of the club was created by Fingal County Council in 2007 to develop football in the district.

The idea was to set up a school of excellence north of the nearby town of Swords. Opportunity knocked when Kilkenny City dropped out of the League of Ireland and Sporting took their place in Division One in 2008, playing games at Morton Stadium.

In just their second season 'The Ravens' won promotion via the play offs as well as lifting the FAI Cup after defeating Sligo Rovers in the final at Tallaght. This qualified the club for the Europa League, where Portuguese side CS Maritimo defeated them 6-4 on aggregate.

In Sporting's first and as it turned out, last season in the top flight in 2010 they finished in a very creditable fourth place. The club intended to play home matches at Dalymount Park in 2011 as tenants to Bohemians until a new sports complex including a football ground was built in Lusk.

In February 2011 the club owners revealed that it had not been able to pay the players wages. On 9th February the PFA of Ireland revealed that all the players contracts had been cancelled and then the following day the club announced that they had withdrawn their application to play in the League of Ireland as financial targets had not been met during the close season.

The club was immediately dissolved.


My visit

Friday 15th October 2010

I was travelling around North Dublin in a slightly dishevelled condition after a wonderful night enjoying the city's hospitality the previous evening. I had already visited the homes of Drumcondra, Shelbourne and Home Farm before I headed for Morton Stadium.

The home at the time of Sporting Fingal was out towards the airport on Swords Road past the Omni Shopping Complex in Santry. A bus at taken me from outside Whitehall Stadium all the way to the entrance of Morton Stadium. I was delighted to find the gates of this municipal arena, which also played home to Clonliffe Harriers AC. In the past it had also hosted matches for the short lived Dublin City FC and Shamrock Rovers.

The stadium itself was neat and tidy, if not ideal for the staging of football with the running track meaning fans would be a fair distance from the pitch. The Main Stand on the far side was elevated with covered seating. Shallow open terracing curved behind both ends while on the Swords Road side there was a separate tidy open terrace lock with a TV gantry perched on it.

I left the stadium and decided to walk to the next bus stop as the next bus was going to be five minutes. My next destination was to be Croke Park, which was an experience well worth every Euro.