Shamrock Rovers (Ireland)

Shamrock Rovers FC, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige in Irish, are the most successful football cub in Ireland, who hail from the capital of Dublin having being formed in 1901 in the Ringsend area of the city. The club name derives from the fact the clubs first rooms were in Shamrock Avenue.

In 1906 Rovers withdrew from the First Division of the Leinster Senior League, but in 1914 they were resurrected and played at Ringsend Park for the next two years. Unfortunately the venue then became unavailable and the club disbanded for five years, only playing exhibition matches. 

A large crowd packs in to watch the action in Milltown

The club then joined the Leinster Senior League, with Rovers lifting the League of Ireland title at the first attempt in 1922-23 with Bob Fullam the leading scorer. The 1924-25 campaign saw the first of several league and cup double seasons with the FAI Cup won 2-1 against Shelbourne.

Rovers moved into their new home of Glenmalure Park in Milltown in 1926, going on to lift the league crown in 1926-27. This would be backed up with another championship in 1931-32 but the period was dominated with five consecutive FAI Cup wins.

In 1928-29 Bohemian were defeated 3-0 in a replay before Brideville were seen off by a single goal. In the 1930-31 final Dundalk were beaten 1-0 in a replay before Dolphin were the beaten finalists in 1931-32 and 1932-33 as Rovers won 1-0 and then 3-0 after a replay.

The FAI Cup was collected in 1935-36 with a 2-1 win against Cork. Irish international Jimmy Dunne took over as player-manager in 1937 as the decade would herald another two league titles in 1937-38 and 1938-39, as crowds of up to 30,000 flocked to Glenmalure Park to see 'The Hoops'.

An eight Cup triumph came in 1939-40 following a 3-0 victory over Sligo Rovers. Ex player Fullam oversaw the team when they regained the trophy in 1943-44 as Shelbourne were defeated 3-2. The Cup was lifted again the following season with a single goal win against rivals Bohemian before Dunne returned as manager.

His team won the FAI Cup in 1947-48 with a 2-1 win against Drumcondra before the manager died suddenly so Paddy Coad reluctantly took over as player-manager. He produced a fine young side which would lead the club to further glory.

League titles came in 1953-54, 1956-57 and 1958-59 as Paddy Ambrose and later Liam Tuohy provided the goals. The FAI Cup was won in 1954-55 with a 1-0 win against Drumcondra and then retained the following season as Cork Athletic were beaten 3-2.

Seán Thomas rebuilt the side and took them to another Cup victory in 1961-62 as Shelbourne were defeated 4-1 prior to the double season of 1963-64 as Eddie Bailham banged in the goals with Cork Celtic being overcome 2-1 in a replay of the Cup final at Dalymount Park.

Rovers also went out narrowly to eventual winners Valencia in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup. Thomas resigned because of interference from the Cunningham family who owned the club with former player Tuohy taking over and leading the Hoops to another five consecutive FAI Cup wins.

In 1964-65 and 1965-66 Limerick were the beaten finalists, after a replay and then 2-0 a year later. St Patrick’s Athletic were defeated 3-2 in 1966-67 before a 3-0 victory over Waterford the following year. Cork Celtic were seen off 4-1 in a replay to lift the cup in 1968-69 to make it six in a row overall.

The summer of 1967 was spent in the USA where the club participated in the foundation of the United Soccer Association. They represented the city of Boston and played as Boston Rovers. Mick Leech was the star striker of the day.

In 1972 Arthur and Des Cunningham sold Rovers to three Kilcoyne brothers from Dublin. They purchased the club for business reasons having seen the previous high attendances the team attracted. 

However, withing five years crowds were disappearing from the league, which led to the sad demise of Cork Hibs and Drumcondra. The new owners sold their experienced players and replaced them with juniors.

In 1976 Thomas returned as manager before Johnny Giles replaced him in the player-managers role in July 1977. The Kilcoyne’s made the club full time professional and unveiled plans to rebuild Glenmalure Park to hold 50,000 fans.

Giles brought in Irish internationals Eamonn Dunphy, Ray Treacy and Paddy Mulligan to supplement the younger players. A twenty first FAI Cup was lifted in 1977-78 as Sligo Rovers were defeated 1-0.

Rovers also had notable European victories against Fram Reykjavik and Apoel Nicosia. Despite this Giles resigned in February 1983. Jim McLaughlin was given funds to strengthen the team, leading the team to glory as the league title was won in 1983-84 before the double was secured a season later with Galway United defeated 1-0 in the Cup final.

A monument stands where Glenmalure Park was once located.

A second successive double was secured in 1985-86 as Waterford United were beaten 2-0 in the Cup final as Alan Campbell, Liam Buckley and then Mick Byrne provided the goals for the Hoops in the successes.

Dermot Keely replaced McLaughlin and immediately took Rovers to a third double on the spin in 1986-87 with Dundalk the beaten 3-0 finalists in the Cup triumph. The club bought Glenmalure Park from the Jesuit owners before the Kilcoyne's announced that it would be sold for development in 1987.

The team moved to play matches at Tolka Park with the Supporters Club and KRAM, Keep Rovers at Milltown, boycotted games. The Kilcoyne's sold the club to businessman John McNamara who controversially moved Rovers to home of their biggest rivals; Bohemians Dalymount Park.

Crowds continued to drop as the supporters were most unimpressed. In 1990 Rovers moved to the Royal Dublin Showground closer to their original home where they remained for six years and securing their fifteenth league title in 1993-94 under manager Ray Treacy.

The move of location was popular with 22,000 fans attending Rovers first game at RDS against St Patrick's Athletic. In 1996 McNamara sold the club to Premier Computers, headed by Alan McGrath who unveiled plans to build a new stadium for the club in the south western suburb of Tallaght. 

Brian Kearney also of Premier Computers took over as Chairman and gained planning permission in 1998 as the club once again used Tolka Park for home games. Joe Colwell bought the club and ended the companies' involvement at Rovers as Damien Richardson had a spell as team boss while the side played for a while at Morton Stadium, which can be seen here.

Tony McGuire then took over the club and looked for investment to complete a half built stadium after the construction company employed pulled out of the deal. There followed a period of legal battles over the ownership of the land and stadium which led to the enforced resignation of McGuire after the club entered a period of examination. 

McGuire had submitted the clubs' 2003 accounts when applying for their 2005 license, which led to a points deduction and consequent relegation. The 400 Club, a supporters group had an offer for the club accepted and took over ownership. Promotion was won at the first attempt and the stadium construction was recommenced while the side performed in home games at Tolka Park.

In 2009 the stadium was completed and marked with an opening game against Real Madrid which drew in a crowd of 10,200, while the team improved under Michael O'Neill. The 2010 League of Ireland title was won on goal difference over Bohemian ending a drought of sixteen years, as well as a two legged game in Europe against Juventus.

Rovers made the headlines during the 2011 season in the Europa League when they defeated Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade over two legs to reach the competitions' group stages, on a night when all Scottish teams were eliminated from the tournament.

Their reward was to be drawn in the same group as Tottenham Hotspur, Rubin Kazan and PAOK. Despite a gallant effort the team were eliminated at the group stage.

The skills of manager O'Neill were spotted and he was appointed as manager of Northern Ireland in December 2012. Rovers were led by Stephen Kenny and then Brian Laws before Trevor Croly took over in November to prepare for the 2013 season.

Pat Fenlon took over as team boss in August 2014. The team finished the season in fourth place, before ending up one position better off in 2015. The goals of Gary McCabe helped Rovers to fourth place in 2016 after Stephen Bradley had come in as team boss in July, initially in a caretaker role.

With Ronan Rigg as skipper, Rovers improved to third place in 2017 with Gary Shaw leading the scoring. The position was replicated in 2018 as Graham Burke and and Daniel Carr banged in the goals at Tallaght.

The 2019 league season the team ended as runners-up with goals supplied by Aaron Greene and Aaron McEneff, with the Hoops also inflicting defeat on Brann in the Europa League qualifying rounds.

Ronan Finn captained the side to glory at the Aviva Stadium in the final of the FAI Cup when Dundalk were defeated in a dramatic finale. Rovers took the lead in the last minute only to be pegged back in stoppage time, before winning 4-2 on penalties with keeper Alan Mannus the hero as Shamrock lifted the trophy for the first time in thirty two years.

The team led the League of Ireland when the 2020 season was suspended owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shamrock Rovers will compete in the League of Ireland Premier Division for the 2020 season.

An attempt to rouse fans displayed outside the ground on my visit

My visit

Thursday 14th October 2010

I was in and around Dublin for a few days sightseeing, socialising and to see some stadiums and a match on the Friday evening. I had already had a superb day having gone on a tour of the new Aviva Stadium and met one of my old Scarborough FC heroes, Martin Russell who was managing UCD in the city.

From Bellfield I took a bus back into the city centre before jumping aboard a Luas (Dublin tram) for the long but interesting ride to distant Tallaght.

My first impression was not hugely favourable of the new area. It was a new town newly built replica of the new towns that blight the south east of England. It was lacking character, save for the old original village separated by a major road. 

I set off on the way to where I thought the stadium was, but soon found myself by a dual carriageway with not a lot on the horizon. A kind local put me back in the right direction which meant going through The Square shopping centre and along the Tallaght Pass, which was a major road.

The stadium was now in my sights and I was soon outside. I managed to take some photos of the far one of two identical stands through a gate, before popping into the club office to ask permission to have a look inside. The chap behind the counter apologised but he couldn't oblige. Instead I walked around the perimeter and got several good photos anyway.

The ground had two impressively identically designed seated stands with one having an interesting looking barrel roof, before money became tighter, facing each other across the pitch. Both ends were flat open standing, but had plenty of space for future development. 

I walked back to the Luas stop, in the correct direction. It took less than ten minutes! I set off for my next destination, St Patrick's Athletic hoping to revisit Tallaght Stadium for a game when the area was 'lived in' and the stadium developed further.


The old photos of Glenmalure Park have been taken from the internet