Dublin City Football Club was a former Irish association football club based in Northside, Dublin. The club played in the League of Ireland. They were formed in 1999 after a split within

Home Farm Everton Home Farm Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Whitehall, Dublin. It was founded in 1928. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1972 after merging with Drumcondra. Following this merger they were briefly known as Home ...

and they originally played as Home Farm Fingal before changing their name for the 2001–02 season. They disbanded in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

due to financial problems.

History

Home Farm is one of the biggest junior football clubs in Ireland and their senior team, from 1970 up to the late 1990s, played in the League of Ireland. However, the link between Home Farm and the senior team was severed in the late 1990s. The senior side was briefly known as Home Farm Fingal in an effort to identify it with the north Dublin area. In 1999 Home Farm Fingal

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Ronan Seery took over the club and renamed it "Dublin City". The club was based in Dublin and in 2006, its final year of operation, played their home matches at Dalymount Park. The last manager was

Dermot Keely Dermot Keely (born 8 March 1954) is an Irish former manager and player. He was a schoolteacher by profession. Family Keely's family have played League of Ireland football at various levels. His late father Peter Keely played for Shelbourne., hi ...

. Nicknamed "The Vikings", they adopted the same colours as the

Dublin GAA The Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Átha Cliath) or Dublin GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the Dublin Regi ...

team. Their shirt sponsor was Carroll's of Dublin, a chain of tourist

souvenir shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collec ...

s which sold club-branded merchandise at its stores in the city centre and Dublin Airport. The club were twice promoted to the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

, winning the

2003 League of Ireland First Division The 2003 League of Ireland First Division season was the 19th season of the League of Ireland First Division and the first to be played as a summer league. Overview The First Division was contested by 12 teams and Dublin City won the division. Ea ...

and then defeating

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

in a promotion/relegation play-off in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. In addition to its small following, the club had no permanent home ground, playing at various times in Tolka Park, Dalymount Park, Morton Stadium, Richmond Park and

Whitehall Stadium Whitehall Stadium is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Whitehall, bordering Drumcondra. It is currently the home ground of club Home Farm. Home Farm moved here in 1989 when Shelbourne acquired their current hom ...

. However they failed to cultivate a significant fan-base. Some very low attendances were reported at their games. As a result of these factors, the club experienced financial problems and as of July 19, 2006, Dublin City FC ceased trading and resigned from the league. The results of all their games to that point in the season were expunged from the record. Ronan Seery issued a statement saying, "Due to ongoing difficulties, our continued existence within the Eircom League simply became untenable and while extremely difficult to make, it is the most prudent and honourable decision and course of action to take." However, the club was heavily criticised in some quarters, for example by Damien Richardson and Roddy Collins for failing to complete their league fixtures. Roddy Collins, who managed Dublin City in 2004 but left abruptly on bad terms, called the club's actions "disgraceful."

Honours

League of Ireland First Division *Winners:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

*Runners-up:

References

{{League of Ireland clubs Association football clubs established in 1999 Association football clubs disestablished in 2006 Home Farm F.C. Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Defunct League of Ireland clubs Former League of Ireland First Division clubs Former League of Ireland Premier Division clubs 1999 establishments in Ireland 2006 disestablishments in Ireland