Dublin University Association Football Club is an Irish association football club based at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. Founded in

1883 Events January * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * January 16 – ...

, Dublin University A.F.C. is the oldest surviving association football club in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. Their senior men's team currently competes in the Leinster Senior League. They have previously played in both the League of Ireland B Division and the League of Ireland U21 Division. The club also enters teams in the College & Universities Football League, the Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland League, the Collingwood Cup and the FAI Intermediate Cup. The club has previously entered teams in both the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

and the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

History

Early years

a group of former

students formed Dublin Association F.C., following a meeting in Tyrone Place, later to become Cathedral Street. Shortly after, the current students at TCD formed Dublin University A.F.C. and on 7 November 1883 the two clubs met in one of the earliest organised

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

games played in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Dublin Association won the game 4–0. By 1890 Dublin Association was disbanded, leaving Dublin University A.F.C. as the oldest surviving association football club in the

. On 30 November 1883 at College Park, Dublin University A.F.C. also played in the first ever game between a

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and Dublin team, losing 6–0 to Belfast Athletic. In 1883–84, together with Dublin Association, they became one of the first two Dublin clubs to compete in the

. They continued to compete in the Irish Cup between 1883–84 and 1888–89, again from 1893–94 to 1899–1900 and then sporadically until 1912–13. Their best season came in 1885–86 when they reached the semi-final after scoring 18 goals without reply in the first four rounds.

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

international, William Eames, captained the team from half-back. On 19 December 1885, Eames scored a goal in the 7–0 defeat of Clifton Park in the third round, adding three further goals in the 6–0 defeat of Banbridge in the next round. However, in the semi-final on 13 February 1886 they lost 4–0 to

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. On 27 October 1892 Dublin University A.F.C. became founder members of the Leinster Football Association. The LFA soon organized their own cup competition, the Leinster Senior Cup which was first played for in 1892–93. The inaugural final saw Leinster Nomads defeat Dublin University 2–1. Dublin University also played in the 1893–94 and 1894–95 finals, losing both to Bohemians after replays. Dublin University also became founder members of the Leinster Senior League.

Intervarsity

Dublin University A.F.C. is affiliated to the Irish Universities Football Union and regularly competes in annual intervarsity competitions such as the Collingwood Cup, the Farquhar Cup, the Crowley Cup and the Harding Cup. In 1914, together with

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and

University College Galway The University of Galway () is a public university, public research university located in the city of Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Ga ...

, Dublin University entered the inaugural Collingwood Cup tournament. However, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

era, the club ceased to exist and despite several attempts at a relaunch, it was not until 1939 that the club was reformed. In 1947 and 1949 Dublin University shared the Collingwood Cup with QUB and UCD respectively. However the club would have to wait until 1967 before it won the Collingwood Cup outright for the first time. In the final at College Park they defeated QUB 1–0 with a penalty scored five minutes from the end. In 1979 with a team featuring Hugo MacNeill and coached by Liam Tuohy, Dublin University won the Collingwood Cup outright for a second time. MacNeill scored twice in the final as Dublin University defeated

Maynooth University Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

2–0.

National level

In the late 1960s Dublin University rejoined the Leinster Senior League and in 1975 they were elected to the League of Ireland B Division. In 2005 when the B Division was reformed as the League of Ireland U21 Division, they remained in the new division. However the U21 Division operated as a summer league and Dublin University struggled to field teams during the summer months when the university was closed. After three years of summer football, Dublin University's senior team re-joined the Leinster Senior League in 2008–09.

Grounds

Dublin University play their home matches at College Park, Dublin. They also play at their grounds in Santry. Throughout their history, the club has also played at grounds in Clontarf and Grangegorman. They have also ground shared with both Jacobs Football Club and St Patrick's Athletic.

Notable former coaches

Notable former players

; Ireland (IFA) internationals Frederick Moorhead and William Eames were the first two Dublin University players to represent

when they played against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 28 February, 1885. They were also the first two

-based players to be selected for Ireland. Between 1885 and 1895 nine Dublin University players were capped by Ireland in the British Home Championship. These include Willoughby Hamilton who was a Dublin Association player when capped. Lewis Scott was the last Dublin University player to represent Ireland at senior international level when he played against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 30 March 1895. ; Ireland Amateurs (IFA) internationals * H.E. Rutherford * P.A. Meldon ; Ireland rugby union international * Hugo MacNeill ; Ireland women's rugby union international * Hannah Tyrrell

Club presidents

* Sean Barrett

Honours

* Leinster Senior Cup ** ''Runners-up:'' 1892–93, 1893–94, 1894–95: 3 * Collingwood Cup ** ''Winners:'' 1947, 1949, 1967, 1979: 4 ** ''Runners-up:'' 1941, 1970, 1990, 1996, 2002, 2015: 6 * Harding Cup ** ''Winners:'' 1983, 1992, 1997, 2018: 4

References

External links

Dublin University A.F.C. on Facebook
{{University of Dublin, Trinity College 1883 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1883 Association football clubs in Dublin (city) League of Ireland B Division clubs Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs Association University and college association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland