Sporting Fingal Football Club was an Irish association football club based in

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which ...

. Between

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, the club played three seasons in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. During their first two seasons they played in the First Division before winning promotion to the Premier Division. During the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

seasons, the club also entered a team in the A Championship. During their short stay in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal were relatively successful. As well as gaining promotion to the Premier Division, they also won both the 2009 FAI Cup and the 2010 A Championship Cup and qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

on two occasions. In addition to fielding teams in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal also organised

Powerchair Football Powerchair football (French: Foot-fauteuil), also known as power soccer, is a variant of association football for people with physical disabilities. Players use specially designed powered wheelchairs in order to maneuver and kick/hit an oversi ...

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

football and

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

teams. Their futsal team won the 2010 FAI Futsal Cup and qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup.

History

Community football club

Sporting Fingal F.C. was established in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

as a joint initiative involving both Fingal County Council and the property developer Gerry Gannon. John O'Brien, the senior executive officer with the council, proposed forming a community football club and Gannon became involved after the council advertised for investors. Gannon would become the club's majority shareholder while the council maintained a 26% stake. Liam Buckley was also involved in forming the club and subsequently served as both the director of football and club manager. Sporting Fingal F.C. was set up as a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

on 19 November 2007 and the club was officially launched in February 2008 at an event attended by among others,

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 ...

and Brian Lenihan. At its launch the club also announced its ambitions to set up an academy and build its own stadium. The club also announced details about other backers and sponsors which included Keelings Group Ltd, a

-based fruit and vegetable supplier,

Anglo Irish Bank Anglo Irish Bank was an Republic of Ireland, Irish bank headquartered in Dublin from 1964 to 2011. It began to wind down after nationalisation in 2009. In July 2011 Anglo Irish merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society, forming a new co ...

and

Dublin Airport Authority DAA plc (styled "daa") (), previously Dublin Airport Authority, is a commercial semi-state airport company in Ireland. The company owns and operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport. Its other subsidiaries include the travel retail business ...

. In addition to fielding teams in the

, Sporting Fingal also organised

football and

teams. In 2009 Sporting Fingal EID joined the Emerald Futsal League and in 2010 won the FAI Futsal Cup. Sporting Fingal won the cup after defeating Blue Magic 4–2 in the final. This led to Sporting representing 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. ...

in the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup.

League of Ireland

Sporting Fingal successfully applied to join the

and were initially expected to join the A Championship. However following the demise of Kilkenny City, the club were subsequently invited to join the First Division. Sporting Fingal made their League of Ireland debut on 8 March 2008 with a 5–1 defeat against Longford Town at Flancare Park. Peter Hynes scored Sporting's first goal in a competitive game. Despite their poor start, Sporting eventually finished fourth in the 2008 First Division. Robbie Doyle also emerged as the First Division top scorer. Sporting had a very successful

season. After finishing third during the regular season, they gained promotion to the 2010 Premier Division after defeating

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

4–2 on aggregate in a promotion-relegation play-off. For a second season in a row a Sporting player, this time Conan Byrne, finished as the First Division top scorer. Sporting also won the 2009 FAI Cup after defeating

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

2–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In doing so they also qualified for the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

. Sporting finished fourth in the 2010 Premier Division and as a result qualified for both the 2011 Setanta Sports Cup and the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Their

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

also won the 2010 A Championship Cup, defeating Bohemians A 3–2 in the final.

Europe

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

After winning the 2009 FAI Cup, Sporting Fingal qualified for the

. Sporting played Marítimo in the second qualifying round and were defeated 6–4 on aggregate. After finishing fourth in the 2010 Premier Division, Sporting Fingal also qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. However after the club disbanded in early 2011 they were replaced in the competition by St Patrick's Athletic. ;Second qualifying round ''Marítimo won 6–4 on aggregate.''

Demise

Sporting Fingal's demise was triggered by the collapse of the Irish property bubble. Three of the club's main backers – Gerry Gannon,

and

– were involved in the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy. The

National Asset Management Agency The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA; ) is a body created by the Government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish property bubble. NAMA functions as a '' bad bank'', acquiring ...

placed restrictions on Gannon's business activities and on 26 November 2010 he resigned as Sporting Fingal's chairman, ending his involvement with the club. Gannon had been the club's main benefactor. In 2008 he made the club a "sponsorship payment" of €499,900 and in 2009 he also made a €750,000 "non-refundable contribution". Some reports estimated that Gannon invested more than €2m into the club. Despite this, however, Sporting posted a loss of more than €75,000 in 2009. The club were unable to find a replacement for Gannon and in February 2011 Sporting Fingal revealed it had serious financial problems when they were unable to pay their players' wages. This resulted in the club having to cancel the contracts of their playing squad. On 14 February they were due to play Lisburn Distillery in the first round of the 2011 Setanta Sports Cup; however, they had to withdraw from the competition and were replaced by UCD. The club also withdrew its application for a licence to participate in the 2011 Premier Division. Drogheda United, who were originally relegated at the end of the 2010 Premier Division season, subsequently retained their place in the Premier Division after Sporting withdrew.

Grounds

Sporting Fingal's first team played their home First Division and Premier Division games at Morton Stadium. Their A Championship team played their home games at the ALSAA Sports Complex, near Dublin Airport. The club also used ALSAA as their main training facility. Sporting played their

home game against Marítimo at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

and, before their demise, they intended to move to the same stadium for the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season. In the long term Sporting Fingal planned to play at the Fingal Sports Complex.

Notable former players

Internationals

international * Glen Crowe * Shaun Williams League of Ireland XI representatives * Ger O'Brien * Alan Kirby * Shaun Williams * Éamon Zayed ; Republic of Ireland U23 internationals ; Republic of Ireland U21 internationals Republic of Ireland U19 internationals * Robert Bayly * John Frost Republic of Ireland U18 international * Kevin Dawson

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

international * Éamon Zayed Wales U21 international * Steve Williams Latvia U19 international * Igors Labuts

Goalscorers

; First Division Top Scorer

Honours

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 ...

: 1 * A Championship Cup **

: 1 * FAI Futsal Cup **2010: 1

References

External links

"Sporting Fingal: The team who formed, won a cup, reached Europe and folded – all in three years"
– BBC Sport, 5 May 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fingal Sporting Association football clubs established in 2007 Association football clubs disestablished in 2011 Defunct League of Ireland clubs Former League of Ireland First Division clubs Former League of Ireland Premier Division clubs 2007 establishments in Ireland 2011 disestablishments in Ireland