Sporting Fingal was a club that only had 965 days of activity but left their mark in outstanding fashion.
The club were formed, won an FAI Cup as a First Division side, got promoted to the Premier Division, mounted a title charge, and made their European debut all in the space of their three-season existence.
By anyone’s standards, this was a thrilling time, and regrettably, it encapsulates their entire life.
The Birth of Sporting Fingal FC
John O’Brien, the senior executive officer with the Fingal County Council, met with then Sunderland Chairman Niall Quinn about a “community project.” Fingal, which is roughly 15 miles north of Dublin city centre, was then a fast-growing town with a young population of nearly 300,000. This sparked the idea that it would be wonderful if they had a football team.
This triggered the council to advertise for investors, thereby allowing property developer Gerry Gannon to step in and become the club’s majority shareholder. Former Republic of Ireland international Liam Buckley was also involved in the formation and naming of the club. He became the club’s only manager as well as being the club’s sporting director. Sporting Fingal F.C. was set up as a limited company on the 19th of November 2007.
The plan for Sporting Fingal was to be a community entity that provided a number of special needs teams, academies, and education for young kids. A professional football team in the League of Ireland was only the beginning in their eyes.
Sporting Fingal’s League of Ireland Journey
Sporting Fingal’s original plan was to join the ‘A Championship’. This was a concept that was based around accommodating developing teams and ‘B’ teams. However, following the demise of League of Ireland side Kilkenny City, Sporting Fingal pounced on this opening after their launch and decided to head straight into the big leagues. This decision allowed them to make the history that lives with their name to this day.
Considering the late notice, Sporting Fingal’s debut season of football was respectable, if not remarkable, as they advanced to the FAI Cup quarterfinals and ended fourth in the second division.
However, their second campaign would prove very different. They went on to clinch promotion to the Irish Premier Division on just the second time of asking after beating Bray Wanderers in the play-off final.
Within the same week, Fingal iconically won the FAI Cup final in 2009, beating Sligo Rovers 2-1. This was an enormous occasion for the Fingal faithful as they gathered in their numbers to support their local side as they experienced their first cup final at Tallaght Stadium. An injury time header by Gary O’Neill left spectators in awe as they got their hands on their first piece of silverware. It was the first sign of real belief for this club in the community and gave the fans optimism as they headed to the Premier Division.
This also ultimately led to them unbelievably clinching a place in the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League.
The European Night
The following season’s European debut ended just as quick as it started. There was a huge sense of anticipation around the community during this time, as no one could have predicted them to be in this position after just two years of existence.
At this stage, Sporting Fingal had built up a decent fan base, and a local credit union even offered reduced-rate loans to their fans so they could go to Portugal for the momentous first European game with Maritimo in Portugal. Fingal’s European journey didn’t get off to the start they desired by losing their first and last European away game 3-2 to the Portuguese outfit, Maritimo.
They were actually ahead in this fixture until the 78th minute, but constant pressure from the hosts allowed them to prevail. The reverse fixture at Bohemian’s Dalymount Park had an identical scoreline, with Fingal falling at the first hurdle. Although there was bitter disappointment from this first round exit, there was also great pride from the Fingal faithful for being there in the first place.
This result didn’t take away from the club’s domestic season, though. Only five points behind winners Shamrock Rovers, they finished fourth in the league, their first season in the top level, earning them another crack at Europe.
The plans were only getting bigger and bigger for the Fingal club. There was an increasing ambition for this so-called project, with the mindset of success on the field just being an added bonus. As John O’Brien has always said, “We did not set out to buy success with Sporting Fingal.”
The club’s only manager, Liam Buckley, had a similar outlook on the situation. He stated, “It wasn’t about winning leagues and cups and playing in Europe, just about making progress in the community.”
It was clear that the vision of the club was aligned with everyone involved at the time. It was mainly about what this club could do for the community. The bigger picture was consistently outside of football regardless of results.
Saying this, the future continued to look bright on the pitch, however, and the heights were limitless for the young side. Although it was never envisioned that the story of this newly born club would be fast tracked, the community was embracing it.
Everyone in Fingal already had their sights set on the new season coming before their current one even ended. There was a real feeling that they could actually go that one step further and win the league title. Unbeknownst to the fans, a 4-1 win against UCD on the final day of the season on 29th October 2010 would be their last ever match. This was 965 days after their first division debut loss to Longford.
The Demise of Sporting Fingal
A financial crisis in Ireland dawned a crisis on the future of Sporting Fingal. This was a financial collapse of the Irish property bubble.
Known as the later portion of the Celtic Tiger, the Irish property bubble was the speculative excess component of a long-term increase in real estate prices in Ireland between the early 2000s and 2007.
The collapse of this property market meant that property guru Gerry Gannon, the club’s main bankroller, had to withdraw funding. This left the club in a vulnerable position as they had little time to find a successor and hence keep the club afloat.
Gerry Gannon was a massive loss for the club, as it was estimated that he invested €2 million into the club during his tenure and still recorded losses of €75,000. Without this sort of investment, the club wouldn’t have been able to function. This was immediately proved right.
The loss of Gannon immediately affected the club’s functioning, as they were unable to pay player wages by February 2011. This left only O’Brien and Buckley left to fight for the club’s future. They tried to work out a rescue package as well as bring in new investors. There were rumours of interest from Malta that never came to fruition. After numerous setbacks, the battle seemed to be lost as no one seemed interested in helping the club’s future. To this day, Buckley points out the downfall being the withdrawal of commitment from the council when things started to go south.
When asked, he said, “The council got cold feet at the end. It’s my feeling that it was incumbent on the council to keep it going. I feel they should have backed us more and honoured their commitment.”
With any hopes of the club’s safety lost, the domino effect of the club’s demise would begin to take place. The club had to begin to cancel contracts and hence withdraw from the 2011 Setanta Cup immediately. This led to them then revoking their application for a licence to play in the 2011 Premier Division. This ultimately saw the inevitable winding up of the club.
On February 10th, 2011, the players were told they were all getting their P45 and that their days as Sporting Fingal players were over. From that day on, Sporting Fingal ceased to exist. To the sheer disbelief of the players and staff, there was said to be real “anger” amongst the group after these events.
Sporting Fingal’s talisman, Conan Byrne, slammed Fingal County Council’s role in the club’s downfall and accused them of ‘jumping ship’. He also said, ‘When we were riding high, they were the first to jump on the bandwagon, but the first sign of things going badly, and they’re gone. The players are furious with the council for the way they got out.’ This was unjust for the players, as they relied on this a livelihood along with having real strong ambitions to bring this club to the top. All their hard work to make Sporting Fingal a real force in the League of Ireland was scrapped in a matter of weeks.
This was a club on such an upward trajectory on the pitch, trying to create more and more history for the community to embrace. For me, this is undoubtedly one of Irish football’s biggest shames. Growing up and witnessing the League of Ireland for the first time as a young kid was a real thrill for me and the young kids in that generation. In my opinion, Sporting Fingal were pivotal to the excitement of Irish football during this time. Unfortunately, their decline was far quicker than their rise to the top, which was pretty hard considering their quick-fire success. What could’ve been for the Dublin-based side? Where did it go wrong? All these questions will remain unanswered, but it will forever be an unforgettable time for the community of Fingal.