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Sporting Fingal F.C.

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Football club
Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal FC crest
Full nameSporting Fingal Football Club
Founded2007
Dissolved2011
GroundMorton Stadium
OwnerGerry Gannon
Fingal County Council
ChairmanGerry Gannon
ManagerLiam Buckley
LeagueLeague of Ireland Premier Division
League of Ireland First Division
A Championship
Websitehttp://www.sportingfingal.ie/
Home colours Away colours

Sporting Fingal Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they played in the First Division before winning promotion to the Premier Division. During the 2009 and 2010 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 on two occasions. In addition to fielding teams in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal also organised Powerchair Football, Special Olympics football and futsal 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 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 on 19 November 2007 and the club was officially launched in February 2008 at an event attended by among others, Johnny Giles 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 Fingal-based fruit and vegetable supplier, Anglo Irish Bank and Dublin Airport Authority. In addition to fielding teams in the League of Ireland, Sporting Fingal also organised Powerchair Football, Special Olympics football and futsal 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 in the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup.

League of Ireland

Sporting Fingal successfully applied to join the League of Ireland 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 2009 season. After finishing third during the regular season, they gained promotion to the 2010 Premier Division after defeating Bray Wanderers 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 2–1 in the final. In doing so they also qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. 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 also won the 2010 A Championship Cup, defeating Bohemians A 3–2 in the final.

Europe

2010–11 UEFA Europa League

After winning the 2009 FAI Cup, Sporting Fingal qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. 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 Portugal v Republic of Ireland Sporting Fingal
15 July 2010 Marítimo Portugal 3 – 2 Republic of Ireland Sporting Fingal Estádio da Madeira
20:45 Esteves 78'
Cherrad 85'
Tchô 90+5'		 Report Crowe 33'
Fitzgerald 87'		 Attendance: 1,961
Referee: Luc Wilmes (Luxembourg)
Sporting Fingal Republic of Ireland v Portugal Marítimo
22 July 2010 Sporting Fingal Republic of Ireland 2 – 3 Portugal Marítimo Dalymount Park
20:45 Zayed 81', 89' Report Alonso 20' (pen.)
Marquinho 67'
Kanu 86'		 Attendance: 2,150
Referee: Marco Borg (Malta)

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, Dublin Airport Authority and Anglo Irish Bank – were involved in the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy. The National Asset Management Agency 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 2010–11 UEFA Europa League home game against Marítimo at Dalymount Park and, before their demise, they intended to move to the same stadium for the 2011 season. In the long term Sporting Fingal planned to play at the Fingal Sports Complex.

Notable former players

Internationals

Republic of Ireland international

League of Ireland XI representatives

Republic of Ireland U23 internationals
Republic of Ireland U21 internationals

Republic of Ireland U19 internationals

Republic of Ireland U18 international

Libya international

Wales U21 international

Latvia U19 international

Goalscorers

First Division Top Scorer
Season Player Goals
2008 Republic of Ireland Robbie Doyle 17
2009 Republic of Ireland Conan Byrne 21

Source:

Honours

Source:

References

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  9. "Sporting Fingal Special Olympics Team Launch". www.sseairtricityleague. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
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  15. "Ireland 2008". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
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  31. "Sporting Fingal cancel all player contracts". www.irishtimes.com. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  32. "Ex-Sporting players launch bid to have contracts paid out". www.independent.ie. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
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  36. "2010 "A" Championship Results". www.tullamoretownfc.com. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  37. "A Championship - Fixtures 2009". www.shamrockrovers.ie. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2016.

External links

League of Ireland clubs
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First Division
Former clubs
Defunct clubs
League of Ireland clubs in European football
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