St Patricks

Leinster Senior League years

During the late 1940s and 1950s, St Pats played in the Leinster Senior League. During this period they won the league title on six occasions. This included four successive titles between 1947 and 1948 and 1950–51. In 1947–48 St Pats completed a treble after also winning both the FAI Intermediate Cup and Leinster Senior Cup. The 1948–49 season would see St Pats win a Leinster Senior League / FAI Intermediate Cup double. In 1950–51 a young Shay Gibbons helped St Pats win the Leinster Senior League title for the fourth time. After St Pats first team joined the League of Ireland in 1951–52, their reserve team won two further Leinster Senior League titles in 1955–56 and 1956–57.

1950–1960

Entering the League of Ireland

In 1951–52 the club was admitted, along with Cork side Evergreen United, to the League of Ireland. St Pats made an immediate impact, winning the league championship at their first attempt. Two more league championship successes followed in 1954–55 and 1955–56. The club had to wait until 1959 before their first FAI Cup success, repeating the feat in 1961. Despite several appearances in the final since 1961, it took the Saints till 2014 to win their third

Many of the Pats players of that golden era are still recalled fondly today—Ginger O'Rourke, Harry Boland ('The Legend', 1926–2000), Jimmy 'Timber' Cummins (a cousin of one of the founders—Bart Cummins) Jimmy 'Growler' Cummins (a brother of Bart Cummins) Irish international Shay Gibbons, Ronnie Whelan Snr. and Willie Peyton are players who contributed greatly during this era.

1960–1980

St Pats struggled throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s with only the odd cup final or young star emerging to brighten things for long-suffering Pats fans. Among those players to emerge was Noel Campbell. Campbell spent a number of years with St Pats (gaining the first of his Irish caps) before moving to SC Fortuna Köln where he would play 8 seasons. Perhaps the brightest star to play for St Pats was Paul McGrath. McGrath was signed by Saints manager Charlie Walker from junior side Dalkey United. Within a year he had won the PFAI Player of the Year award and earned himself a move to Manchester United. The World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks also played one match for St Pats, making him by far the brightest star to turn out for the club in 1977.

1980–1990

The appointment of Brian Kerr as manager in 1986 was a major turning point in the fortunes of the club. Kerr worked on limited resources to create a team capable of challenging the best. The championship in the decade. At the end of the 1988–89 season, St Pats left Richmond Park for what the board of directors called "a short time" while redevelopment work was done. 1989 saw a joint St Patrick's Athletic & Bohemians side play a friendly against the Libya national team in Tripoli, drawing 1–1 in what was a highly controversial friendly during Colonel Gaddafi's reign as leader of Libya. The year 1990 saw the Saints draw 0–0 with the Tunisia national team in Tunis and another 0–0 draw with the Iran national football team in Tehran.

1990–1999

Playing in Harold's Cross, Kerr's blend of young players (Paul Osam, Curtis Fleming, Pat Fenlon, John McDonnell) and experienced campaigners disregarded by other clubs (Damian Byrne, Dave Henderson) won the club's first league championship in 34 years on Easter Monday 1990. Most Irish football commentators expected the young Saints to dominate Irish football for some time. A series of takeover attempts saw the club thrust into turmoil and Kerr was forced to break up the team. In the summer of 1992, the club were hours away from extinction before a group of local investors raised £82,000 to save the club.

Having spent four years in Harold's Cross the club returned to a new look Richmond Park in 1993, their spiritual home in Dublin's Inchicore. Brian Kerr began the task of creating a winning setup once again. With the aid of a newly appointed Chief executive, and former player, Pat Dolan and by the club's new chairman, Tim O'Flaherty, the league trophy returned to Richmond Park in 1996.

A new generation of footballing heroes emerged in Pats colours with greats such as Eddie Gormley, Paul Osam and Ricky O'Flaherty together with exciting young stars such as Colin Hawkins and Trevor Molloy thousands flocked to Inchicore for Friday nights under the floodlights in Richmond Park. When Kerr resigned to take up the Director of Coaching job with the FAI, the good work was continued by Pat Dolan and then Liam Buckley installed as manager. The glory continued as further league championships were secured in 1998 and 1999 which led to European qualification and a creditable 0–0 draw with the famous Celtic at Celtic Park, the club lost the return leg in Tolka Park, Dublin but the away draw was a major boost for Irish football against such a famous club in the world game. The club, however, suffered a humiliating setback in the same competition one year later when they lost 10–0 on aggregate to Zimbru Chişinău.

2000–2004

Into the new century, the success continued. St Pats won both the League of Ireland Cup and Leinster Senior Cup in 2000/01. Controversy dogged the club in the 2001/02 season due to player registration irregularities. The club had 9 points deducted due to fielding an ineligible player (Paul Marney) in their first 3 games of the season, but this decision was revoked upon arbitration, on 22 March 2002. They then had 15 points deducted for playing Charles Mbabazi Livingstone in the first 5 matches of the season in spite of not having registered him until 12 September 2001. An FAI arbitration panel rejected the Saints' appeal against the point deduction and Shelbourne finished the season as league champions. St Pats disagreed with the decision so much that they claim they won the league in 2001-02, as they would have beaten Shelbourne to the title without the points deduction.

That season also saw St Patrick's come close to merging with fellow League of Ireland club St. Francis. This move was greeted with anger by club supporters and although St. Francis went out of business (and therefore the league) the merger never happened.

New club chairman Andrew O'Callaghan was appointed in the summer of 2002 and has worked to modernize the club and face the new challenges of UEFA licensing and ground development. St Pats made Irish footballing history in 2002 by becoming the first club to progress in the Intertoto Cup with a victory over Croatian team NK Rijeka over two legs—the club were eventually knocked out of the competition only on away goals to KAA Gent of Belgium.

Johnny McDonnell Reign (2004–2009)

The club marked its 75th anniversary in 2004, also in 2004, a change of management happened with former favourite Johnny McDonnell taking over the helm at the club. In 2005 the club were forced to investigate the idea of sharing a new stadium in Tallaght with Shamrock Rovers in order to comply with the FAI's wish for Dublin clubs to ground share. The move was met with furious protests by the club's supporters and a group calling themselves 'Pats for Richmond' was set up to organise demonstrations. In July 2006 St Pats signalled their intention to stay in Richmond Park by purchasing the Richmond House pub (also known as McDowell's) for use as an official clubhouse. The club lost yet another FAI Cup Final in December 2006 and their hunt for their third victory in the elusive competition continues. In early 2007 the club was purchased by a wealthy property magnate Garrett Kelleher. After a number of months of negotiations, Kelleher finally announced himself as Chairman of St Patrick's Athletic on 19 July 2007. One of his first acts on taking over St Pats was to appoint ex-manager Brian Kerr as director of football. It was widely reported in Irish newspapers that Kelleher was preparing to spend €50 million on upgrading St Pats' Richmond Park home.
During the 2007 season Pats were neck and neck with Drogheda United for the title, but Pats slipped away and Drogheda United eventually finished up as champions.
It was the same again for the 2008 season with Pats battling up the top with Bohemians for the title. Also, this year Pats were in Europe because their second-place finish in 2007 allowed them to qualify for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. During their European run St Pats progressed through two rounds of the UEFA Cup beating JFK Olimps Riga and Elfsborg but the run came to an end when they lost to Hertha BSC in the First Round proper. Pats also lost out to Bohemians for the league title.

Jeff Kenna season: European run and domestic struggle (2009)

For the 2009 season Pats replaced Johnny McDonnell with Jeff Kenna in January 2009. He didn't have the best of starts with a 3–0 home defeat to his former club Galway United. He was immediately put under pressure when a bad run of results put them into a relegation battle. Despite the poor league form, once again Pats had another European run in the Europa League again progressing through two rounds of the Europa League, thus becoming only the second League of Ireland club (after Cork City in 2004 and 2005) to achieve such progress in two consecutive European campaigns. Pats this time won games against Valletta FC and Russian Premier League side Krylia Sovetov to reach the play-off round where they were defeated by FC Steaua București. In September 2009 with Pats struggling, Kenna resigned and was replaced for two games by Maurice O'Driscoll. Pete Mahon then took over until the end of the season and avoided relegation, winning two must-win games in the final two weeks of the season, away to Drogheda United and at home to Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers.

Pete Mahon years (2009–2011)

Pete Mahon was appointed as manager for the 2010 season with John Gill as his assistant. The Super Saints reached their first Setanta Sports Cup final, where they met local rivals Bohemians after overcoming Sligo Rovers 6–2 over two legs. They lost the final at the Tallaght Stadium 1–0, however. The Saints were knocked out of the FAI Cup by archrivals Shamrock Rovers in a semi-final replay at Richmond Park, after knocking Dundalk, Belgrove and Sporting Fingal out. They were near the top of the table for the majority of the season; however, fell off somewhat near the end and finished in mid-table. The demise of Sporting Fingal saw the Saints take their European place for the 2011 season. Mahon led a successful Europa League campaign, knocking out Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja from Iceland and FC Shakhter Karagandy from Kazakhstan before eventually being knocked out in the third qualifying round by Ukrainian side FC Karpaty Lviv. The Saints won the 2011 Leinster Senior Cup after beating Dublin rivals Bohemians 2–0 at Dalymount Park. The Saints' bid to end their 50-year drought of winning the FAI Cup came to an end, after knocking Crumlin United, Waterford United and Cork City out, the Saints faced old rivals Shelbourne in the semi-final. The Saints drew 1–1 at Tolka Park, failing to make use of their one-man advantage for the whole second half. The game went to a replay at Richmond Park and things were going well when David McMillan opened the scoring for the Saints, but goalkeeper Gary Rogers was extremely harshly sent off early on and Shels went on to win, 3–1. Similar to the 2010 season, the Saints were near the top of the table for the most part of the season in 2011, but their title challenge petered out towards the end of the season and the Saints finished fourth meaning they would participate in UEFA Europa League qualifiers in the 2012 season.

Return of Liam Buckley: Return of success (2012–2018)

The Saints decided not to renew manager Pete Mahon's contract for the 2012 season, appointing former player and manager Liam Buckley to the job, giving him a two-year contract with former player and assistant manager at the club, Trevor Croly as his assistant. Buckley refurbished the squad by bringing in fourteen and getting rid of sixteen. Among the new signings were six Bohemian players, notably Chris Forrester, Christy Fagan, and Ger O'Brien. Meanwhile, six of those not retained by Pats went in the opposite direction, an indication of the change in circumstances at both clubs.

Buckley immediately introduced a more attractive brand of football than was witnessed under Mahon, whose sides had generally punched above their weight but ultimately lacked the quality to seriously challenge for the title. Pats started the season off well with the team playing wonderful football and being unbeaten in its first six games, which included the game against Shamrock Rovers which they demonstrated their wonderful football brilliantly in a 5–1 win over their fierce rivals. Buckley took the reins of the club knowing of the European expectations at the club and he didn't disappoint, managing his side to a third qualifying-round place after knocking both Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja and NK Široki Brijeg out after extra time, to earn a tie with German powerhouse Hannover 96, who knocked the Saints out in the third qualifying round. Buckley's side finished 3rd in the league, 6 points off champions Sligo Rovers. He also guided his side to the 2012 FAI Cup Final, the club's first game at the Aviva Stadium, but lost 3–2 in extra time to Derry City and extending the Saints' FAI Cup-winning drought to 52 years.

The Saints then endured a tumultuous pre-season, losing Sean O'Connor, James Chambers, and Barry Murphy, as well as Buckley's number two, Trevor Croly, to rivals Shamrock Rovers. Crucially, though, Pats held on to a number of other players who had been strongly linked with Rovers, including Chris Forrester and Ian Bermingham, and added some quality to the first XI in the form of Killian Brennan (who would go on to win both the PFAI Players' Player of the Year and FAI National League Player of the Year awards), and Conan Byrne (who contributed an impressive 9 league goals during the season).

St Patrick's Athletic clinched the 2013 League of Ireland title on 13 October 2013 after a 2–0 win against holders Sligo Rovers with two games to spare. They lifted the league trophy a week later at home to Derry City on 18 October and two days later played the 2013 Leinster Senior Cup Final against Shamrock Rovers, losing, 1–0, at Richmond Park.

The 2014 season started off with silverware for the Saints as they beat Sligo Rovers 1–0 in the inaugural President of Ireland's Cup, with Keith Fahey scoring a brilliant volley into the top corner from 25 yards clinching the trophy. The club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the first hurdle in the second round, bowing out to Legia Warsaw. In the first leg, they were denied a famous away win as Legia equalised in injury time to claim a 1–1 draw. An injury-plagued Pats side lost the second leg 5–0 at Tallaght Stadium, conceding 3 in the last 10 minutes. On 9 September 2014, a team of second-string players and young Saints beat Longford Town 2–1 away from home to win the 2014 Leinster Senior Cup with Sam Verdon and Jack Bayly scoring. The season ended in a perfect manner for Pats as they won the FAI Cup after a 53-year wait with a 2–0 win over Derry City at the Aviva Stadium, with Christy Fagan immortalising himself with the club's fans by scoring a brace. Fagan also won the 2014 League of Ireland Golden Boot with 20 goals as well as being voted the PFAI Player of the Year for 2014.

On 19 September 2015, the Saints won their third League of Ireland Cup, beating Galway United on penalties at Eamonn Deacy Park following a 0–0 draw after extra time, with young goalkeeper Conor O'Malley saving Andy O'Connell's final spot-kick to win the cup.

In 2016 the Saints knocked Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg out of the UEFA Europa League on away goals before being narrowly beaten 2–1 on aggregate to Dinamo Minsk of Belarus in the second qualifying round. Pats finished 7th in the 2016 season, meaning they would be without European football for the first time in 7 years for 2017. They did, however, successfully retain their League of Ireland Cup crown, beating Limerick 4–1 in the final at the Markets Field with two goals from Conan Byrne and one each for Jamie McGrath and Graham Kelly.

The 2017 season was the first in a change of the League of Ireland layout, meaning the bottom three teams in the Premier Division would be relegated in order to make the league a 10-team division rather than a 12-team one. The season turned out to be a struggle for the Saints and they sat bottom of the table at the halfway point. The mid-season signings including fan favourite Killian Brennan, former Premier League midfielder Owen Garvan and particularly Dutch centre back Jordi Balk, proved to be pivotal as the club went on to win 6 of their last 11 games after picking up just 3 wins in their first 21 games of the season. They went into the last day of the season in need of a point away to Derry City, which they earned via a 1–1 draw with a goal from Killian Brennan keeping their record of never having been relegated intact.

The following season was a great improvement on the field as Pats sat in a European place at the halfway point in the league but later went on their worst losing streak in the club's history as they lost 8 games in a row, scoring just 3 goals along the way. They then managed to pick up their form, winning 4 out of 6 games but on 22 September 2018 the Saints suffered a 3–1 loss at home to a weakened Bohemians side with several of their under-19 side playing among the 11 changes to their previous starting 11. This turned out to be Liam Buckley's last game in charge of the club as it was announced on 25 September that Buckley had left his post by mutual consent after a 7-year spell in charge of the club.

Assistant manager to Buckley and former club captain Ger O'Brien took caretaker charge for the last 5 games of the season, the first of those being the Leinster Senior Cup Final which they lost on penalties against Shelbourne at Tolka Park. He also saw out a draw away to champions Dundalk and had an aggregate score of 9–0 against Limerick and Derry City as the club ended the season on a high note in 5th place.

The Harry Kenny months (October 2018 – August 2019)

On 24 October 2018 it was announced that Harry Kenny (who had been assistant manager in the 2013 league-winning campaign) would be the new manager of the club, signing a two-year contract. His new signings ahead of the 2019 season were Gary Shaw, David Webster, Ciaran Kelly, Cian Coleman, Georgie Poynton, Brandon Miele, Michael Drennan, Rhys McCabe and old fan favorite Chris Forrester, stating that his aim was to get the club back competing in European competition. Kenny's first competitive game in charge of the Saints was on 15 February 2019, a 1–0 opening-day victory over league runners-up Cork City at Richmond Park, with the game attracting the biggest attendance at a domestic game since October 2010. This was followed by a sell-out against rivals Shamorck Rovers on 8 March. On 25 April 2019 it was announced that the club had been awarded a licence to compete in UEFA Europa League action for the 2019–20 campaign ahead of Waterford, who had finished one place ahead of Pats in fourth place the previous season, but were not awarded a licence due to their club reforming in late 2016 and thus breaking UEFA's 'three-year rule'. Pats drew IFK Norrköping of Sweden and were beaten 2–0 at home and 2–1 away, knocking them out at the first hurdle. With the team scoring just 24 goals in 29 games and attendances steadily dropping, fans became restless with Kenny and after a shock cup exit to UCD on 23 August 2019, Kenny resigned by mutual consent the following day.

Stephen O'Donnell reign & FAI Cup win (August 2019 – December 2021)

Former Dundalk captain Stephen O'Donnell was announced as the head coach on a two-year contract on 31 August 2019, his first job in senior management, following the resignation of Harry Kenny. His brought in his former Arsenal youth and Falkirk teammate (and former Pats player) Pat Cregg as his assistant. His first game in management came on 6 September 2019 as his Pats side came from behind to win 2−1 away to Finn Harps thanks to goals from Darragh Markey and substitute Rhys McCabe. The club finished in 5th place by the end of the season, missing out on a UEFA Europa League place but they did however win the 2018–19 Leinster Senior Cup, beating Wexford 3–0 in the Fourth Round (under Harry Kenny), Cabinteely 1–0 in the Quarter Final, with Under 19's manager Jamie Moore managing a side made up of Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19's players in the Semi Final (beating Sheriff YC 3–1 away) and Final (beating Athlone Town 4–0), as both games were scheduled after the senior team's season had finished.

O'Donnell's first pre-season saw him make wholesale changes to the squad, releasing 10 players including some who were still in contract and bringing in 9 new signings; Jason McClelland, Robbie Benson, Conor Kearns, Rory Feely, Shane Griffin, Billy King, Dan Ward, Martin Rennie and Ollie Younger. The season was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic after 4 games and following 4 months of postponements, a decision was made to half the season from 36 games to 18. The season finished in disappointment for Pats as they missed out on European football on the final day of the season, while they had previously been knocked out of the FAI Cup in the First Round by Finn Harps.

The 2021 season was a hugely successful one for the club, as they secured a 2nd place finish, securing UEFA Europa Conference League football for 2022, as well as winning the 2021 FAI Cup by beating Bohemians in a penalty shootout in the Final, in front of an Aviva Stadium FAI Cup Final record crowd of 37,126.

Tim Clancy era (December 2021 – May 2023)

On 2 December 2021, just 4 days after the club's 2021 FAI Cup Final win, it was announced that Tim Clancy had joined the club on a 2 year contract to replace the outgoing Stephen O'Donnell, whose controversial departure to Dundalk had yet to be confirmed amid a legal battle between the clubs. In late December 2021 a High Court action was filed against O'Donnell by the club.

On 26 January 2022, it was announced that the club had sold academy graduate James Abankwah to Italian Serie A side Udinese for an undisclosed fee believed to a record fee paid for a League of Ireland player, in the region of €800,000 plus add ons.

On 2 May 2022, it was announced that the clubs would enter the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League at the Second Qualifying round, rather than the First, following UEFA's decision to ban Russian clubs from competing in their competitions for the season.

Clancy's first taste of managing in European football came with a 1–1 draw at home to Slovenian side NŠ Mura. The second leg saw his side advance 6–5 on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra time. The next round saw Pat's beat Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia 1–0 away before suffering the heartache of a 2–0 loss in the second leg at Tallaght Stadium following a controversial late penalty. On 2 May 2023, Clancy departed the club by mutual consent with this side in 7th place, 13 games into the 2023 season. Assistant manager Jon Daly took charge of the team on an interim basis.

Jon Daly's men – More Cup success (May 2023 – Present)

After winning 3 of his 4 games as interim manager, it was announced on 22 May 2023 that Jon Daly had received the role of manager on a permanent basis, on a contract until the end of 2025. The club's 2023 European campaign was short as they failed at the first hurdle, losing 2–1 away and 3–2 at home to F91 Dudelange, of Luxembourg.

On 12 November 2023, Daly led the club to a fifth FAI Cup title, as his side won the 2023 FAI Cup Final, beating rivals Bohemians 3–1 in front of a record breaking FAI Cup Final crowd of 43,881 at the Aviva Stadium. On 1 December 2023, Chris Forrester was named PFAI Player of the Year and Sam Curtis was named PFAI Young Player of the Year for their stellar performances throughout 2023.

On 9 February 2024, Pat's competed in the 2024 President of Ireland's Cup, but were defeated 3–1 by Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium.

In March 2024, ahead of a friendly fixture away to Major League Soccer side Minnesota United, the club announced American investment group Kenosis Sports Group, including NFL and NHL athletes Joe Flacco, Chad Greenway, Matt Birk and Anders Lee, as strategic investors into St Patrick's Athletic.