Shelbourne F.C.
Finbarr Flood | manager =
Pat Fenlon | league =
Eircom Premier Division |
season = 2005 |
position = 3rd |
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Shelbourne F.C. is an
Irish football club playing in the
Football League of Ireland. Founded in Dublin in
1895, the club joined the
Irish Football League in
1905 which was then an all Ireland competition before becoming founder members of the
Football League of Ireland in 1921 and have 12 league titles to their name. The club colours are primarily red and white, with home jersies being predominantly red. The club currently play their home matches at
Tolka Park, in the
Dublin suburb of
Drumcondra. 'Shels' is the clubs most common nickname, an abbreviation of
Shelbourne.
Shelbourne have recently gained a lot of international exposure due to their perfomances in European competition and
Jason Byrne gaining caps for the
Republic of Ireland. Shelbourne are the most succesful team in the
League of Ireland in recent years, having won 4 titles since
2000. The club is managed by former player
Pat Fenlon who guided Shels to 2nd in his first year in charge, in a player/manager capacity. Pat then hung up his boots to concentrate solely on managing the club, and guided Shels to winning the league in both the following seasons. Last year, in his third season solely as manager, Fenlon guided Shels to 3rd place. At the half-way stage of the 2006 season, Shels are top of the league, in the third round of the FAI Cup, and in the League Cup Final.
Shelbourne FC came into existance in 1895, founded in
Ringsend by a group of 7 individuals, including James Rowan and 2 Wall brothers (John and Michael). But for the
toss of a coin, Shelbourne FC might be non-existant, and we would be watching 'Bath FC' today. Shelbourne registered with the Leinster Football Association, and initially played their home games on a waste patch of land close to
Lansdowne Road. ...
As of July 31, 2006.(
c)
Players out on loan
International Players
Several of Shelbourne's current squad have represented their respective countries at senior level:
*
(26)
Joseph Ndo*
(8)
Alan Moore*
(2)
Jason Byrne*
(2)
Glen CroweOf these only
Byrne has won any caps while playing for Shelbourne.
Shelbourne have a long, illustrious history in European competitions, taking on teams such as
Sporting Lisbon,
Barcelona,
Panathinaikos,
Rangers,
Rosenborg,
Deportivo,
Lille,
Steaua Bucharest,
Atlético Madrid,
Brøndby, and
Odense,
Early European Appearances
Shels first European appearance was a brief unsuccessful one, losing 5-1 away and 2-0 at home to Sporting Lisbon in the 1962/63 European Cup. In the 1963/64 Cup-Winners' Cup, Shelbourne faced Barcelona and despite battling bravely were beaten 2-0 and 3-1 (having taken the lead in the latter). Then in the following season's Fairs Cup, Shelbourne faced Portuguese side Belenenses and after two drawn games won the replay 2-1. Facing Atlético Madrid in the second round, they were beaten 1-0 in both legs.
In 1971/72, Shels played Hungarian side Vasas in the UEFA Cup but lost 1-0 away and drew 1-1 at home.
1992 - 2003
Shels next European appearance was over twenty years later in the European Cup of 1992/93. Despite dominating the home leg, Shels could only draw 0-0 with Ukrainian champions Tavria Simferopol and lost the away leg 2-1. The following season Shels extracted revenge on Ukrainian football by knocking out Karpaty Lviv 3-2 on aggregate in the Cup Winners Cup. The home leg which Shels won 3-1, saw Brian Mooney score a stunning 35 yarder on a glorious night for the Reds. Shels then lost to Panathinaikos 5-1 on aggregate in the next round.
In 1995 and 1996 Shels suffered disappointing defeats home and away to Akranes of Iceland and Norwegian side Brann. In 1997 Shels were drawn to play Scottish side Kilmarnock. Over 600 fans made the trip for the first leg and despite taking the lead through a fantastic goal by Mark Rutherford, Shels lost 2-1 to an injury time goal. Despite dominating the second leg in Tolka, it finished 1-1 and Shels were out.
In 1998 Shels came up against Rangers in the UEFA Cup. The home leg was moved to England for security reasons and despite taking a 3-0 lead, Shels ended up losing 5-3. The return leg in Ibrox finished 2-0 to Rangers.
In 1999, the opposition was Neuchâtel Xamax and the competition was the Intertoto Cup. The home leg finished 0-0 and after missing some great chances early on in the away leg, Shels lost out to two late goals.
In 2000, things started looking up for the Reds in Europe. A late Richie Baker goal gave Shels a 1-0 away win against Macedonian side Sloga Jugomagnat in the Champions League qualifiers, and Shels progressed to play Rosenborg after securing a 1-1 home draw. In the second round, 10,000 fans crammed in to Tolka Park, but Shels lost 3-1 despite an excellent performance. The away leg finished 1-1 after Rosenborg grabbed a late equaliser.
Brøndby were Shels opponents in the UEFA Cup in 2001/02, and the Danes advanced to the next round after winning 2-0 in Brøndby Stadion and 3-0 in Tolka Park.
The following season saw Shels back in the Champions League qualifiers, but after drawing 2-2 away to Hibernian of Malta, conceded an injury time goal at home and missed out on a second round tie with Boavista.
2003 saw Shels play Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana, but Shels lost 1-0 away and 3-2 at home.
Champions League 2004/05-UEFA Cup 2004/05
In the 2004/2005 European season, they made history, becoming the first Irish club to reach the third qualifying round of the
UEFA Champions League. They won on away goals against
KR Reykjavík, won 4-3 against
Croatian team
Hajduk Split, only to lose against
Spanish giants,
Deportivo La Coruña 3-0, having achieved a 0-0 draw in
Lansdowne Road in front of 25,000 fans. That season they also had the longest European run in Irish history, being entered into the
UEFA Cup, only to lose 4-2 to
French side
Lille on aggregate, having made it a 2-2 draw in Lansdowne Road having been two goals down.
Champions League 2005/06
In
2005 in the Champions' League First Qualifying Round, they overcame
Glentoran F.C. of
Northern Ireland 6-2 on aggregate, 2-1 to Shels in the Oval and 4-1 at home in Tolka Park.
Jason Byrne scored four of those goals, Glen Crowe and Owen Heary getting the others. They were drawn to play former European Champions
Steaua Bucharest in the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions' League. The home leg took place on Wednesday 27th July in Tolka Park in front of a sell-out crowd and ended in a 0-0 draw. The away leg, on Wednesday the 3rd of August saw Shelbourne defeated 4-1 in the
Ghencea Stadium in
Bucharest, mainly due to a number of individual errors. Jason Byrne was, once again, the goalscorer for Shelbourne.
Intertoto Cup 2006
2006 saw Shelbourne participate in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They initially played
FK Vėtra in the first round, recording a 5-0 aggregate victory. Shelbourne won 1-0 in Lithuania, curtosey of a Sean Dillon headed goal just before the interval. The second leg took place in Dublin on 24 June, with Shelbourne romping to an easy 4-0 home victory over the Lithuanians (with Jason Byrne adding 2 more goals to his impressive European tally), whose severe discipline problems resulted in the visitors ending the match with only 8 players left on the field of play.
Shelbourne played Odense BK of Denmark in the Second Round, starting with a 3-0 away defeat in Denmark on the 2nd of July which was also the club's 50th European tie. Shels won the home leg 1-0 thanks to a goal from Cameroon international
Joseph Ndo, and are now unbeaten in their last eight home European matches.
*
League Championships: 12**1925/26, 1928/29, 1930/31, 1943/44, 1946/47, 1952/53, 1961/62, 1991/92, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2003, 2004
*
FAI Cup Winners: 7**1939, 1960, 1963, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000
*
League Cup Winners: 1**1995/96
*
IFA Cup Winners: 3**1906, 1911, 1920
*
Shield Winners: 8**1922, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1971
*Biggest League Win: 9-0 vs Pioneers, 16 December 1922, 9-0 vs Bray Unknowns, 4 September 1926
*Biggest League Defeat: 0-9 vs Dundalk, 27 November 1980
*Biggest European Win (single tie): 4-0 vs
FK Vėtra home, 24th June 2006.
*Biggest European Win (aggregate): 5-0 vs
FK Vėtra (5-0 agg), June 2006.
*Most Goals in Season: 72 (1922 - 23)
*Top League Scorer (season): 29, Alec Hair, 1930 - 1931
*Top League Scorer (total): 126, Eric Barber, 1958 - 1975
*Top European Scorer: 8, Jason Byrne, 2003 -
*The record for the world's fastest hat-trick belongs to Shelbourne player Jimmy O'Connor who scored three goals in 2 minutes and 13 seconds (or 2 minutes 14 seconds according to other sources) versus
Bohemian F.C. in Dalymount Park on
19 November 1967.
*The record for most goals by a LoI player in a European campaign belongs to Shelbourne's Irish international Jason Byrne with 5 in the 2005/06 campaign.
*The last team to win the
Irish Cup while it was still an all Ireland competition, Shels were also the first Dublin club to win a national competition when they beat Belfast Celtic 2-0 in the Irish Cup Final in 1906.
*Shelbourne were also the first Dublin club to have a player capped at full international level when Val Harris played for Ireland against England in Belfast on 17 February 1906.
*Shels have knocked out more teams from European competition than any other Irish side. They have beaten the following sides:Belenenses (Portugal), Kaparty Lviv (Ukraine), Sloga Jugomagnat (Macedonia), KR Reykjavik (Iceland), Hajduk Split (Croatia), Glentoran (N. Ireland) and Vėtra (Lithuania).
*Shels are unbeaten in their last 8 home games in Europe, a record for an Irish club.The teams played in this run are KR Reykjavik (Iceland), Hadjuk Split (Croatia), Deportivo La Coruña (Spain), Lille OSC (France), Glentoran (N.Ireland), Steau Bucharest (Romania), Vėtra (Lithuania) and Odense BK (Denmark).
*Shelbourne hosted the first League of Ireland match ever to be shown live on tv when Derry City visited Tolka Park during the 1996/97 season. The match finished 1-1.
*
Official club website*
Shelshomepage Unofficial Fan Site
*
Shels Picturehouse Unofficial fans Pictures
*
Shelbourne @ fai.ie
*
Red Inc. Fanzine
*
Shelbourne @ uefa.com
