It was just five short years ago, on 26th June 2015, and my oh my, how the formation of the Shamrock Rovers squad has completely changed since then. Only Stephen McPhail, now, of course, on the management team, remains from that time. Pat Fenlon was in his first full season as manager at Tallaght having succeeded Trevor…
Hands up who remembers Kildare County? The club was based at the Newbridge Town AFC ground on the Station Road and played in the League of Ireland First Division from 2002 to 2009 inclusive. Shamrock Rovers and Kildare (nicknamed ‘The Thoroughbreds’) met four times during the Hoops’ sojourn in the lower division in 2006. The…
This week we go back to 17th June, 2005 when a struggling Shamrock Rovers side defeated Shelbourne 2-1 at Tolka Park on a nice summer’s evening. While the weather was pleasant the clash between Shelbourne Chief Executive Ollie Byrne and Hoops’ manager Roddy Collins before the game most certainly was not. More about that later….
Hoops’ Late Late Show The much-heralded summer football season in the League of Ireland finally got off to a start in 2003. The change had been muted for years, resisted by traditionalists and constantly put forward by those seeking to address what seemed to them to be a terminal illness that simply had to be…
Rovers v Bohs at Windsor Park? The mere suggestion of these two clubs playing a match at the home of Linfield F.C. in Belfast would be laughed out of it. It might even bring a few shivers down one’s spine! Yet, you can believe it, such a game was actually played there. The year was…
The Top Four competition was introduced in the 1955/56 season. This was an end of season competition that featured the teams that had finished in the top four in the league. Shamrock Rovers were the inaugural winners having finished in 2nd place that season and beating Waterford in the final played on 4th May. The score was…
It was everything we had dreamed of during our nomadic years following the departure of Glenmalure Park. For years Hoops fans had to run the gauntlet and sneers of rival fans as Shamrock Rovers stumbled from one crisis to another as the Tallaght Stadium saga rolled on endlessly. Here we were now in 2011, just…
The Moore Magic Lives On! Of the many players who played in the famous green and white hoops of Shamrock Rovers, the deeds of some very special performers continue to live on. Today Robert Goggins takes a look at Paddy Moore who was reckoned by those who saw him play to be a very special…
Rovers vs Chelsea Some older Hoops fans still talk about the day the mighty Chelsea came to Dublin only to be humbled by the ‘Coads’ Colts’. In our latest look-back on a golden moment, Robert Goggins writes about that day at Dalymount Park. On this day sixty-five years ago the English League Champions, Chelsea, came…
There’s Only One Tony Cousins Tony Cousins joined the Hoops at the beginning of a new era after the club left the RDS. Being a Tallaght lad it would have been just nice for ‘Couso’ had he been able to play at the new stadium, plans for which were launched just a couple of months…
