St. James' Gate FC
If you are into your football quiz questions, then this club could provide you with answers of plenty. Who won the first League of Ireland title? Who won the first FAI cup? Which famous female boxer played for this club? The answer is the same for each of these questions. This club has been and gone, came back and then went again in the League of Ireland. Its name though would be more associated with another Irish delicacy. Guinness is one of Ireland’s best-known exports and something that everybody associates with this country. Anytime I speak with a foreigner I always get asked, ‘Are you a Guinness drinker?’. I’m not, but I don’t want to ruin the stereotype that we all drink Guinness on this island as if it is water. So, I suppose it is a adequate to accept that we should have a football club so closely associated to the black stuff. This club is where Guinness it is brewed, along with twenty-three Irish international footballers, (Two of which were women). So, lets open up St James Gate FC.
Founded in 1902, St James Gate FC was formed by a serving medical officer, John Lumsden who worked at St James Gate Brewery. The club originally played their games at Bellevue Lodge, moving to ST James Park between the years of 1921-28 and eventually making the Iveagh Grounds their permanent home ground to this day. It didn’t take the club long to gain success, winning both the Leinster Senior League and Irish Intermediate Cup in 1909-10 season. Ten years later the club won a quadruple, collecting the Leinster Senior League title, the Irish Intermediate Cup the Leinster Senior Cup and the LFA Metropolitan Cup. This set the club up nicely to be one of the founding members of the League of Ireland in 1921-22. The other seven clubs were all from the Dublin region and had played in the Leinster Senior League with St James Gate previously. It was no surprise that ‘Gate’ as they were nicknamed went on to be seen as one of the stronger teams involved and so it proved when they won the treble in that year becoming the first club to win the League of Ireland, the first club to win the FAI Cup and they also added the Leinster Senior cup to their collection that year. But the club could not replicate that success the year after, coming a disappointing 5th. In fact, the club seemed to peak a little too early as they didn’t add another League of Ireland title until the 1939-49 season, although they did come close in 1934-35 and they did win the FAI cup for a second time in 1937-38. Their largest win on record while being a League of Ireland club came in the 1929-30 season on 24th August 1929 when they beat Jacobs 8-0. Their final season in the League of Ireland came in the 1943-44 season when the club came 8th, bottom of the league with a miserable one win all season.
It was season that also produced the heaviest defeats in their League of Ireland history, losing 7-0 to both Cork United and Shamrock Rovers. (They had also lost 7-0 to Waterford in 1931-32 season) As a result of coming last the club was no re-elected for the following season and therefore dropped out for the first time. But they were too come back in the future.
During Gate’s early years they had a few players that represented the first Ireland side to compete in the 1924 Olympic games in Paris. They included, Paddy Duncan, Michael Farrell and Emie McKay. Duncan himself went on to score the first ever international goal for Ireland in a 1-0 win against Bulgaria. They would be the first in a long line of players to represent Ireland. They Paddy Bermingham, Paddy Bradshaw, Pat Byrne, Johnny Carey, Martin Colfer, Charlie Dowdall, Bobby Duffy, Dominic Foley, Peadar Gaskins, Matty Geoghegan, Billy Kennedy, Owen Kinsella, Charlie Lennon, Emmet McLoughlin, Thomas Murphy, Joe O’ Reilly, Paddy O’ Reilly and Alf Rigby. Their women’s team also produced two Internationals as well in Katie Taylor and Mary Waldron. As well as producing players for the international team, Gate were known for producing prolific goal scorers in their time, with five of their players finishing top goals scorer in the League of Ireland’s history books seven times, with Paddy Bradshaw and Alf Rigby winning the accolade twice each. Paddy Bradshaw lays claim to St James’ Gate’s all time League of Ireland goal scorer with 68 goals to his name.
After leaving the League of Ireland for the first time in 1944, The Gate were to return in 1990 to take their place instead of Limerick side Newcastle West in the League of Ireland First Division. Although they finished a respectable fifth place in their first season back, (Which would to be the highest place they would achieve), their impact wasn’t as successful as their first stint and didn’t last as long either. The Gate only lasted a total of five seasons after their come back. They finished bottom of the table on two occasions, (1993 and 1994 seasons), 9th in the 1995 season and 5th in the 1996 season, which would prove to be their last in the League of Ireland. Despite being taken over by a consortium in 1995 the club had to leave the league at the start of the 1996-97 season due to financial reasons. The club continue to play in the Leinster Senior League to this day.
One man who knows St James Gate inside out is former player, Mick Moogan. He played for them in their last season in the League of Ireland in 1996. When his playing days finally ended, he went on to manage the club from 2000-2016 and by all accounts the man lived and breathed St James Gate. His favourite memory though was a game against The Gate at Tolka Park, Valentines night.
‘I had left The Gate and went to play for Longford Town. We were playing them at Tolka Park, on Valentine’s Day and we beat them 1-0. It was my favourite League of Ireland memory. I only played one season with Gate in the League of Ireland’.
Tolka Park seemed to be Mick’s favourite ground as well in his playing days.
‘I’d say Tolka Park was my favourite ground.’
Mick went on to manage the club in the LSL, organising a tournament to celebrate the clubs 110th Anniversary in 2012. The tournament was contested by four clubs, St James Gate themselves, League of Ireland side Bohemians FC, Welsh Premier League side Port Talbot Town and Northern Ireland side Ballymena United. After beating Bohemians in the semi-final 2-0, St James Gate lost to Northern Ireland side Ballymena United in the final to the same result, 2-0. ‘I arranged that tournament for the club and put a lot of work into it.’ When asked if St James Gate would be back in the League of Ireland a third time, he was not so optimistic.
‘No, I don’t think so. Financially I don’t think they would be able to compete at that level and where they play now, the Iveagh Gardens, isn’t even owned by them anymore. I think it’s owned by Trinity?’.
Often when researching and writing about these clubs you get a sense that there was so much potential to build on but for whatever reason or reasons that potential was never realised. St James’s Gate started off so well, almost too well with their first ever double winning season but for some reason couldn’t maintain that. Was it due to the other clubs catching up with them back then or was the club mis-managed themselves? Certainly, in their more recent League of Ireland appearance it would suggest they just couldn’t cope with the demand of League of Ireland football, which is a shame because a club like that, who gave so much to Irish football in the past. Of course, the club is still around today, playing in the LSL, but I wonder if in another 38 years, St James Gate will be back playing in the League of Ireland? Well, it has happened before so don’t rule anything out.
Unfortunately, that last part has now been answered as the club, St James Gate, has now completely folded as announced of July 2022. It is a real shame to see the club that won the first ever League of Ireland title disappear like this. But what's even more disappointing is the reaction or lack of reaction from League of Ireland fans, not acknowledging the history that this club has with the league they follow and support. One thing is for sure, we will never forget St James Gate here at Forgotten Clubs.