History of Shamrock Rovers F.C.

[1] In November 1949, following the death of Jimmy Dunne,[15][16] Paddy Coad reluctantly accepted the position of player-manager having played with the club for almost eight years, in which time he had established himself as one of the best players in the League of Ireland.

[17][18] Coad opted for a radical youth policy and over the course of his first three years in charge, signed virtually the entire schoolboy international side to Rovers.

[19] He employed revolutionary training methods with extra emphasis on technical skill and possession which resulted in a fast, passing style of football that contributed significantly to the development of the game in Ireland.

[20] In 1954, the club won the League of Ireland for the first time in fifteen years, while Paddy Ambrose finished the season as the team's leading scorer.

Paddy Ambrose and Ronnie Nolan had remained with the club and were joined by a large selection of signings including Irish internationals, Frank O'Neill and Johnny Fullam.

[8] The decision by Liam Tuohy to return to the club as captain, after four successful years at Newcastle United, effectively saw the completion of Thomas' side.

The club won every domestic honour except the Top Four Competition in the 1963–64 season and were narrowly defeated by holders and eventual finalists, Valencia, in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

[23] Liam Tuohy took over as player-manager and led the club to a further five FAI Cups in succession, completing a series of six,[24] including a 3–0 defeat of League of Ireland champions, Waterford in 1968, in front of 40,000 people at Dalymount Park.

The 1968–69 season saw Mick Leech score a total of 56 goals for the club, including two in the last FAI Cup final of the Six in a Row period, against Cork Celtic.

[11] The next season, the Cunninghams, now under the control of sons Arthur and Des, sold the club to three brothers from Dublin: Paddy, Barton and Louis Kilcoyne.

The Kilcoynes had witnessed decades of huge attendances at Irish football games and sought to take over the club primarily for business reasons.

[31] Faced with dwindling attendances, the Kilcoynes decided to starve the club and sold off senior players who were replaced by junior footballers.

Rovers finished the 1976–77 season in eleventh but won the club's only League of Ireland Cup,[36] with Leech's 250th career goal proving the difference against Sligo.

[37] The Kilcoynes implemented a full-time policy and unveiled plans to rebuild Glenmalure Park as a 50,000 all-seater stadium as well as turning the club into a school of excellence for Irish football,[38] capable of challenging for European honours.

In his first season in charge, the club won their 21st FAI Cup, defeating Sligo in a controversial final,[39] but despite that success and emphatic victories in European competition against Apoel Nicosia and Fram Reykjavík,[40] Giles' conservative approach based on possession football proved unsuccessful and on 3 February 1983, he resigned.

[43] On 1 April 1984, the club clinched their first League of Ireland title in 20 years with a 3–1 defeat of Shelbourne and 14 days later against Limerick at Glenmalure Park midfielder and captain, Pat Byrne was presented with the trophy.

[50] Following the completion of the boycott season in Tolka, the Kilcoynes sold the football club to Dublin businessman, John McNamara, who put forward a controversial proposal to move in with Bohemians at Dalymount Park.

[51] As the 1989–90 season concluded, the club announced that they were moving to the RDS Arena in Ballsbridge, located halfway between Ringsend and Milltown on the Southside of Dublin.

[53] Ray Treacy managed the league winning side that included Paul Osam, Gino Brazil, John Toal, Alan Byrne and Stephen Geoghegan, who ended the season as top goalscorer.

[56] McGrath unveiled a plan to build a state-of-the-art stadium in the Dublin southwest suburb of Tallaght,[57] and employed Pat Byrne as commercial manager.

[59] In May 1997, Alan McGrath resigned as club chairman and was replaced by Brian Kearney, also of Premier Computers, who succeeded in acquiring planning permission for the new stadium in January 1998.

[60] However, the permission was delayed by objections until November 1998, by which time Joe Colwell had replaced Kearney as chairman and ended Premier Computers' involvement with the club.

In his first season as manager, Liam Buckley guided the club to the FAI Cup final and European qualification, as the team played at Richmond Park.

[64][65] The 2003 season was marked by the club's worsening finances as a deal with potential investor, Conor Clarkson was held up by Mulden's reluctance to sell their land.

[66] SDCC refused the application, but clarified their position by confirming their intention to build the stadium in partnership with the club, once the issue of ownership had been resolved.

[80] The 2009 season proved to be a progressive one for the club, starting with the completion of the stadium and ending with a second-place finish and qualification to the Europa League under the management of Michael O'Neill.

[82] Tallaght Stadium hosted its first game in European club competition when Rovers drew 1–1 with Bnei Yehuda of Israel in the 2010–11 Europa League.

There they were drawn against Serbian Champions FK Partizan, whom they defeated 3–2 on aggregate (2–1 on the night after extra time) to reach the group stages of the Europa League.

[100] In 2021, despite losing star players such as Jack Byrne and Aaron McEneff, before the start of the season, Shamrock Rovers retained the title, finishing sixteen points ahead of nearest rival St Patrick's Athletic and picking up the trophy before a full house in Tallaght Stadium against Drogheda United.

[103] In 2023, the club made history by winning the league title again for the fourth year in a row, thus equalling the record set by the Hoops team of the 1980's.