Cabinteely FC
The latest club
from the League of Ireland to qualify as a ‘Forgotten Football Club’ is one
that only spent a short time in the League, with all seasons being played in
the First Division. A strong schoolboy club, but when it came to their senior
team, especially playing in the national league, they struggled for numerous
reasons. The lack of fans, the fact the played their home games at a local
rugby pitch, and the cost of running a football club at the highest level meant
they had to look for an alternative, which in turn meant the cub had to give up
their independent identity, but under controversial circumstances. This is the
story of Cabinteely FC.
The club,
Cabinteely FC was officially formed in 1973. Before that, the club had
undergone numerous name changes. At first, throughout the 1930;, the club was
known as The Blues from Cabinteely. They changed this to Cabinteely Boys in the
1950’s. This was again changed in 1967 to Auburn FC, which again was changed in
1973 to Cabinteely Boys FC and then shortly afterwards, Cabinteely FC to acknowledge both men’s and women’s
teams.
The cub had moderate success playing in the MGL, DDSL, LSL
and SDSL, mostly at underage level. Their biggest triumph probably came in 1939
when the club won the Schoolboys League Cup. It is said a crowd of around 6,000
attended the game and saw ‘Cabo’ lift the trophy.
Due to their growth and status at an underage level, the
club decided to apply for a First Division licence in 2015. The club was
granted the licence and so they were to join the First Division for the 2015
season. The club finished bottom of th league, however it was seen as a
stepping stone and their debut season was to just be a learning curve to the
progress of the club.
The 2016 season
saw a small improvement when they finished 7th out of eight clubs,
finishing only ahead of Athlone Town. The 2017 season saw the club climb
another place up the yable, finishing 6th, ahead of Wexford FC and
once again, Athlone Town. After three years, the club had already lost the tag
as ‘whipping boys’ in the league. Another positive note that Cabinteely could
take from the season was their striker, Kieran Marty Waters finished second top
goal scorer on 15 goals that season, just two behind UCD’s Georgie Kelly.
A 7th
place finish in the 2018 season occurred, however, the league had expanded to
10 clubs, so they did finish above three other clubs. But it was the 2019
season that would be the club best, when they finished 4th, and
qualified for the promotion/relegation play-offs. The first leg was played at
Stradbrook Road, on October 18th, 2019 against Drogheda United. The
game ended 1-1 which meant the second leg was wide open. However, the game
itself was all one way traffic, with the Louth club winning 5-1 and ending
Cabinteely’s promotion hopes
The following
season the club finished 7th, just one point outside the play-off
places. That season was a hard one for most League of Ireland clubs, not least
Cabinteely as COVID-19 meant a lot of clubs struggled financially to survive in
the conditions. The 2021 season saw the cub finish 8th and it was
clear they were struggling both on and off the field. Rumours started to circle
that a potential merger with Bray Wanderers was on the cards. The news didn’t
go down well with Bray fans, who felt their clubs history would be compromised
if such a merger happened.
Despite the
objections from Bray fans, the merger happened, with a new club crest issued.
The cub would still play under the Bray Wanderers name and compete in the
League of Ireland First Division, playing their home games at the Carlisle
Grounds. In reality, it was more of a takeover than a merger, with the only
thing remaining of Cabinteely at the new ‘Merger’ club was their manager, Pat
Devlin taking up a Director of Football role.Cabinteely still run their
schoolboy and girls teams and continue to be a big community club in their
area.
The story of
Cabinteely is one that shows the huge jump in class and infrastructure when it
comes to schoolboy level and national level. Cabinteely tried and ultimately
failed to make that jump. They could argue that the timing of COVID-19 had
something to do with it, but even before that, their fan base was never a big
one, and they rarely brought a huge crowd to even their home games at
Stradbrook Road. In the end, the merger was probably for the best, especially
if it meant at least one League of Ireland club gained from it. Did Bray gain
from it though? You may have to ask their fans that.