St Patrick’s CYFC went into the new season 2007/ 08 full of optimism and confidence and why not following on from a dream season in 06/ 07 when the famous Ringsend club took three LSL (Leinster Senior League) crowns, a runners-up spot and the prestigious LSL team of the year award to add to a trophy cabinet starting to shine again with silverware.

Again, just as in the previous season, the club had three senior teams with in excess of 40 players, some in the twilight of their career whilst others were fresh from schoolboy football.

All three sides were now playing at a higher level, having gained promotions the previous season with the most significant change being our first team’s elevation to the intermediate ranks for the first time after 71 glorious years as a junior club, in which time the FAI and Leinster Junior cups made a visit to the trophy cabinet.

Also continuing on with our goal of establishing a schoolboy section we hooked up with Bath United’s U14s who would now play under the CY banner in the SDFL (South Dublin Football league). With pretty much the same players and management teams, all four sides were hoping for another good, successful season.

In Intermediate 1B our 1st team lads after a pre-season disrupted with tournament cancellations and players on extended holiday breaks started to find their feet, after an opening game draw away to Kilnamanagh they travelled to Brendanville and came away with a late 2-1 victory.

Meanwhile, our second team had a similar start drawing at home and winning away and our 3rd team hoping to go one better then in their debut season when finishing 2nd in the league came storming out of the blocks with four wins on the bounce throwing down the gauntlet to their division 3 Sunday rivals, also our new schoolboy team had started well in the league.

The following week our 1st team notched up another narrow win away to Ballyfermot United. Up next was old foes Rathcoole Boys away, in a tight game it was the Rats who came away victorious to condemn CY to only their 2nd competitive defeat in over a year. The 2nd team also hit a wall in the same venue losing 3-2 and a similar fate was to hit our 3rds with their 1st dropped points coming away to Orwell, with whom they would eventually go toe to-toe-for the league title. All three teams would recover from those results and notch up some more important wins in the weeks that followed.

While things were going along nicely on the pitch there were to be some changes off it. After our 1st team game against Valeview Shankill on the 4th of November 2007 Derek ‘Charlie’ Bowden announced he was to step down as 1st team manager after four fantastic years in charge.

During his tenure he took the club from the brink of relegation to one of its most successful trophy-laden periods in recent times, winning the Polikoff cup twice and the major Sunday league and in doing so bringing the club to Intermediate football for the 1st time.

While it was sad to see him go especially for a young side most of whom had only known one manager in their time as CY players the club was determined to bring in a replacement who could take the club onto the next level. Ex Railway and Liffey manager John Young was duly unveiled as the new man to step into Bowden’s considerable shoes.

John’s first game in charge was an emphatic 4-1 home win over Ballyfermot United but defeats where to follow away to CIE and Tymon Celtic. Naturally, it would take time for the new management team which eventually included former manager Mark Benson as John’s no.2 to make their mark on this young side.

Our 2nd and 3rd teams continued their good form and as we entered the Christmas break all three teams were in healthy league positions to make a push in the new year. The U14s were also doing well in the league and had begun their season-long tussle with rivals St Francis.

As we entered 2008, all three senior teams still harboured hopes of league and/ or cup success and things got off to a flier when the 1st team recorded a great away victory against Confey FC. More wins were to come before stumbling at home to Rathcoole (1-1) and losing away to Sacred heart (1-0).

The 2nd team resumed their season after an 8-week period without any games all and at home to Confey the lack of games showed in a disappointing 0-1 home defeat and a 1-1 draw away to struggling Brendanville.

They bounced back, winning 5-2 away to Tymon in the cup. The 3rd team had a tricky away cup fixture against Spartak and in what can only be described as monsoon-like conditions in Marley park, they fell to a heavy defeat. That didn’t dampen their spirits as Dave Nolan’s charges stormed back in league action with Five straight wins to put them within touching distance of the league title. The U14s were also hot on the heels of St Francis in the league and had also reached the semi-final of the cup.

There was no room for error in the league and the 1st team had a break from the pressure with an away cup quarter final against Celbridge Town from division 1A. In a cracking cup tie, CY came from behind to level and bring the game into extra time. Again the ‘Y’ fell behind only to find one last opportunity to hit the onion sack to go to penalties. In the end Celbridge held their nerve and CY were left with just league honours to chase.

The 2nd team who had gone through many personnel changes throughout the season, had stormed into the final of the Joe Tynan cup with wins over TEK and Alpine Express to face Ballyfermot in the final.

Both these teams still had promotion issues to sort out before the big day. The 3rd team however had their big day at home to league rivals Orwell FC, knowing victory would win the league.

In a fantastic match played at a very high tempo, CY huffed and puffed but couldn’t find a way through a very good Orwell defence. The league wasn’t won on this day but a few games later Orwell had dropped sufficient points to hand CY the division 3 title.

In Intermediate 1B Rathcoole boy’s had all but sealed the league title and it was left to CY, Confey and Tymon Celtic to scrap it out for the 2nd promotion spot. CY went unbeaten in their final six games, winning four and drawing two but with Confey taking two walkovers for ‘no shows’.

CY had to settle for 3rd place, a commendable performance in their 1st season at this level. Our schoolboys had reached and won their league cup final and were still in pursuit of the league title.

So it was onto the Joe Tynan cup final! For the 2nd team, in a tight, evenly-matched game CY edged out Ballyfermot by 2-0 in extra time with the goals coming from Arron Jenkins and Barry Montgommery. This was to be CY’s 5th piece of silverware in two seasons! The schoolboys went on to win the cup also and finished runners-up in the league.

All in all, it was another successful season for CY, with our 2nd and 3rd teams winning the cup and league respectively and our 1st team coming a very credible 3rd in Intermediate 1B, all topped off with cup success for our schoolboy team. We can look forward to next season with mighty optimism!

A big well done to 1st team manager John Young and his assistant Mark Benson. They came very close to gaining automatic promotion and will be very hopeful of going one better next season. Also congratulations to 2nd team manager Anthony Owens, who keeps churning out the silverware. After two league titles on the bounce, it was the cup this time with a very young, exciting team.

Well done to David Nolan who guided the 3rd team to the league assisted by Wayne Byrne and doing so with a great mix of young and old players, from young lads like Karl Montgomery and David Spain to old war horses like Ray williams, Noel Boland and Derek. It was a great achievement after the disappointment of coming 2nd last season, and finally a massive well done to our schoolboy team and to the management team of Jason Flood and the two Paddys.

None of this is ever possible without the fantastic support of committee members like John & Padser Healy, George Desay, Patrick O’Keefe, Derek Bowden & Paddy McGuinness, all of whom do huge work in the back-round to keep the club running.

Pre-season training for our three senior teams begins Saturday July 5th. All new players are more then welcome.