Recalling the seven times St Eunan's College won the FAIS All-Ireland senior crown

Wednesday’s success for St Eunan’s College in the FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill National Senior Cup final brought the Letterkenny school a seventh national senior title.

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Michael Kelly’s team were 3-2 winners against Waterford’s De la Salle in Athlone and returned to a heroes’ welcome last night.
Soccer in St Eunan’s does not have a long history, but it certainly has a successful one.

Soccer ‘officially’ became an extra-curricular activity in the school from the early seventies onwards. However, ‘unofficially’ many students enjoyed displaying their skills on the College’s playing pitches for some years before this.

The late introduction of Soccer was due of course to the presence of rule 27 of the GAA, which banned its members from participating in or playing Soccer.

Watch: St Eunan's College welcome home their FAI Schools All-Ireland champions

Michael Kelly's St Eunan's College squad returned to Letterkenny as All-Ireland champions last night following their thrilling victory in the FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill National Senior Cup final in Athlone

From its early days Gaelic football was the College’s primary sport and you would have been expelled for playing Soccer. Despite this however, on one occasion a group of boys decided to form their own Soccer league within the College.

They even managed to get one of the priests who was a professor in the College to referee some of the matches, although in the strict understanding that if certain members of the teaching clergy came near the football pitch then they had to lift the ball and proceed to play Gaelic.

The college’s first major success came in 1978 when the U-16 team, managed by Fr. Leo Mohan, who claimed the FAIS Junior cup.

The final, which was played at Tolka Park, saw St. Eunan’s defeat St. Joseph’s, Fairview 1-0 with Claus Anderson scoring the only goal. This was the first of many underage titles, and set up a springboard for senior successes.

The victory sparked wild celebrations around the school and town with St. Eunan’s soccer finally received national attention.
The following year, 1979, St Eunan’s were hitting the headlines again when they won the coveted FAIS senior title for the first time in their history.

The team, whose backbone consisted of the successful U-16 squad from the previous year, beat a much fancied Beneavin College from Dublin 2-0 in the final at Terryland Park, Galway.

The next national success came in 1985 and 1986 when St Eunan’s achieved back to back senior titles.
In 1985 St Eunan’s again saw off the challenge of Beneavin College from Dublin following a wonderful 3-0 victory at Finn Park under the guidance of Michael Houston.

A year later it was a much tighter final with St Eunan’s, now managed by Fr. John Friel, coming out on top after a penalty shoot out at Belfield against Ard Scoil Ris of Limerick.

Last minute winner hands St Eunan's win in dramatic National Senior Cup final

Tiernan Brown smashed home the winner from the penalty spot as Michael Kelly's team came from behind to seal a fantastic victory

Eighteen long years had passed by before another Senior All-Ireland was to visit Sentry Hill again.
But, as the saying goes, it was well worth waiting for! 2004 was a glorious year for Soccer at the College. Amazingly they claimed three All-Ireland Soccer titles at senior, U-16 and U-14 levels.

The senior team of 2004, captained by Kieran Harte, had a comprehensive 3-0 victory over De la Salle, Waterford, in the Belfield final.

Success continued into 2005 when the FAIS senior title was retained by St. Eunan’s following a 4-1 victory over Tallaght Community School in Belfield.

Then, in 2020, Paul Browne’s team reached the All-Ireland senior final again, where they were due to meet Cork’s Douglas Community School. However, the final was never played due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with both teams eventually sharing the trophy. Yesterday, though, the Dr Tony O’Neill Cup was back on the famous front steps, making it a seventh senior crown for St Eunan’s - every bit as sweet as the previous six.