A look back at the very first Shamrock Rovers FAI Cup win

Macdara Ferris takes a look back at the Shamrock Rovers FAI Cup victory in 1925

On Sunday afternoon not much further away than an Alan Mannus long kick out from where the club was founded 120 years ago, Shamrock Rovers can claim their 25^th FAI Cup crown.

The Hoops, formed in Ringsend’s Shamrock Avenue in 1899, played in the very first FAI Cup final, as a non-league club, back in 1922. They would lose to St. James’ Gate after a replay but three years later Rovers would win the first of their record 24 cups.

That first cup success came in a ‘Ringsend’ derby win over Shelbourne. While Dundalk are going for their first treble on Sunday, the year the Hoops won the FAI Cup they also claimed the treble of League, FAI Cup and League Shield in a season when they went undefeated – winning 24 games and drawing seven across all three competitions.

Two of their famous Four Fs got on the score sheet in the 1925 St. Patrick’s Day final against Shels – Hoops captain Bob Fullam and John Joe Flood. Alongside Billy ‘Juicy’ Farrell and John ‘Krugar’ Fagan, Rovers potent strikeforce scored 101 goals across the season.

A crowd of 23,000 packed into Dalymount Park for the 1925 final. The Irish Independent the next day noted that ‘every possible vantage point was occupied, and the tops of the covered stands accommodated some of the more daring spectators, who made sure of securing an uninterrupted view.’ 

Those in attendance saw Rovers go 2-0 up before William ‘Sacky’ Glen put through his own goal to give Shels a lifeline. The Rovers goalkeeper Paddy O’Reilly held firm in the remaining 25 minutes to win successive cup finals, having won with Athlone Town the previous season. 

The Hoops were deemed the best team on the day according to the Indo. ‘Dalymount Park presented a wonderful game yesterday on the occasion of the Free State Cup final between Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne, which the former won 2-1 after a stiff struggle.

‘Victory undoubted went to the better team. Had the Rovers forwards accepted all the scoreable chances which they got theirs would have been a handsome win'.

For Glen, it would be the first of a record eight FAI Cup wins – a feat only Johnny Fullam managed to match in later year. Glen would go on to be a central part of Rovers five-in-row side that went unbeaten in the cup from 1929 and 1933 before winning his final FAI Cup trophy with Shels in 1936. 

FAI Cup Final Preview: Dundalk -v- Shamrock Rovers https://t.co/QvrDHOeEbcpic.twitter.com/uOJKiBoGxf

— Extratime.ie (@ExtratimeNews) November 2, 2019