General
- Thursday March 31st, 2022 @ 11:25
St Pat's History Walking Tour
More than 50 Saints fans availed of the glorious sunshine last weekend as they took in the inaugural St Pat's History Walking Tour.
Leaving from Richmond Park, the tour took in a variety of important locations throughout club history before finishing at the 15 Acres in the Phoenix Park, the site of our first competitive match.
Participants learned about the history of Richmond Park, a site associated with the Guinness family before its use as a sports ground in the late 19th century by St Patrick's GAA club and, likely, soldiers based across Emmet Rd in Richmond Barracks.
Our famous old ground first saw League of Ireland action in the 1920s with Brideville FC based here, before a host of junior teams rented out the ground.
One of them, Bellville, hosted the first St Patrick's Athletic game at the ground in October 1930, a 5-5 thriller in the Intermediate League, albeit the Saints were the away team. Wikipedia myths were busted as those on the tour were told that Pat's didn't move into the ground until 1939, and ground-shared for the first five years with fellow LSL club St Paul's, who they faced numerous times in the "Richmond Park Derby."
Next up was the Inchicore Railway Works, where the original club members came together to form a football team. The tour learned about the original 1898 St Patrick's Football Club, formed on St Patrick's Terrace in the Works Estate, adjacent to the Pond Field football pitch.
The tour continued to The Ranch estate off Sarsfield Road, home to many great Pat's players of old including Matty Geoghegan and Jimmy "Timber" Cummins. A more recent player, John Cleary, was an unexpected guest and spoke about his time at the club playing alongside the likes of Paul McGrath.
The next stop was in Chapelizod, where the tour discussed the home grounds of the club over the years, including the two pitches used in Chapelizod in the 1930s and 1950s.
The final stop on the day was the 15 Acres in the Phoenix Park, the venue of St Pat's first competitive game back in 1930.
Participants raised €325 on the day for Frontline Bikes, the local social enterprise bike shop which provides great support for those recovering from addiction and a great community service with renovating and repairing bikes.
Many thanks to John Keegan, who organised the event, and the Patron Saints for their support on the day.
You can see all the photos on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
