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Pat Fenlon

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Pat Fenlon
Personal information
Date of birth (1969-03-15) 15 March 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Team information
Current team
 Bohemians (manager)
Youth career
1984–1987 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1991 St. Patrick's Athletic ? (?)
1991–1993 Bohemians 88 (29)
1993–1996 Linfield ? (?)
1996–1997 Shamrock Rovers 31 (4)
1997–2003 Shelbourne 153 (27)
International career
1988–1992 Republic of Ireland U21 3 (0)
1992 Republic of Ireland B 1 (1)
Managerial career
2002–2006 Shelbourne
2007 Derry City
2007–2008 Republic of Ireland U23
2008– Bohemians
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Patrick "Pat" "Nutsy" Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish former footballer and manager of League of Ireland club Bohemians.

Playing career

Born in Dublin, County Dublin, Fenlon made his League of Ireland debut for St Patrick's Athletic against Shelbourne at Harold's Cross Stadium on 13 September 1987. In September 1990 he scored against Dinamo Bucharest in the European Champion Clubs' Cup [1]. After four seasons at Pats, during which he won his first senior medal winning the League of Ireland Championship in the 1989–90 season under Brian Kerr.

He signed for Bohemian in the summer of 1991. After two Cup wins he signed for Linfield in January 1994. [2]

In June 1996 he signed for his boyhood club Shamrock Rovers. [3]

But after one season he transferred to Shelbourne, thus making him one of the first players to have played for each of Dublin's "Big 4", i.e. St. Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians.

Whilst playing for Shels he suffered a triple fracture of the shin in a match against Rovers in Tolka Park on 12 February 1999. He recovered from this to help fire Shelbourne to the league and cup double the following season, and was voted the PFAI Player of the Year for his contribution.[1] He scored the winning goal for Shelbourne in the 1999/00 FAI Cup final replay, as Shelbourne beat Bohemians 1–0.[2]

Management career

Shelbourne

Fenlon started out his management career as manager of his former club Shelbourne of Dublin. His reign at Tolka Park started in a player-manager capacity in 2002 and guided the club to second place in his inaugural season in charge.

By the start of the 2003 season, Fenlon had hung up his boots to focus solely on the management of the club. The rewards were immediate, and Fenlon took the club to their first ever back-to-back league titles, in 2003 and 2004.

The 2004 season also saw Fenlon lead his squad past Icelandic champions KR Reykjavík and Croatian high-flyers Hajduk Split and into the Third Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League, where his Shelbourne side were eventually overturned by Spanish giants Deportivo la Coruña. Following this amazing run, and participation in the First Round of the UEFA Cup against Lille OSC, Fenlon was rewarded with a contract extension.[3] This made him the first manager to reach the Third Qualifying Round of the competition with an Irish club.[4]

2005 promised big things for Fenlon and Shelbourne. However, things did not go exactly as planned. In spite of several big name signings, Shelbourne staggered past the season's finishing-line in a disappointing third place. One of Fenlon's former clubs, Linfield, also beat Shelbourne in the first Setanta Cup final.

2006 saw the return of success. Dogged by continuous rumours involving a move from Tolka Park during the 2006 season, Fenlon guided the club to their third league title in 4 years on 17 November 2006, with a 2-1 victory over rivals Bohemians, which saw the Dubliners claim the title on goal difference. The media in Ireland had initially been linking Fenlon with the vacant management position at Dalymount Park. However this long-standing rumour was put to rest when Bohemians appointed Sean Connor as their new manager on 17 November 2006. This was followed by reports linking Fenlon to the vacant hot-seat at Derry City left by Stephen Kenny, who had departed the Brandywell Stadium to take up the managers position at Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic.

Fenlon resigned from his position as Shelbourne manager on 5 December 2006[5] and the reports proved true when Derry concluded an agreement with him within four days.

Derry City

Fenlon took the managerial spot at the club that, with Shelbourne, he beat to first position in the 2006 League of Ireland Premier Division on 8 December 2006. With regard to the new installation, Derry's chief executive, Jim Roddy, stated "Pat has a wealth of League of Ireland experience and the chairman and board of Derry City Football Club are delighted to have appointed a manager of such calibre." In response, Fenlon stated his high hopes for the future: "Derry City are a highly successful and ambitious club and I’m really looking forward to working with the players and everyone at the club."

In January, 2007, Fenlon was awarded the eircom/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) 'Personality of the Year' award after his success during the 2006 season with Shelbourne. His new team-captain at Derry, Peter Hutton, was also included in the shortlist of six nominees for the award, as well his old team-captain at Shelbourne, Owen Heary, and the man he replaced at Derry, Stephen Kenny.

However, results did not favour Fenlon and he resigned his position after just five months.[6]

Republic of Ireland under-23s

Pat Fenlon was also manager for a series of games for the Republic of Ireland under-23 national team, consisting entirely of League of Ireland players.[7]

Bohemians

On 22 December 2007, he was appointed manager of Bohemians after the departure of Sean Connor. In 2008, within a year of his appointment, he guided Bohs to their second League of Ireland/FAI Cup double in a decade. The 19 points winning margin in the League was a new record. He won the league in 2009 with Bohs beating arch rivals Shamrock Rovers by 4 points. Bohs also won the League of Ireland Cup that year. Scottish Premier League club Dundee United attempted to appoint him as their manager in January 2010, although their compensation offer of £90,000 was rejected, with Bohemians looking for over £200,000.[8] Fenlon was linked with the manager's position at Hibernian in November 2011.[9]

Honours

As a player

As a manager

References

  1. ^ "Ireland - Player of the Year and Other Awards". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  2. ^ "Ireland 1999/2000". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  3. ^ "Season 2004 ( Shelbourne )". Shelbourne F.C. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  4. ^ "Shelbourne 0-0 Deportivo". BBC Sport. 2004-08-11. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  5. ^ Fenlon Resigns As Shelbourne Manager
  6. ^ Official Club Statement: Resignation of Pat Fenlon, CityWeb, 2007-05-22. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
  7. ^ RTÉ Sport: Fenlon confirmed as Under-23 manager
  8. ^ Spence, Jim (2010-01-08). "Dundee United drop interest in Bohemians' Pat Fenlon". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  9. ^ Young, Chick (15 November 2011). "Pat Fenlon favourite for Hibernian job". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
Preceded by Shelbourne manager
2002–2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Bohemians manager
2007– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent


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