Pat Fenlon

Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player.

Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne.

A midfielder, he returned home and signed for Brian Kerr's St Patrick's Athletic in 1987 and made his League of Ireland debut on 13 September 1987, against Shelbourne at Harold's Cross Stadium.

Fenlon won the League of Ireland championship with St Pats in 1989–90.

In September 1990 he scored against Dinamo Bucharest in the European Cup.

After four seasons at St Pats, he signed for Bohemians in the summer of 1991.

He scored 29 goals in 88 appearances for Bohs and won the FAI Cup in 1992, as well as the PFAI Player of the Year accolade.

In February 1992, Fenlon scored for the Republic of Ireland in a 'B' international against Denmark.

It was Fenlon's goal against Glentoran on the final day of the 1993–94 season which sealed the title for Linfield.

He also scored the second goal in the 2–0 win against Bangor in the Irish Cup Final a week later.

Fenlon signed for Linfield in January 1994, a club supported mainly by fans drawn from Belfast's Protestant community, becoming the first Dublin catholic to do so.

Speaking about his time with Linfield twenty years later, Fenlon said he had been abused by fellow Irish Catholics for his decision to join Linfield based on their history.

Fenlon won two Irish Cups and one Irish Premier League championship with Linfield.

In June 1996, he signed for another Dublin club, Shamrock Rovers.

But after one season he transferred to Shelbourne,.

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 secure a second PFAI Player of the Year award.

He scored the winning goal for Shelbourne in the 1999/00 FAI Cup final replay, as Shelbourne beat Bohemians 1–0.

Fenlon started out his management career as player/manager of Shelbourne in 2002.

He guided the club to second place in his first season in charge.

As a manager he won five League of Ireland titles with Shelbourne and Bohemians between 2003 and 2009.

By the start of the 2003 season, Fenlon had retired from playing 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 (final) 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.

This made him the first manager to reach the third qualifying round of the competition with an Irish club.

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.

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 and the reports proved true when Derry concluded an agreement with him.

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.

However, results at Derry did not favour Fenlon and he resigned his position after just five months.

During his time with Bohemians Fenlon also won the FAI Cup in 2008, the League of Ireland Cup in 2009 and the Setanta Sports Cup in 2010.

Fenlon moved to Scottish club Hibernian in November 2011, who he helped reach two Scottish Cup Finals, although both were lost heavily.

Fenlon was born in Dublin.

After playing as a schoolboy with four local clubs, he was with London club Chelsea as a young trainee.