St. Michael's A.F.C.
| Full name | St. Michaels's Association Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Saints |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Ground | Cooke Park |
| League | Tipperary South District League |
St. Michael's A.F.C. is a junior football club, based in Tipperary, County Tipperary. The club, which was founded in 1947, plays in the Tipperary South District League (TSDL), and is one of the most well-known and respected junior football clubs in the Republic of Ireland. Known colloquially as The Micks, the club's most prominent success came in 1974, when St. Michael's won the FAI Junior Cup, a feat repeated by the club in 2013–14. The 2013–14 season proved to be an incredibly successful season for the Tipperary club as they won every trophy on offer, including the Munster Junior Cup. The club's home ground is Cooke Park, in Tipperary Town.
Since the early 1900s, Tipperary Town was a hotbed of footballing activity, with several teams operating in the town and its environs. Most notable among these was Tipperary Wanderers, who beat Shamrock Rovers 1–0 in the inaugural Irish Free State Cup (became FAI Cup in 1937) in December 1921. The tie was a qualifying round for the first-round proper, as Rovers were a non-league club at the time. The game had to be replayed as Rovers objected to the ground conditions and a dipped crossbar in one of the goals. Rovers won the second game 1–0, courtesy of a penalty kick scored by a young player who went on to become a League of Ireland legend, Bob Fullam. This turn of events proved all the more heartbreaking for Wanderers as Rovers progressed to the final, only losing out to St. James' Gate after a replay.
Tipperary United were also a well established club of the era, and enjoyed significant success up to the wartime period.
In 1947, a group of local football people established St. Michael's having received a letter from a Limerick party requesting a challenge match.
From the inception of the club until 1985, St. Michael’s home pitch was the showgrounds at the rear of St. Michael’s Church in Tipperary Town. It was with this pitch as a base that the club first achieved major success by winning the Munster Junior Cup in 1973. Fame on the national stage came just one year later, with St. Michael's beating Dublin's Tolka Rovers, 2–1, to claim the FAI Junior Cup.
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