Monaghan United F.C.


Monaghan United F.C. is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to play in the B Division, the First Division and the Premier Division. They resigned from the league midway through the 2012 season. The club continues to field a women's team in the Dublin Women's Soccer League and, together with the Cavan Monaghan Underage League, they enter a combined team in the League of Ireland U13 Division, League of Ireland U15, U17 and the U19 League of Ireland Divisions.

History

League of Ireland

Monaghan United were founded in 1979. Among the club's founding members was Sean McCaffrey who was also the manager of the club when they joined the League of Ireland B Division in 1983–84. In 1985–86 Monaghan United became founder members of the League of Ireland First Division. United played eight seasons in the First Division before winning their first promotion. After finishing third in 1992–93 they became the first League of Ireland club to gain promotion via a promotion/relegation play off. They defeated Waterford United 5–2 on aggregate and were subsequently promoted to the 1993–94 Premier Division. They survived just two seasons in the Premier Division before being relegated at the end of the 1994–95 season. Monaghan United gained promotion to the Premier Division for a second time in 2000–01 after finishing second to Dundalk. This time their stay in the Premier Division last just one season. After managing to win just two league games, they finished last and were relegated following the conclusion of the 2001–02 season. Monaghan United reached the final of the 2010 League of Ireland Cup but lost 1–0 in the final to Sligo Rovers. They also finished third in the 2010 First Division and qualified for the promotion/relegation play off. They subsequently beat Waterford United before losing to Bray Wanderers on penalties. In 2011, under the management of Roddy Collins, Monaghan United again qualified for the promotion/relegation play off. This time they won promotion after beating Galway United 5–1 on aggregate.
However, midway through the 2012 season, Monaghan United withdrew from the league for "mainly but not only financial" reasons.
;Statistics
StatOpponentScoreSeasonDate
Record WinLongford Town5–01992–934 October 1992
Kildare County6–1200916 October 2009
Salthill Devon6–1201010 April 2010
Record DefeatGalway United0–82001–0226 October 2001

Dublin Women's Soccer League

Monaghan United formed a ladies football team in 2006. They won Division Four of the Dublin Women's Soccer League in their first season and were promoted to Division Two. In 2007 they again won the league along with the Leinster Junior Cup. In 2008 they won the DWSL Intermediate Cup after defeating Santry 3–1 in the final. In 2012 they reached the semi-finals of the WFAI Intermediate Cup.

U17 Division

In 2015 Monaghan United and the Cavan Monaghan Underage League formed the Monaghan United Cavan Football Partnership in order to enter a combined team in the new League of Ireland U17 Division.

Grounds

Monaghan United originally played their home games at Belgium Park which served as their home ground between 1979 and 1987. Since 1987 they have played at Gortakeegan.

Honours

;Men
;Women

Internationals

;Republic of Ireland internationals
;League of Ireland XI representatives
;Republic of Ireland B internationals
;Republic of Ireland U23 internationals
;Republic of Ireland U21 internationals
;Republic of Ireland U19 internationals
;Republic of Ireland U17 internationals
;Other Internationals
;First Division Top Scorer
SeasonPlayerGoals
1990–91 Jim Barr12
1992–93 Mick Byrne15
1999–00 Andrew Myler17

;Most League Goals in a Season
SeasonPlayerGoals
1999–00 Andrew Myler17
2009 Karl Bermingham17

;Most League Goals
YearsPlayerGoals
2001–03 Trevor Vaughan28

Others

– All-Ireland football winner with Dublin

Managers