UCD

The one afternoon the club is remembered for came in the 1983–84 FAI Cup, when a replay against Shamrock Rovers went UCD's way 2-1. It remains the only major cup the students have taken, and nothing since — not the four Second Division titles, not the odd run to a top-four finish — has carried the same weight.

The team grew out of a medical school side, formed in 1895 as the Catholic University Medical School Football Club. It took its present name in 1908, once the medical school merged into University College Dublin, and a year earlier had already been one of the founders of the Leinster Junior league. UCD did not enter the League of Ireland until 1979, arriving with a student roster that changed every few years as players graduated and moved on.

That turnover has kept the club out of the top flight's upper reaches. Fourth place, managed twice, in 1984–85 and again in 1999–2000, is as high as they have finished. The First Division has been friendlier: promotion-winning campaigns in 1994–95, 2004, 2009 and 2018, with the first of those setting club records for points and goals in a season.

Matches are played at the UCD Bowl, on the university's Belfield campus, where 1,500 of the 3,000 capacity are seated.

Of the players who passed through the club on their way somewhere else, one name still carries furthest: Kevin Moran, who left UCD for Manchester United and went on to play for Ireland at the 1990 World Cup.