The 2012 season was St. Patrick's Athletic F.C.'s 83rd year in existence and it was the Supersaint's 61st consecutive season in the top-flight of Irish football. The Saint's were under the new management of Liam Buckley after Pete Mahon was let go at the end of the 2011 season. Pat's finished 4th the previous season and doing so qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round. The Saints also competed in domestic competitions such as the FAI Cup, Setanta Cup, Leinster Senior Cup, and the EA Sports Cup.
Friendlies and Setanta Cup exit
After appointing Liam Buckley as the new manager, Buckley wasted no time in changing the squad by bringing in fourteen fresh faces and only keeping five players from the squad last season. New faces included Christy Fagan from Bohemians, James Chambers from Hamilton and old saint Brendan Clarke back to the club from Sligo Rovers. Despite the new signings, Pat's also lost crucial players such as top scorer from last season Danny North to Sligo Rovers, Gary Rogers to Sligo Rovers also, Stephen Bradley to Limerick F.C. and Daryl Kavanagh to arch-rivals Shamrock Rovers.
The Supersaints started their pre-season programme when they cruised to a 2–0 win over non-league side Glebe North in Balbriggan with goals coming from new midfield signings Greg Bolger and Mark Rossiter. Pats played a behind closed doors friendly with the side they share training facilities with, Phoenix and won 2–1 with goals coming from James Chambers and Mark Rossiter at Scribblestown, near Blanchardstown. Liam Buckley's side then played a relatively trouble free 2–0 win over First Division Longford Town at Richmond Park with goals from defender Conor Kenna and new signing Kenny Browne seeing of the First Division side. After a good start to their pre-season, Pat's suffered an early exit from Setanta Cup with a two nil aggregate score line defeat to Cliftonville. Despite this defeat Pat's won their next pre-season friendly against Mervue 1–0 with Sean O'Connor scoring the winner early in the game.
On 27 August, the Saints again faced Longford Town in a mid-season friendly. Pats played a starting 11 of players who were aiming to regain their places in the regular starting line up. Longford found themselves being dominated throughout the entire game, although they took the lead just before half time through a wonder strike. Chris Deans was sent off for a poorly timed challenge on the edge of his box on Darren Meenan early into the second half. Jake Kelly's low shot was saved onto the post by former Saint Paul Hunt before Vinny Faherty scored his first goal since his return to the club when he played a one-two with Kelly and smashed his shot into the top left corner.
Friendlies
DateTimeOpponentsVenue/LocationResultF – AScorersAttendance Tuesday 31 January 2012 7:30 PM Glebe North Market Green, Balbriggan, County Dublin 2–0 Bolger 29', Rossiter 89' 50(est) February 2012 N/A Phoenix Scribblestown, Ashtown, County Dublin 2–1 Chambers, Rossiter N/A Thursday 9 February 2012 3:00 PM Longford Town Richmond Park, Inchicore, County Dublin 2–0 Browne 13', Kenna 25' 300(est) Friday 24 February 2012 7:45 PM Mervue United Richmond Park, Inchicore, County Dublin 1–0 O'Connor 12' 300(est) Monday 27 August 2012 8:00 PM Longford Town Leixlip United A.F.C. Grounds, Leixlip, County Kildare 1–1 Faherty 75' 50(est)
Setanta Cup
DateTimeRoundOpponentsVenue/LocationResultF – AScorersAttendance Monday 13 February 2012 7:45 PM 1st round (1st leg) Cliftonville Solitude, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1–0 654 Monday 20 February 2012 7:15 PM 1st round (2nd leg) Cliftonville Richmond Park, Inchicore, County Dublin 0–1 1,079
League of Ireland
The fixtures for the 2012 season were announced on 22 December 2011, with Pat's kicking off the new season at home to Bray Wanderers.
With a much changed team from last season, the Saints started their season with a 1–0 win against Bray Wanderers when Dean Kelly's glancing header from a Sean O'Connor corner was deemed over the line by the referee.
The Saints continued their winning start to the season with a 2–0 nil win against Dundalk F.C. with goals from Stephen O'Flynn and John Russell bagging the three points.
The Saint's next game was against newly promoted Monaghan United F.C. at home in Richmond. The game finished one 1–1 with Dean Kelly cancelling out Conor Murphy's opening goal for the Mon's but Kelly's night didn't end well, after he got a controversial red card for a high challenge on former Pat's player Stephen Maher. The Saint's could have won it late on with a penalty but Stephen O'Flynn failed to convert the spot-kick.
The next game for the Saint's was a Dublin Derby against Bohemians away, which was live on RTÉ. The game finished a bore 0–0 draw with Karl Moore and Stephen O'Flynn coming closest for both sides.
The Saint's next game was another Dublin Derby, this time it was against Shelbourne. The last time these two met it was in the FAI Cup Semi-Finals with Shels coming out on top on that occasion. Shels took the lead thanks to a Brendan McGill volley which hit the underside of the crossbar and came back down to hit the Pat's goalkeeper on the back and went into the net. But Pat's equalised before half-time with Christy Fagan scoring his first goal for the club. Even with Shels going down to ten men, the game finished 1–1 with Pat's unable to take advantage with the extra man.
Pat's played rivals Shamrock Rovers in the next game which was the Saint's third Dublin Derby in a row and the game was also live on RTÉ. Pat's started with a bang, taking an early lead through Chris Forrester with a terrific strike. The lead was doubled just before the half hour mark with John Russell slotting home from 6 yards. The lead was then made three thanks to a cheeky chip from Forrester to grab his second of the game. Ken Oman did reply for the visitors but the points where then sealed when Russell played in Christy Fagan and he rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net. Fagan then made 5–1 and put the icing on the cake when he headed the ball into again an empty net which topped off a great night in Inchicore.
An away trip to Drogheda was up next and after a frustrating 90 minutes in which their appeals for a handball in the box were waved away by the referee and many chances were wasted, Drogheda United hit the post late on.
The Saints then faced UCD at Richmond Park and although they spurned many chances in the first half Christy Fagan opened the scoring after a cleaver ball from James Chambers. The home side's dominance continued in the second half and the 3 points were secured when Greg Bolger tapped in from 5 yards in the 81st minute
RTÉ showed Pats' next game live as they traveled to league leaders Sligo Rovers. The Saints were the better side in the first half but found themselves 1-0 down after an unlucky own goal from center back Kenny Browne. Substitute Sean O'Connor scored after a great piece of skill from John Russell and the Inchicore side had the chance to win it in the 90th minute when they were awarded a penalty for Jason McGuinness' foul on Dean Kelly but top scorer Chris Fagan blazed the spotkick over the bar. To add to the disappointment of missing out on 2 valuable points from this fixture, Saints fans later received news that pivotal midfielder James Chambers' injury sustained in the game would see him out of action for 8 weeks.
The Saints traveled north to face Derry City, with the game once again on RTÉ. Mark Rossiter came off after just 7 minutes with an injury that would see him miss the remainder of the season, but his replacement Darren Meenan opened the scoring for the Dubliners with a looping header just before half time. Pats played superb football throughout and when Sean O'Connor's shot was spilled in by Derry City keeper Ger Doherty in the 64th minute, it was game over.
Pats' went into the next game against Cork City without midfielders James Chambers and Mark Rossiter through injury and Greg Bolger through suspension after receiving 4 yellow cards in the league. The Saints did well considering their makeshift midfield, with Darren Meenan Chris Forrester, Sean O'Connor all coming close but Cork City keeper Mark McNulty stopped everything that came at him. City could have won it with a penalty late on but Saints keeper Brendan Clarke saved well for a 0–0 draw that increased his sides unbeaten record in the league at Richmond Park to 22 games.
A trip to Wicklow to play Bray Wanderers was Liam Buckley's next task. Against the run of play, Jason Byrne opened the scoring, before Chris Fagan equalized just before half time. John Mulroy scored a spectacular volley after an hour to regain Wanderer's lead, but his goal was cancelled out when Fagan tapped in his second and John Russell scored a fine goal from outside the box after 72 minutes. The Saints looked to be taking the 3 points from an away game for just the third time but Byrne popped up in the 93rd minute with a volley to make it 3–3.
Pats faced a young Dundalk side at home next. All seemed to be going well for the home side after Chris Forrester headed in Ger O'Brien's corner after 43 minutes and Dundalk's Michael Rafter getting sent off in the tunnel at half-time. The Saints peppered Peter Cherrie's goal with shots but just couldn't find that 2nd goal just wouldn't come. Mark Griffn's run from the halfway line won the County Louth side a free kick on the edge of the box and Griffin curled it into the top left corner with his team's first real shot of note. As St.Pat's pushed for the winner, John Mountney caught them on the break and was fouled in exactly the same position as the Lillywhite's goal came from. Griffin fired the set-piece into the bottom right corner to become the hero to the away support. This loss ended the Saints' run of 22 unbeaten league games at Richmond Park.
Next up was a trip to Gortakeegan to face Monaghan United. Monaghan set up their stall to defend for the entire game but they found themselves 1-0 down at half time thanks to a Christy Fagan volley. As the game moved into the last 10 minutes, the Saints still hadn't managed to increase to scoring until substitute Jake Kelly scored in the 83rd and 85th minute and Greg Bolger rounded off a dominant performance with a 4th goal in the 89th minute. This game later turned out to be Monaghan's last game in the League of Ireland after they pulled out of the league during the mid-season break on 18 June.
After the mid-season break in June, Pats' next game was a Dublin derby at home to Bohemians. Bohs took the lead against the run of play after 10 minutes, from a shot that turned out to be their only effort all game. Liam Buckley brought on James Chambers, Sean O'Connor and Dean Kelly, who all had an instrumental influence on the game. Kelly fired a shot off the bar from which Christy Fagan scored the equalizer in the 82nd minute. Chambers spread the ball around well and later earned a corner that was cleared away to O'Connor, who supplied the cross for Fagan headed in the winner in the 94th minute against his former club.
A third Dublin derby at Richmond Park in 7 days followed for the Saints, as they hosted northside rivals Shelbourne in a match attended by President Michael D. Higgins, the famous 1996 league winning side, other club legends such as Keith Fahey and Brian Kerr. Pats got off to a great start after Greg Bolger's looping header opened the scoring following a great cross by Ger O'Brien. The Saints continued to dominate the game but got a late score when Philip Hughes hit the crossbar. Barry Clancy was sent off in the 84th minute after he kicked out at O'Brien, but this had little impact of the remainder of the game and the home side held out for the 1–0 win.