Playing Career
Born in Dublin, Fenlon was with London club Chelsea as a young trainee. A midfielder, he signed for St Patrick's Athletic in 1987 and made his League of Ireland debut on 13 September 1987, against Shelbourne at Harold's Cross Stadium. He played in both legs of Pats' 1988-89 UEFA Cup ties against Hearts. In March 1989 Fenlon scored at Fir Park as Pats held Motherwell to a 3-3 friendly draw
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.
Fenlon signed for Linfield in January 1994. In doing this he became the first Catholic from Dublin to play for Linfield, a Protestant club from Belfast. 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 Fenlon won two IFA Cups and one Irish Premier League championship with Linfield. It was Fenlon's goal against Glentoran on the final day of the 1993–94 season which sealed the title for Linfield.
In June 1996, he signed for another Dublin club, Shamrock Rovers. But after one season he transferred to Shelbourne, thus making him one of the first players to have played for each of Dublin's "Big 4", i.e. St. Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians. 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.
Read more about this topic: Pat Fenlon
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