Donegal Celtic F.C.

Donegal Celtic

Full name	Donegal Celtic Football & Sports Club
Nickname(s)	"DC", "The Wee Hoops","Celtic"
Founded	1970
Ground	Donegal Celtic Park Belfast (Capacity: 8,283 (safe capacity 2,254)[1])
Chairman	Raymond Bonner
Manager	Paddy Kelly
League	IFA Premiership
2010/11	11th
Home colours Third colours

Donegal Celtic is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the IFA Premiership. The club, founded in 1970, hails from Belfast and plays its home matches at Donegal Celtic Park. Club colours are green and white in Celtic-style hoops. The current manager is Paddy Kelly.

History

Donegal Celtic was formed in 1970 when a group of young men who had a huge interest in football decided to form a team in the Lenadoon district of west Belfast.

With no facilities, kits, pitch or equipment the first few years were spent playing friendlies and entering local summer competitions, which helped to enhance and promote their reputation and name. They registered their chosen name with the Irish Football League, taking the name from the area in which they were based, Lenadoon, Gweedore, Glenveagh are all local areas named after towns in County Donegal, with the Celtic part being taken on due to the massive local following for Scotland's Glasgow Celtic F.C., and formerly Belfast Celtic.

Donegal Celtic has youth setup, covering boys aged from U10 - U18, and a girl’s set-up at U14 with five U16 internationals in the squad. Donegal Celtic Ladies senior side won the 'Belfast Cup' in 2004.

Donegal Celtic senior men’s team has a chequered and colourful history. After continually applying for Irish League entry they were denied on several occasions and forced to play amateur football, along with County Armagh team Lurgan Celtic. With accusations of a sectarian selection process and with the threat of court action looming both clubs finally gained entry into the Irish League 2nd Division for the season 2002-2003.

The club managed to finish in 6th place in their first year in the Irish League proper, which due to a league shake-up was enough to earn promotion to the First Division. The club's second season in Irish League football was marred by poor home form and an inability to cope with the change in standard finishing in 8th place.

Donegal Celtic finished the 2004-05 season in 3rd place losing out on a promotional play-off place to Lurgan team Glenavon and also lost the Intermediate Cup final on penalties at Stangmore Park, Dungannon, to the same team. At the start of the 2010/11 season, former Cliftonville F.C. Captain and Manager Marty Tabb was appointed manager at the start of the season, but was sacked a couple of weeks later. The current management structure of Paddy Kelly, Marty McKiernan and Gerard Loughran has solidly improved and the team and in season 2005/06 finished 2nd to Crusaders earning the right to play over two legs for a place in the Premier League, which they achieved on 10 May with a 3-1 aggregate victory against Institute. The team also managed to capture the Intermediate Cup, defeating Coagh United 2-0 in the final. This was the only^{[citation needed]} cup in junior football the team was yet to win.

Men's Senior Squad 2010-11

Note: All players who currently hold an Irish passport are eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland, in accordance with the case of Daniel Kearns ruled by FIFA.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Robert Robinson GK Stephen Harbison GK James McGreevy GK Sean McGreevy DF Ian Curran DF Andrew Cleary DF Tony Heagney DF Thomas Lambe DF Declan O'Hara DF Barry Spence MF Niall Atkinson MF Liam Bradley MF Paul Carville

No. Position Player MF Daniel Hanna MF Ryan Henderson MF Eamon McAllister MF Stephen McAlorum MF Tomas McCann MF Jim McMenamin MF Liam Watson FW Mark Dixon FW Ciarn Cargan FW Darren McNamee FW Aiden McVeigh FW Paul McVeigh

Honours

Intermediate honours

• IFA Reserve League: 1
  • 2007/08
• Irish Intermediate Cup: 2
  • 2005/06, 2009/10
• Steel & Sons Cup: 1
  • 2003/04
• Northern Ireland Intermediate League: 8
  • 1989/90, 1990/91, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1998/99, 1999/00; 2001/02
• Northern Ireland Intermediate League Challenge Cup: 6
  • 1988/89, 1989/90, 1992/93, 1994/95, 1998/99, 2001/02
• Northern Ireland Intermediate League Cup: 7
  • 1988/89, 1989/90, 1991/92, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2001/02
• Seamus Mallon Cup: 1
  • 2005/06

See also

• Irish League Forums Supporters Group

External links

• Official Club website
• DonegalCeltic.net - Recently updated Unofficial News, Info, Fixtures & Results
• DC Ladies
• Irish Football Club Project
• Carnegie Premier League 2007-08 Final Table

References

1. ^ Northern Ireland Assembly Answer to Written Question AQW1178/11