ATHBOY CELTIC FC - 1982
BRIEF HISTORY
40th Anniversary Booklet - Official Opening of New Facilities 05/06/2022TO ATHBOY CELTIC FC
The present day Athboy Soccer Club was founded in 1982 under the Chairmanship of Eamon Mahon at “The Convent Grounds” on the Kildalkey Road. In their first year they played in Division 2 and were league champions that year and won promotion to Division 1. At that time there was just one senior team, and the club spent over £9,000 on the developing, draining and levelling the playing field to establish a proper pitch to play on for future years. The club progressed and stayed in Division 1 for 5 years and also established an Under 14 team which played in the North Eastern Counties School Boys League (NECSL). By 1989 the first team had dropped to Division 3 but were back up in Division 1 by 1993 and remained there until 2002.
In 1990 the school boys side of the club embarked on a sustained development and expansion and soon had teams established at age groups from Under 10 to Under 16 all playing in the NECSL. Some of these teams were competing at the highest level in the national cup competitions while other teams were competing in international competitions in Holland, France and the U.K. This expansion brought with it a number of growing pains, such as lack of finance and lack of training and playing facilities and also a shortage of managers and coaches. Coaching courses for managers were arranged through the F.A.I. and these were updated and re-sat on an ongoing basis.
In 2003 Athboy Celtic celebrated 21years of life in Athboy with a gala dinner. The guest of honour and speaker for that night was former Leeds United and England International and Ireland Manager, Jack Charlton. He entertained the 250 guests with his jovial recollections of his days as player and manager and an enjoyable night was had by all.
In 2014 it was decided to avail of the new facility being built in the Cowpark by ASNRC Ltd and MCC. The club were able to take possession of 2 6-a-side all-weather astro pitches at this site in 2018. It was a proud day for the Club in July 2019 when the Senior International Manager, Mick McCarthy, was on hand to officially open our new full size grass pitches at the Cowpark as Athboy Community Park.
The Club established its first girls' team in 2018 with teams entered at U8 & U10 under the managership of Colin O'Connor. We are proud to see these teams continue to develop with new teams continuing to be developed at other age groups.
The opening of our state of the art Changing Rooms in June 2022 was another huge milestone in the Club's development. We were particularly proud to have had Irish International and former underage Club player, Jamie McGrath on hand to perform the opening.
Today, as it enjoys its 40th anniversary, the Club has over 40 senior players and over 260 juvenile players. The senior teams compete in Division 2 & 4 of the NEFL. There are 21 juvenile teams competing in 11 different age categories (including 4 girls teams) in the NECSL. These teams compete in the following age groups: Youths, under 16s, under 14s, under 14 Girls, under 13s, under 12s, under 12s Girls, under 11s, under 10s, under 10 Girls, under 9s, under 8s, under 8 Girls, under 7s and our Mini-Kickers Academy.
