Omagh Town F.C.
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| Omagh Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Omagh Town Football and Athletic Club |
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| Nickname(s) | "The Town" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | St. Julian's Road, Omagh, County Tyrone |
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| Capacity | 5000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Keith Waldron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Paul Kee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Irish Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004/05 | 16th (relegated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Omagh Town F.C. was a Northern Ireland football club playing in the Irish Football League. The club, formed in 1962, hailed from Omagh, County Tyrone and played their home matches at St. Julians Road Stadium. Club colours were red, black, and white and they went by the nickname "The Town". On 7 June 2005 the club announced that they had folded after failing to overcome financial problems.
[edit] History
Omagh Town Football and Athletic Club was formed in August 1962 by Aines McGeehan, who wanted to start a team for young players from the Derry Road area of the town of Omagh. The team was called Omagh Celtic Football Club and started off with maroon shirts with blue shorts. The team with its working class members (Catholic and Protestant) played at Quarry Field Mullaghmena in Omagh.
In 1969 the club changed its name to Omagh Town Football and Athletic Club and also changed their accommodation to the Military Holm for three years, moving to The Showgrounds afterwards. Following 1974 the kit also changed again, this time to white shirts and black shorts. This combination would change several more time before the club finally settled on a combination of red, black, and white.
In 1990 Omagh Town moved to St Julian's Road, a site that was a council dump. Omagh leased the land and developed a football stadium. The stadium had a natural grass pitch, with a capacity of 5000 with 30 VIP places, 250 covered seats, 3220 covered standing places and 1500 uncovered standing places.
Supporters of Omagh Town called the club "The Town". The club also supported darts, women's football and poolmembers. In total the club had about 470 members, of which 180 were youth members. Support for the club derived mainly from the towns of Omagh, Castlederg, Dromore and Ballygawley. Omagh Town's main rivalry was with north-west derby rivals Coleraine FC as well as with Glentoran FC.
The club were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in the season 1990/1991 and would remain in the top flight for the next five years. In 1994/1995, a change in makeup of the league, dropping the number of teams in the top flight to 8, caused Omagh to be relegated after finishing 9th. Though by the 1997/1998 season Omagh returned to the top flight after the league increased the number of top flight teams. Omagh would remain in the Premier Division for the next two years finishing 9th and 10th respectively. Since the 2000/2001 season Omagh Town has been in the Premier division, and has met with relative success on the pitch.
Although the club was in the top flight for the past several years, attendance was still low with most matches averaging about 200 people.
On 7 June 2005 the club announced that it had folded after failing to overcome financial problems. Omagh was already struggling financially before the team was relegated from the Irish Premier League in April. The club said the drop from the top flight and the recent closure of its social club were the two major factors behind the decision to fold.
[edit] Honours
- Irish First Division: 1
- 1999/00
