Dungannon Swifts F.C.

Dungannon Swifts
Full name Dungannon Swifts Football Club
Nickname(s) The Swifts
Founded 1949
Ground Stangmore Park
(Capacity: 5,000 (300 seated)
Chairman Jarlath Faloon
Manager Rodney McAree
League IFA Premiership
2010/11 8th
Home colours
Away colours

Dungannon Swifts F.C. is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the IFA Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the Irish League First Division in 1997. Dungannon earned promotion from Irish League First Division to the Premier Division in the 2002/03 season.

The Swifts hail from Dungannon, County Tyrone and plays their home matches at Stangmore Park. Club colours are royal blue with white trim (home strip) and yellow with a red trim (away strip).

Dungannon have a mentality of developing future players from their youth system and deploying them into the first team at a relatively young age. The most recent young talent to be developed by Dungannon Swifts was local Niall McGinn who signed for full time Derry City, in the League of Ireland, on 29 January 2008. Niall later joined Celtic as a result of his progress. The clubs' current manager is Rodney McAree, after the resignation of Dixie Robinson on 13 December 2011.

Contents

Club history

Club formation

The history of Dungannon Swifts Football Club began in 1949 with the formation of the club. The names of the founder committee members include Thomas Neill, Jimmy Sands, Maurice Graham, Alfred Burnett, Albert Kelly, George Richards, Albert Watt, Joe Meldrum, Jack Fowler, John Martin and Ben Clarke.

The early years

In the 1949-50 season, the Swifts managed a notable feat when they entered and won the Mid Ulster Shield on their first attempt. The following season, the Swifts made their entry into the Mid Ulster League and haven't looked back since. In the same season they made it through to the Alexander Cup, Foster Cup and Mid Ulster Shield where they landed runners up in each.

Promotion to B Division

After twenty years in the Mid Ulster League, in 1972 the Swifts were promoted to the Irish League B Division where they managed a comfortable 4th spot in their first season.

Stangmore Park

1975 saw Stangmore Park become the official home of the Dungannon Swifts Football Club when they bought the land from Courtaulds Ltd and erected a temporary wooden Social Club. The stadium holds around 3,000 people

Continued success

In the 1980-81 season the team had one of their most successful years ever and were crowned runners up in the B Division championship. The Swifts continued to show their dominance in the Bob Radcliffe Cup over the years but the 1987-88 season showed their skills in the senior Mid-Ulster Cup when they defeated Glenavon 2-1 to bring the trophy to Stangmore Park.

In August 1982, Dungannon Swifts officially unveiled their brand new club house. The purpose built construction replaced the old wooden club house and would provide an ideal environment for club and social affairs such as bingo, dances and dinners.

Senior status

In 1997, Dungannon Swifts achieved senior status on its election to the Irish League First Division.

Intertoto Cup

The club qualified for its first European games by finishing 4th in the Irish Premier League. They played Icelandic club Keflavík in the Intertoto Cup. However, they lost 4-1 to Keflavík and could not make up in the home game, leading to elimination in the very first stage of the Intertoto tournament.

Setanta Cup

Dungannon Swifts qualified for the Setanta Cup by finishing 4th in the Irish Premier League during the 2004/05 season. In the Setanta Cup following, Dungannon was playing in a group with Cork City, Drogheda United and Portadown and failed to qualify for the semi-finals as Cork and Drogheda grabbed the top two places. Drogheda United would later win the tournament, beating Cork City in the final.

Honours

Senior honours

Intermediate honours

† Won by reserve team

Junior honours

Current squad

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
1 GK Niall Morgan
2 DF Ryan Mullan
3 DF Darren Murphy
4 DF Johnny Montgomery
5 DF Adam McMinn
6 MF Terry Fitzpatrick
7
8 FW Michael Funston
9 FW Shea Campbell
10 FW Michael Ward
11 MF Shea McGerrigan
12 MF Aidan Forker
13 DF
14 Conor Forker
15 DF Dermot McCaffrey
No. Position Player
16 MF Michael McKerr
17 MF PJ Lavery
18 DF Philip Donnelly
19 FW Craig McLean
20 DF Stefan Lavery
21
22 MF Ryan O'Neill
23 MF Dale Noble
24 MF Johnny Topley
25 Tom Baldwin
26 MF Joe McCready
27 FW Liam Donnelly
FW Ryan Harpur
DF JP Gallagher
MF Emmet Friars
MF Sean Frairs
MF Marc Brolly

Club staff

Current Role Name
President David Flack
Chairman Joe McAree
Treasurer Paula Gallagher
Secretary Simon Graham
Bar Manager Michelle Hegarty
Youth Development Officer Rodney McAree
General Manager Joe McAree

Notable former players

References

  1. ^ RTE

Daniel Beaddie

External links