Derry Celtic (Northern Ireland)
Northern
Ireland was embroiled in football culture way before the 20th
century, and there were numerous clubs founded in the late 19th
century, One of those clubs was Derry Celtic FC, however they were not
originally called that. Here is their story, a rather controversial one as you
can imagine,
Founded in 1890
as St Columb’s Hall and then changing their name for the first time in 1893,
adding the ‘Celtic’ to their name, before reverting to the Derry Celtic FC in
1899, were the primary football club in the city of Derry at the time. In their
early days, as St Columb’s Hall, they had relative success, reaching the Irish
Cup final in the 1897-98 season.
Before that
however, they first entered the Irish Cup in 1890, drawing Buncrana in the
first round. The tie was never played and St Columb’s Hall were awarded the
walkover and went into the second round to face Young Ireland. They won their
first ever game in the competition, 4-2, away from home to progress to the third
round in which they received another walkover when Rock FC failed to assemble a
side to play them. However, they weren’t as lucky in the fourth round, were
they met a strong Ulster FC side, who hammered St Columb’s, 7-0. Ulster went
onto to lose the final to Linfield, who won their first ever Irish Cup.
The season
after saw the club only reach the second round, after beating Clooney Park,
2-0, in the first round, they were knocked out by Rosemount, 5-2, in the second
round. It wouldn’t be until the 1897-98 edition of the cup that they would
finally reach the final. Now known as St Columb’s Hall Celtic, they defeated St
Columb’s Court, 2-0, in the first round. An easy second round win followed when
they smashed Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 7-1. A much closer encounter
followed in the third round when they narrowly beat Derry Hibernians, 2-1, at
the Brandywell stadium. They then faced Dublin side, Bohemians FC in the
semi-final, in a game they won 1-0. It meant they would play four-time
champions of the Irish Cup, Linfield, in the final. Unfortunately, the Derry
side could not stop the Belfast club make it five titles, as Linfield ran out
2-0 winners to lift the trophy.
Two years later
the club entered the Irish League for the first time in the 1900-01 season, now
named Derry Celtic, and wearing the distinguished green and white hooped
jerseys. It was a terrible debut season as the failed to win any of their 10
games in a six-club league. Their only decent result came against Cliftonville,
when they drew, 3-3. Derry Celtic were the only club to come from outside of
Belfast that season.
The 1901-02
season saw the league extended to eight clubs, and Derry Celtic found
themselves finishing 5th, winning five of their fourteen matches.
They finished 5th the following season, which saw Bohemians FC from
Dublin join the league. However, the 1903-04 season saw the club fall to 7th
place. Things didn’t improve in the league, as a 7th place finish
followed, with the club only finishing above Bohemians FC that season. And so
the poor results continued in both the league and the cup, with the club never
making any impression in either competition, until they left the Irish League
to join up with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and switch sports in
1913. They were eventually replaced by Derry City in 1928.
Whilst Derry
City failed to make much of an impression on the national stage, they were the
strongest club side in Derry, winning multiple regional titles. They lifted the
Londonderry Cup/North West Senior Cup on nine occasions, dominating the
competition in the 1890’s. They also produced one Irish national team player in
Bernard Donaghey. He played for numerous clubs, including Hibernians and
Manchester United. He was an inside forward, as the position was known back
then and played for Derry Celtic on four different occasions. He made one cap
for the Irish national team, which was an All-Ireland national team at the
time. Bernard ‘Barney’ Donaghey died in the Battle of the Somme in World War I.
And so that is
the short story of one of Northern Ireland’s Forgotten Football Club’s. Would a
Derry Celtic survive today? Would they rival Derry City? Would they play in the
Irish National League or the League of Ireland? Who knows, and we probably never
will