Abbey Villa Football Club is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

intermediate football club currently playing in Division 1A of the Northern Amateur Football League. The club was formed in 1955 as Millisle United. The team currently play their home matches at Adams Park on Abbey Road, Millisle. Under the management of Jonathan Busby, Villa field three adult men's teams . As well as the first team, there is a second team playing in the NAFL Division 3C, third team in the Down Area League Division 1a and a fourth team in third team in the Down Area League Division 2A. They also have a strong youth system with over a dozen teams and very dedicated team of youth coaches.

Club history

The club was formed in 1955 by founding members Thomas Waugh (known locally as the unofficial mayor of Millisle) and Lennie Bennett along with his brothers Nelson, Tom, Raymond and Norman. The team, then known as Millisle United played its first season in the Cardy League. The following season they played in the Irish Churches League under the name of Millisle Presbyterian. In 1962, Thomas Waugh followed the advice of fellow club chairman Herbie Johnstone and applied to join the Northern Amateur Football League. Abbey Villa remained in the Junior section of the NAFL until their memorable season of 1992–93. The club had just moved into their new grounds at Adams Park (named after then manager Brian Adams) and on its debut season saw the club win Division 1B by 11 points and lift the

Border Regiment Cup Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

after a 5–0 win in the final over Drumaness Mills. The club also had a successful

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

run under Adams in 1995–96 reaching the last 16 before being knocked out by

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

. Under the management of Graham and Mark Bailie, they repeated their Cup run. Villa reached the Irish Cup 2007–08 they were knocked out of the sixth round after a narrow 1–0 defeat to

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football Club is an intermediate football club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal Celtic Park. Club co ...

. They also won the prestigious Border Regiment Cup, defeating Comber Rec 3-2 in the final. They finished the 2008–09 on 70 points, 15 points ahead of their nearest rivals, to claim the Division 1A title for the first time in club history and therefore gained promotion to the Premier Division.

Honours

Intermediate honours

Clarence Cup Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a loca ...

: 1 **1990–91 *

Border Cup The Border Cup was an association football cup competition for clubs in the Scottish Borders. The competition was founded in 1890 and was last competed for in the 1955–56 season. Format The competition was a knock-out tournament contested by th ...

: 2 **1992–93, 2007–08

External links

Abbey Villa Official Club website

nifootball.co.uk
- (For fixtures, results and tables of all Northern Ireland amateur football leagues) Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1955 Association football clubs in County Down Northern Amateur Football League clubs 1955 establishments in Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-footyclub-stub