Coleraine Football Club is a semi-professional

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 ...

football club, playing in the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the North ...

, the highest level of the Irish League. The club, founded in 1927, hails from

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

, County Londonderry and plays its home matches at The Showgrounds. Club colours are blue and white. The club won the Irish League title once (in 1973–74) and the

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. I ...

on six occasions, most recently in 2017–18. They are also the only Irish League club to have won two successive all-Ireland competitions, lifting the Blaxnit Cup in 1969 and 1970. The club share a rivalry with Ballymena United.

History

The original Coleraine Football Club was founded in June 1927 originally called Coleraine FC at a meeting in the local Orange hall. The club was formed out of a merger between two local sides: Coleraine Olympic and Coleraine Alexandra with John McCandless being one of the founders and original player / manager for the club. The original club colours were all white, hence the club's original nickname – the Lilywhites. The club secured its first trophy in the 1931–32 season, defeating Ballymena United 3–0 at

Solitude Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think, or rest without dist ...

to win the Gold Cup. In 1948, Coleraine reached its first

final, going down 3–0 to Linfield. 1953 brought another appearance in the final and another defeat, again to Linfield, this time by five goals to nil. The 1950s saw the City Cup won for the first time (1953–54) and a second triumph in the Gold Cup (1958). In 1961, chairman Jack Doherty persuaded Bertie Peacock to sign for Coleraine after he left Celtic. It would prove to be one of the most important transfers in the club's history. In 1965, Coleraine won the

for the first time, defeating Glenavon 2–1 at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual re ...

, with goals from Shaun Dunlop and Derek Irwin. Coleraine thus gained its first experience of European football, against

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

outfit Dynamo Kiev. Coleraine also won the first two Blaxnit all-Ireland cups in 1969 and 1970. Coleraine faced Kilmarnock in the 1970

Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (n ...

, and after a 1–1 draw in the first leg, the Bannsiders pulled off an historic 3–2 victory thanks to a Des Dickson hat-trick. In 1972, the

was won again, this time by beating

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

2–1, with goals from Des Dickson and

Ivan Murray Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgar ...

. The

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracu ...

of the Gibson Cup was finally captured in 1974. Under the management of Bertie Peacock, the squad consisting of the likes of Des Dickson, Johnny McCurdy, Ivan Murray, Michael Guy and Vince Magee clinched the title ahead of

. Bertie Peacock resigned in 1974 and Ivan Murray and Johnny McCurdy took over the reins. Murray continued as manager until 1978 and during his spell in charge the

was won twice more – both times against Linfield. In 1975, it took three games before a goal from Jim "Chang" Smith in the second replay proved decisive. The 1977 victory was more emphatic with Liam Beckett, Des Dickson, Frankie Moffatt and Michael Guy scoring to give Coleraine a 4–1 victory. It was to be the club's last major trophy for 26 years. In the 1980s there were two more cup finals, in 1982 and 1986, ending in defeats to Linfield and Glentoran respectively. For three seasons in a row in the mid-1980s the club finished second in the league behind Linfield, but in the first part of the 1990s Coleraine struggled. In 1995 they dropped into the First Division. Under

Kenny Shiels Kenny Shiels (born 27 April 1956 in Magherafelt)Marshall Gillespie, ''The Northern Ireland Football Yearbook 1996/97'', UTV Books, 1996, p. 59 is a former Northern Irish football player and manager, who is currently the manager of the Northern I ...

, Coleraine won the inaugural First Division title and in its first season back in the top flight, won the Ulster Cup and came agonisingly close to the title, being pipped late on by

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. After a poor start to the 1999–00 season, Shiels resigned and was replaced by Marty Quinn, who rallied the team to finish second in the league behind Linfield and reach the Irish Cup semi-finals and the Coca-Cola Cup final. The next 2 seasons saw Coleraine finish fourth both times – potential title challenges being ruined by inconsistency. In 2002–03, Coleraine ended the season in third place and reached their first Irish Cup Final since 1986. In the final, they faced Glentoran as massive underdogs as the east Belfast side were looking to complete a clean sweep of trophies. After an early strike from

Gareth McAuley Gareth Gerald McAuley ( ; born 5 December 1979) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He represented Northern Ireland at senior international level, being capped on 80 occasions and scoring nine times ...

was harshly ruled out, Coleraine kept going and scored through

Jody Tolan Jody Tolan (born 5 October 1977) is a Northern Irish former semi-professional footballer. Playing career Cliftonville Tolan began playing for Cliftonville in the middle of the 1990s, making his Irish League debut against Coleraine in November ...

. Despite increasing Glentoran pressure, Coleraine held on and the trophy famine was over. The following season saw the club reach the Irish Cup final again, but this time it was Glentoran who emerged triumphant. The club's well-publicised financial problems had already overshadowed much of the 2003–04 season (despite a substantial donation from ''Cold Feet'' actor and Coleraine fan

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994 ...

) and at its end the club was forced to operate on a reduced budget, with several top players leaving. Despite this a top six finish was still achieved. The summer of 2005 saw more budget cuts and several big names leaving the Showgrounds, but this time the main concern for fans was the very future of the club. In August, the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ...

filed for a winding-up order against Coleraine due to debts of £1.3 million. The Friends of Coleraine, worked tirelessly to persuade the High Court to postpone the hearing to allow them to put together a business plan to show that the club could be viably run. The club were liquidated on 9 August 2006 after they were allowed to enter administration, and a steering committee was set up to run the new club Coleraine FC Ltd. The club went on to defeat

Institute An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

to win the

North West Senior Cup The North West Senior Cup or North West Cup is a senior football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North West of Ireland Football Association. Senior and intermediate teams from the North West FA's jurisdiction (which covers County Lond ...

for the 1st time. The club were incredibly allowed to stay in the Premier League and survival was ensured on the pitch, the Friends of Coleraine formally took control of the club and appointed a new board. In 2008 the club reached the Irish Cup final, but lost 2–1 to Linfield. Manager Marty Quinn resigned after that game and his successor, former assistant David Platt, led Coleraine to a fifth-place finish in his first season in charge. On 27 March 2010, Coleraine narrowly lost on penalties against Glentoran in the final of the Co-Operative Insurance Cup. They also lost out to Linfield in the semi-finals of the Irish Cup. Despite possessing the two top goalscorers in the league, including 41 goal Rory Patterson, Coleraine could only finish the season in seventh. Despite the arrival of much-travelled English striker

Leon Knight Leon Leroy Knight (born 16 September 1982) is an English footballer who plays as a striker. A journeyman player, he has played for fifteen different clubs spanning five countries; England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Greece. Having b ...

, inconsistent form throughout the first half of the 2010–11 season resulted in manager David Platt being sacked at the start of February. His replacement, Oran Kearney revitalised a struggling team and they climbed the table rapidly, again ending up seventh. An overhaul of the squad over the summer saw Kearney put his mark on the club and the improvement shown in his first four months in charge then continued, with Coleraine performing well in the league and reaching the final of the IRN-BRU League Cup. In 2012–13 Coleraine finished the season in 6th place after making the split five games previously. In the 2015–16 season, after many average seasons, the Bannsiders hit title winning form, going on a winning run with it being halted after a while by Linfield. They started to fall away after that result, being knocked out of the

by 3–1 by

and finished in 5th place and lost the Europa League Play-off by 2–1 to Glentoran. The 2016–2017 was a fairly good one for the Bannsiders with them currently sitting an impressive 3rd in the table and they also booked their place in the 2017 Irish Cup Final by beating Glenavon 2–1 to reach their first final in nine years, where they lost 3–0 to the double winners Linfield. At the start of the 2017/18 season 'The Bannsiders' made a few new signings. Josh Carson, who came from Linfield originally playing for York City and Ipswich Town, signed for Coleraine as well as Aaron Traynor and Stephen O'Donnell from Warrenpoint Town and Institute respectively. They started their pre-season off well by beating Bangor City 3–1. They were then defeated in the Europa League first round qualifier by Haugesund from Norway. During the 2017/18 season, the Bannsiders went on an amazing run, losing once only to Linfield in the

, finally finishing in second place, two points behind Crusaders. Although Coleraine did not attain the title, a sixth Irish Cup triumph was secured when they defeated Cliftonville in the final of that competition in May, thanks to the heroics of starlet Aaron Burns. Oran Kearney left the club to take over at

SPFL Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side St. Mirren in September 2018, and was replaced by Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree, who guided Coleraine to a sixth-place finish and an Irish Cup semi-final. Following a failure to win the Europa League playoffs, McAree was sacked on 10 May 2019, having only been in charge for eight months. Kearney departed St. Mirren via mutual agreement to rejoin Coleraine as manager on 3 July 2019, citing family reasons as the main reason for leaving the Scottish side. Kearney settled back into his role as manager of Coleraine for a second spell. The summer transfer window of 19/20 caused some controversy with Kearney selling star striker Jamie McGonigle to Crusaders for £50,000, while Aaron Burns was also allowed to leave for free. Despite losing two key players, Coleraine started the season well, recording notable victories over reigning Champions and runners ups, Linfield and Ballymena respectively. With the club involved in a five way title race, the club opted to bolster their squad in the January window with the signing of Nixon from Carrick Rangers. In February 2020, Coleraine beat Crusaders 2-1 in the Bet McLean League Cup final to win the first major trophy of the season, with another two still up for grabs. Coleraine were second four points behind Linfield and in an Irish Cup semi-final until the season was stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Coleraine still qualified for the 2020

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

Qualifiers and were drawn against Slovenian champions NK Maribor, who played the likes of Chelsea and Sevilla in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

a few years previous. Despite being massive underdogs, Coleraine won the game on penalties, sending them through to the second qualifying round, having defeated La Fiorita in the round previous to Maribor. The Bannsiders were drawn at home to

side Motherwell and having been 2-0 down at half time, brought the game back to 2-2 and managed to hold 10-man Motherwell off until penalties, but the Scottish side progressed through thanks to goalkeeper Trevor Carson's heroics in the penalty shootout.

European record

Overview

Matches

UEFA ranking

Current squad

On loan

Non-playing staff

*President: Hugh Wade *Honorary Vice President: Victor Hunter & Hunter McClelland *Chairman: Colin McKendry *Vice Chairman: Raymond Smyth *General Manager: Stevie McCann *Matchday Secretary: Hunter McClelland *Chaplain: Reverend Robert McMullan *Assistant Manager: William Murphy *Goalkeeping Coach: Michael Doherty *First Team Coach: Trevor McKendry *First Team Coach: Steven Douglas *Kit Manager: Darrell Coyles *Strength & Conditioning Coach: Chris Gregg *Senior Academy Director: Ollie Mullan *Junior Academy Director:David Platt *Ladies Manager:Alison Nicholl *Treasurer: Colin McKendry

Managerial history

* Jock McIntyre (1929 – 1931) *

Willie Buchan William Ralston Murray Buchan (17 October 1914 – 6 July 2003) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He played for Celtic, Blackpool, Hull City, Gateshead, Coleraine and East Stirlingshire. Buchan signed professional forms ...

(1953 – 1954) * Bertie Peacock (1961-1974) *Ivan Murray/Johnny McCurdy (1974-1978) * Des Dickson (July 1981 – June 1983) *

* Jim Platt (1985–1991) * Marty Quinn (Oct 1999 – May 8, 2008) *David Platt (2008 - 2011) * Aidy McLaughlin ''(interim)'' (30 Jan 2011 – 5 Feb 2011) * Oran Kearney (5 Feb 2011 – 6 Sep 2018) * Rodney McAree (14 Sep 2018 – 10 May 2019) * Oran Kearney (3 July 2019 – )

Honours

Senior honours

* Irish League: 1 ** 1973–74 *

: 6 ** 1964–65, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1976–77, 2002–03, 2017–18 *

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the No ...

: 2 ** 1987–88, 2019–20 * City Cup: 2 **1953–54, 1968–69 * Gold Cup: 4 **1932, 1958, 1969, 1975 * Ulster Cup: 8 **1965–66, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1996–97 * Top Four Cup **1968–69 *

: 23 **1952–53†, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58 (shared), 1958–59, 1960–61, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2012–13 * Irish League First Division: 1 **1995–96 * Blaxnit Cup: 2 **1968–69, 1969–70 *

Irish News Cup The Irish News Cup was a "north-south" association football competition in Ireland involving teams from the Irish League and League of Ireland mostly located in the north-west of the island. It is thus not counted among the major all-Ireland cup ...

: 1 **1995–96 † Won by Coleraine Reserves

Intermediate honours

* Irish Intermediate Cup: 2 **1964–65†, 1968–69† * George Wilson Cup: 4 **1954–55†, 1985–86†, 1991–92†, 1995–96† *

Craig Memorial Cup The Craig Memorial Cup, also known as the William Craig Memorial Cup is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North West of Ireland Football Association. The competition culminates in the final which has traditional ...

: 3 **1984–85†, 1986–87†, 2013–14† † Won by Coleraine Reserves

References

External links

Official Website

{{Authority control Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1927 Coleraine NIFL Premiership clubs Association football clubs in County Londonderry 1927 establishments in Northern Ireland