Islandmagee Football Club is a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

intermediate football club from

Islandmagee Islandmagee () is a peninsula and civil parish on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Larne and Whitehead. It is part of the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area and is a sparsely populated rur ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, and playing in the Premier Division of the

Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...

. The club plays at Wilbourne Park, Islandmagee. The home strip is red shirts, blue shorts, red socks, while the away strip is royal blue shirts, navy shorts and socks.

History

After formation there was a series of friendly fixtures before joining the Larne and District Junior League in season 1956–57. Then, in the 1957–58 season, their application to join the Northern Amateur Football League was successful. The club's first Amateur League game was in Division 1B on 17 August 1957, when they defeated local rivals Barn United 5–3. Five years later (1962–63), both clubs gained promotion to Division 1A, then the League's premier section. Islandmagee were promoted as runners-up. The following season (1966–67), they were Border Cup winners, defeating Albert Foundry 1–0 in the final. Three out of the next four years saw the club contest the final only to lose out to RUC, Ards Rangers and Chimney Corner. The club's most successful season was in 1967–68 when, despite losing 3–1 to Chimney Corner in the Border Cup final, they became Division 1A champions with an undefeated run taking 58 points out of a possible 60. This achievement had never been done before and will not be equalled again as the number of teams in the league have been reduced to 14 instead of 16. Relegation in the mid-1970s brought lean times on the playing front, but in 1984–85, they managed to regain their premier section status being promoted to 1A with champions Civil Service. Relegation followed a year later, however, and almost a decade passed before they again put in a meaningful challenge. In season 1993–94, promotion to the premier section was denied them by Crumlin United in a play-off for runners-up place. 1st Shankill N.I.S.C. defeated them by three goals to one in the 1994–95 Border Cup decider, but a spirited rally in the second half of the season saw the team clinch promotion to the Premier Section as runners-up to Barn United. A year later, they again contested the Border Cup final, this time against Coagh United, who defeated them by four goals to two on penalties after a 3–3 draw. They once again reached the Border Cup final in season 1998–99, but this time they brought silverware to the club for the first time since 1968 when they defeated the much fancied Killyleagh Youth by three goals to one. Season 1999–00 saw Islandmagee relegated to Division 1A, but thanks to new management and virtually a whole new team, the stay below was short lived, as the Islanders bounced straight back up into the Premier section. The 2003–04 season was certainly the most successful under manager Graham McConnell, with the team reaching the semi-finals of the Border Regiment and Steel & Sons cups, only to be defeated on both occasions by a strong Killyleagh side, which coincidentally knocked the team out of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

. This Steel & Sons Cup run was particularly unique as club secretary, Crawford Wilson, was chairman of that very competition. The run in the Steel & Sons presented the club with an opportunity to compete in the last 16 of the

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

, where they met Linfield at Windsor Park. Despite holding the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

outfit for 57 minutes, the game ended in a 4–0 defeat.

Honours

Intermediate honours

: 1 **1967–68 * Clarence Cup: 1 **2007–08 * Border Cup: 2 **1963–64, 1998–99

Website

An official Islandmagee FC website which opened in 2003 closed in October 2009 after Yahoo GeoCities closed. This was found at www.islandmageefc.vze.com . A new website is planned for the future.

References

External links

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