Portstewart Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club from

Portstewart Portstewart () is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,003 people in the 2011 Census. It is a seaside resort neighbouring Portrush. Its harbour and scenic coastal paths form an Atlantic promenade leadin ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulste ...

. The club was founded in 1968 and currently plays in the

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League is the third division of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and the highest intermediate division in Northern Ireland, occupying level three in ...

. The club's main colours are sky blue and navy. Portstewart are nicknamed "The Seahawks". Portstewart Reserves play in the Coleraine and District Morning League. In 2019, Portstewart introduced an Under 20s team, to play in the Championship/PIL Development League.

History

Although there are records of teams playing under the name of

as far back as 1926, Portstewart Football Club was founded in 1968, to play in the Castlerock and Coleraine District League afternoon section. Led by Tony McKeague, Portstewart won the league and the Doherty Cup in their debut season. The next season the club progressed into the North West League Division 2 and earned promotion to the North West Division 1. Portstewart took another stride forward in 1979, when they applied to join the Northern Ireland Intermediate League (NIIL). The most defining moment in the club's history came when they appointed Frankie Moffatt, for the first of two spells, as manager in 1984. Moffatt delivered the league title in his first year in charge and followed this up with success in the NIIL Challenge Cup and NIIL League Cup. Following spells at Ballymoney United and then

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 ...

, Moffatt returned as manager in 1991. Portstewart created history in 1994, when they defeated Limavady Utd 1–0 in the William Youngers Intermediate Cup final, becoming the first junior team in over 100 years of the competition to lift the trophy. In 2003, Portstewart were accepted into newly created Irish league Division 2. Moffatt's decision to step down as manager resulted in his assistant Trevor McKendry taking charge of team affairs, and under his leadership Portstewart continued to grow. McKendry led the team to the North West Cup final in 2004 when they were narrowly defeated by

Tobermore United Tobermore United Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Ireland, Northern Irish football (soccer), football club playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. History The club, founded in 1965, is based in Tobermore, near Magherafelt, C ...

. In the 2005/06 season, when Portstewart gained promotion to second tier of Irish League football for the first time in the club's history. Portstewart won the 2007/08

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 ...

beating Tobermore United, 2–1. In 2016, the club was relegated from the

Northern Ireland Football League The Northern Ireland Football League (commonly abbreviated to NIFL), known historically, and still colloquially, as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the ...

, but was promoted back after only one season. The 2016/17 season saw Portstewart win the

Northern Ireland Intermediate League The Northern Ireland Intermediate League is an amateur intermediate league based in the north-west region of Northern Ireland. As one of the leagues in the 4th tier of Northern Irish football, the league champions can be promoted to the NIFL Prem ...

, Intermediate Challenge Cup and Intermediate League Cup. The club also reached the fifth round of 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 ...

where they got defeated by

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Ga ...

. The 2017/18 season, saw Portstewart get to the final of

, losing 2–1 to

Maiden City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern ...

. On 17 July 2018, the club announced the resignation of long-serving manager and former captain, Gary Taylor. 3 days later, Johnny Law was appointed as the new manager. During the 2018/19 season, a match between Portstewart and Sport & Leisure Swifts was abandoned after 70 minutes when a fan joined a "mass brawl" between players and coaches. Further controversy followed when Portstewart lost their place in the

Irish Intermediate Cup The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel. The cur ...

final, following a protest from Queen's University about the eligibility of one of Portstewart's players. Portstewart beat Moyola Park 1–0, to win the 2019

. The 2019/20 season was disrupted in March by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, with the club still unbeaten in the league and sitting 2nd after 14 games.

Stadium

The club's home ground, Mullaghacall, was officially opened in 1997 by

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He wa ...

MBE. A revamp in the Irish league saw a number of clubs demoted in 2008 into an interim league until ground improvements were completed. A new stand was built at Mullaghacall in 2009 and the club once again entered into the reformed Irish league. Mullaghacall is a regular host of the

SuperCupNI SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area o ...

Current squad

Honours

Intermediate honours

: 1 **1993–94 * IFA Intermediate Second Division: 1 **2005–06 *

: 4 **1985–86, 2007–08, 2019–20, 2021-22 *

: 2 **1984–85, 2016–17 * Intermediate Challenge Cup: 1 **2016–17 * Intermediate League Cup: 1 **2016–17

External links

nifootball.co.uk (fixtures, results and tables of all leagues)

References

Association football clubs established in 1968 Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in County Londonderry 1968 establishments in Northern Ireland NIFL Premier Intermediate League clubs FC {{coord, 55, 10, 50.9, N, 6, 42, 42.7, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title