Cockhill Celtic F.C.
| Full name | Cockhill Celtic Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1970 |
| Ground | Charlie O'Donnell Sports Grounds |
| Capacity | Unknown |
| Chairman | Joe McLaughlin |
| Manager | Gavin Cullen |
| League | Ulster Senior League |
| 2011 | 1st |
Cockhill Celtic Football Club is a football club from Ireland currently competing in the Ulster Senior League. The club are based in Buncrana. Cockhill Celtic play their home games at Charlie O'Donnell Sports Grounds.
The club was founded in 1970 by a group of local men who would meet up most evenings to play a game of football. The men would meet in Swan's Park, Buncrana were it fulfilled the old football cliché 'Jumpers for Goalposts'. The team, due to their location, was known as Westbrook Celtic, later to become Cockhill Celtic
The first meeting of Westbrook Celtic was held on 28 October 1970 and the first committee was elected at this meeting
In the early years, the club played their matches at the 'Coneyburrow' pitch in the 'Castle Grounds', Buncrana. The training, for around 20 members, was held in the Paris Hall, Desertegney (~5 miles away). The club initially competed in both the Inishowen Football League as well as the Derry & District League. The 1973/74 Season seen the club have its first success on the pitch, when they gained promotion to the 1st Division of the D&D League, promotion was gained by winning their section undefeated although they were beat in the final. The club competed in the D&D for four years
Westbrook Celtic encountered a problem, around this time, relating to the availability of the pitch in Buncrana. The late Mr. Hugh O'Donnell, a local Cockhill man, approached the club and offered the use of a field, in Cockhill, as a football pitch. The club accepted this offer and still use this pitch, known as 'O'Donnell's Holm', to the present day. The Club, during this period, had now become firmly rooted in Cockhill and thus the name change from Westbrook Celtic to Cockhill Celtic came about. The older club members agree that the football club grew from strength to strength after the change of name and location
In 1976 the late Mr. Jim Sheridan (a teacher at St. Mary's NS, Cockhill) formed Cockhill Youth Club. The 'Youth Club' was formed with the assistance of a group of parents from the area and operated on a Friday night in the National School building. School desks had to be removed on the Friday evening to accommodate the youth club's activities. A snooker table was set up in the hall and the partitions, which defined the classrooms, were pushed back to create larger activity rooms. Table tennis and darts were in one room, with board games and computer games in the other. Around forty children attended the 'Youth Club' at this time. Competitions took place for all activities and there was a prize giving night, with an annual disco, held at the end of each year
Meanwhile, Cockhill Celtic FC was going from strength to strength. The club was now fielding teams at U13, U15 and U17 level in the Inishowen Youth League. The club thought the new youth set-up was vital to the growing community in the Cockhill area at this time. The new youth structure would also help produce future senior players for the club. This, allied with success of the men's team, made the future bright for Cockhill Celtic on the pitch
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