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| Club History & Achievements | |
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| Football in Limavady goes back a long time and Limavady United is a Club with a lot of tradition and History – in fact 120 years. Their beginnings go back to the mid 1870’s when a group of men from the local Cricket Club decided to form an amateur football club to fill in the cold dark winter months when Cricket was out of the question. They formed the Limavady Alexander Football Club. The parent Cricket Club was called Alexander after their main benefactor John Alexander who had died in 1872. Originally the Cricket Club was called Newtownlimavady C.C, as the town had been known by this name until October 1875 when it became simply, Limavady. This Cricket Club, playing as Limavady, were the first winners of the Northwest Senior Cricket Club in the year 1888 and included in their ranks several footballers notably R.J and J.Sherrard, Tom Mc Clean, James Allen and William Gault.
Like all great centenarians Limavady Football Club is steeped in long ago stories, local folklore and many triumphs and crises including a courtcase involving the Irish Football Association and their Irish Challenge Cup. Not many local folk may know or realise that when the the Irish Football Association was formed on 18th November 1880 the Limavady Club was one of the seven Founder members, the others being Oldpark Knock, Distillery, Moyola Park, Cliftonville and Avoniel. One of the first steps taken by thes e Clubs was to establish the Irish Challenge Cup Competition and to purchase a Cup at a cost of over £55. The Limavady Alexandra team played in the first ever round of the Cup in Season 1880/81. In the Semi – finals Limavady were drawn against Moyola Park at Castledawson. It was a robust match and a Limavady player received a broken leg. The IFA at the time made a grant of £1 to Limavady in compensation for the players injury. In Season 1882/83 Limavady town had two football teams with the formation of Limavady Wanderers. As luck would have it they were drawn together in the first round of the Irish Cup. Alexander won this local Derby 5-2 margin at Scroggy Road grounds on 16th December 1882. Limavadyb Alexander reached the semis but lost to Cliftonville who had Home advantage. Cliftonville went on to win the Cup beating Ulster in the Final. Alexander and Wanderers held meetings to discuss the future as it was apparent that Limavady copuld not sustain or support two teams. The decision was taken to amalgamate as Limavady United Football Club and the team was registered with the IFA on 7th November 1884. Limavady reached the Irish Cup Final that Season 1884/85 by defeating Cliftonville 2-1. The Following week Ireland played Scotland at Hampden Park and included in the Irish team were Limavady players Joe Sherrard and Tom Mc Clean.
The Irish Cup Final of 1884/85 between Limavady Utd and Distillery took place at Ballynafeigh on 21st March 1885. Limavady lost the Final 3-0 but were seriously weakened by the loss, through injury, of Connolly Sherrard. No tribute to Limavady’s 100 plus years in football would ever be complete without mention of their 1886 trip to England where on Merseyside they defeated Everton by a 1-0 margin – the only Irish side ever to have achieved this distinction. Joe Sherrard, the player who hit the winning goal and earned the glory for Limavady will forever be part of the Club’s history. He was one of several Irish Internationals on the Limavady Team during that illustrious period for the Roeside Club. Others included Oliver Devine, Jim “Bummer” Allen, George Forbes, William Brown, Tom Mc Clean, James Rankin and William Sherrard ( brother of Joe). In 1885/86 Season Limavady reached the Irish Cup Final again. They
defeated YMCA in the Semi’s and for the second time Distillery
were their opponents after having beaten Dublin University in the
other Semi. The Final was played at Ballynafeigh on 27th March
1886 and by all accounts was a very rough match. Limavady had a
goal scored by Bob Douglas disallowed before Distillery scored to
give them a 1-0 victory. This incident eventually led to a new rule being incorporated into the IFA Handbook, it is still there today and covers the the use of improper language and incitement. In the 1880’s Limavady reached the Irish Cup Final twice and the Semis four times.
A new Team Linfield was now playing football. Linfield was composed of workers from the Linfield Spinning mills close to the Great Northern Railway and theyplayed on a pitch at the Bog Meadows, not far from their present home at Windsor Park. In 1888 Limavady were drawn to meet Linfield in a Cup Match to be played at Cliftonville. Limavady had by now obtained a new Centre Forward, Justin Mc Carthy. It is believed that he was the the son o the Royal Irish Constabulary District Inspector who was also Captain of the Limavady Cricket Team. Limavady won the match 3-1 ; Mc Carthy getting a Hatrick was the Limavady hero. Linfield protested, claiming that Limavady had played Arthur Gaussin an Irish International living in Magherafelt, on the grounds that he did not reside in Limavady. The appeal was successful and Linfield were awarded the game. The Season finished on a high note though with Limavady beating Kilrea in the Northwest Cup Fianl. The Cricket Club completed a memorable double for the town winning the Northwest Cup, with six footballers in their team. It is interesting to note that the Cricket Club had been renamed to Limavady. In January 1889 a Co.Derry Football Association team went to Scotland to play Partick Thistle, Airdrieonians and Hibernians. The Team and Reserves included 10 Limavady players. That same year Linfield played Nottingham Forest in the 1st Round of the English FA Cup. Yes, in those early days teams from Northern Ireland could enter the English FA Cup. They held Forest to a 2-2 Draw. In the replay at Ballynafeigh grounds Limavady’s Joe Sherrard ( now playing with Linfield) scored one of the Goals in Linfield’s 3-1 victory. Notts Forest protested and Linfield withdrew. In the North West Limavady took part in the North West Cup and met a famous old Club St Columb’s Court in six Finals between 1887 and 1898. Limavady Won 3 of the encounters, St Columb’s Court 2 and one Final was drawn. The original North West Cup was introduced in 1887 as a Trophy to be completed for over a period of 12 years. It was therefore fitting that in June 1898 at the AGM of the North West Football Association it was declared that the NW Senior Cup had been Won outright by Limavady as they had been the most successful Team over that period. The Cup was in the possession of Mr Martin Sherrard, Grandson of Joe Sherrard who played with Limavady, Linfield & Ireland. Martin recently presented the Cup to Limavady and it now takes pride of place in the Limavady Boardroom. A new NW Senior Cup ws presented to the NWFA by Mr L Hogg in 1898 and Limavady and other associated Clubs still play for that Cup. Limavady, from their foundation had played at Scroggy Road. This
ground was owned by the Alexander family who resided at Roe Park
House, now Radisson Hotel. When Samuel Alexander died in 1886 his
sister MrS Ritter inherited the Scroggy Rd football ground and the
local Town Hall was renamed the Alexandra Memorial Hall. In Season 1892/3 the Irish League was in its third Season and a team called Derry Olympic entered the League. Limavady, St Columb’s Court and St Columbs Hall supplied most of the players. Needless to say it was not a success as most of the various Clubs preferred to keep their own players. There is still a connection between today and those far off trail blazing years of the late 19th Century for both the North West FA and Limavady United. R.M Wilton who played for St Columbs Court in the 1891/2 NW Cup Final against Limavady was the father of Claude Wilton, current President of the NW Football Association. J.M Wilton also played in that Final. He later became Sir James Wilton, Mayor of Derry and President of the Irish Football Association for a number of years. Also in the St Columbs Court Team of that year was William Huffington later to become Treasurer of the NWFA. He was the Grandfather of Sydney Curry. Sydney was Manager of Limavady Utd for many years, leading the Club to IFA Junior and Intermediate Cup wins along with many Senior Cup wins. He also held the Secretary’s position and is currently the President and Historian of the Club. The period covered in this Histiory is of the early formative years, Limavdy being recognized as the Senior Provincial team of that era. In the Junior and Intermediate ranks Limavady won many honours including the Northwest Senior Cup, IFA Junior and Intermediate Cup wins and the Irish League B Division Championships.
Limavady eventually returned to Senior Football in 1997/98 in the 1st Division Championship and have since won promotion to the Irish Premiership under the guidance of Manager Eddie Seydak and Assistant Joe Doherty. Limavady, in their first Season of the Premiership 2004/05, finished a creditable 5th under the guidance of Tommy Wright and Jeff Montgomery. Honours Managers ( most recent ) |
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