Nickname(s) The Seahawks Ground Portstewart | Manager Gary Taylor Founded 1968 | |
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Full name Portstewart Football Club League Northern Ireland Intermediate League 2015–16 NIFL Championship 2, 13th (relegated) Profiles | ||
Portstewart Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in the Northern Ireland Intermediate League. The club, founded in 1968, hails from Portstewart, County Londonderry and plays its home matches at Seahaven, near the centre of the town. Club colours are sky blue and navy blue. Change strip is all white. Portstewart are nicknamed "The Seahawks". The ground and clubhouse were officially opened in 1997 by Harry Gregg MBE. Portstewart Reserves play in the Coleraine and District League.
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History
Although there are records of teams playing under the name of Portstewart as far back as 1926, the club as we know it was formed in 1968, when a team led by Tony McKeague were invited to compete in the newly formed Castlerock and Coleraine District League. Their debut season was a successful one and after winning the afternoon section the competed for the Doherty Cup, against morning section winners Macosquin, running out 4-1 winners. The next season the club progressed into the North West League Div 2 and another successful season resulted in the team earning promotion to Div 1, as champions.
After a mid table finish to the 1st season in Div 1, the Seasiders gradually improved with a runners up spot in 1971/72, before winning the league and cup double the following season.
Portstewart took another stride forward in 1979, when they applied to join the Northern Ireland Intermediate League (NIIL). They started their campaign against Derry City and a few weeks later opened a new pavilion at The Warren, against RUC. 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. "Basher" 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 before leaving to take up posts with Ballymoney United and hometown Coleraine. Portstewart then had a number of various managers unable to bring any success before Frankie Moffatt returned in 1991.
Frankie Moffatt's return once again saw the club challenging for honours going very close to claiming the league title with a number of runner up slots, once being the only club to defeat champions Donegal Celtic and most notably losing out on goals scored to the same side.
The club was also finding joy in cup competitions and had some great runs in the Irish Cup progressing to the latter stages on numerous occasions against senior opposition. Two of the most notable being an away trip to Windsor Park to face Linfield and a local derby against Coleraine which the Seasiders narrowly lost to a single goal. Cup competitions also provided silverware in the shape of NW challenge and NW league cups, both trophies being won twice as Moffatt's team continued to improve. However, the club's greatest success came when they created history in 1994 when they defeated Limavady Utd 1-0 in the final of the William Youngers Intermediate Cup final, becoming the first junior team in over 100 years of the competition to lift the trophy. This triumph led to further progress on and off the pitch and plans were put in place to develop the clubs own ground,and in 1998 Portstewart moved to a new facility at Mullaghcall and installed Harry Gregg as club President. This was followed in 2003 when Portstewart were accepted into newly created Irish league Division 2.
Frankie 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. Trevor led his team to the NW Cup final in 2004 when they were narrowly defeated by Tobermore. The club's greatest achievement came in the 2005/06 season, with Portstewart once again being crowned league champions. They won the title by one point and gained promotion to second tier of Irish League football for the first time. This was followed a year later when they gained revenge on Tobermore, lifting the Craig Memorial Cup after a 2-1.
A further revamp in the Irish league saw a number of clubs demoted in 2008 into an interim league until ground improvements were completed. The new stand was built in 2009 and the club once again entered into the reformed Irish league, unfortunately without the leadership of McKendry who had left to become assistant manager at Limavady.
In 2016, the club was relegated from the Northern Ireland Football League.
Current squad
As of April 2016
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.