Founded: 1969

Nickname:

Ground: Foyle Park, Bayview, Redcastle.

Secretary                  David Cunningham

086-8253940

Address                     2 Marshalls Brae, Drung, Muff

Email                          davidcham61@gmail.com

Pitch Location          (1)   Bayview, Redcastle   F93YV66

                                    (2)  Bayview, Redcastle

Honours:

History:

There has always been football played in Redcastle, both Gaelic and Soccer, and indeed there are many stories of players heading off on their bikes here and there to play in distant places, or 8 adults stuffed in a car to head to Lagg or Gleneely Sports. Many games then were merely friendlies, however the reality was they were often far from friendly encounters especially between 2 teams from the same parish. The 3 schools in the lower end of the parish, Clar, Drung and Clunelly helped nurture many very good footballers and athletes in the area and credit to all those teachers, who gave a lot of time and effort, often outside of their school hours.Whitecastle school since the amalgamation of the three schools above has carried on this good work and can be proud of its record to date. Redcastle Football Club was formed in 1969 by a few young local football men who had become disenchanted at their lack of opportunity to play competitive football. At that time there was a very good local team in existence called Clar Rovers, but they had a settled team and not a lot of young local players were getting the opportunity to break into the side. The team first entered a 7-a-side competition in Gleneely in the summer of 1969 before the League started, and they ended up winning the competition. This gave them a great boost and also the incentive to get this team up and running properly. The first few seasons were tough going and there were mixed fortunes on the pitch and at times struggled against some very well established clubs like Buncrana Hearts, Westbrook Celtic and Carn Celtic.The team was to enter into a little bit of a glory era in the early 70s when in 1972/73 season they were defeated in the League’s Blue Riband Cup competition by Carn Celtic, in what was probably one of the most epic Cup Finals ever staged in Inishowen. The final ended up a 3-3 draw, the replay also ended up a draw, this time 1-1, and unfortunately the second replay co-incided with a previously arranged 10 mile Sponsored walk for the new Community Centre in Quigley’s Point that was about to be built. Some of the players did the walk before the match, and unfortunately Carn Celtic won the second replay 4 nil. That Carn team boasted no less than 7 players who gained senior football experience so it was no disgrace. The biggest disappointment of this season however was the fact that Buncrana Hearts were one point behind Redcastle in the League at the end of the season. Redcastle had completed their season and Buncrana still had to play Clar Rovers in their last game, which would have been a tough match. However for reasons beyond Redcastle’s control the match never got played, and the Inishowen League Committee awarded Buncrana 2 points for the unplayed game and they leapfrogged Redcastle to win the League title. This still wrankles with a lot of those players and supporters even to this day as it would have been Redcastle’s first title.At this point Redcastle had established themselves as one of the top teams, whereas Clar Rovers had gone somewhat in the oppossite direction. The two teams merged before the start of the 1973/74 season, and they also entered a team in the Derry and District League. It was to prove a very fruitful year, when Redcastle won the inaugural Bertie Cartmill Cup, which was now the Blue Riband of  Inishowen football, getting revenge for the previous year by defeating Carn Celtic. Meanwhile they also won the Third Division of the D&D on goal average, as it was then. At this time they seemed as though they would dominate local soccer for a few years at least. However this did not happen in part due to the fragmentation of the team. This splinter resulted in a team being formed in Quigleys Point with the players from the upper end of the Parish opting to leave and play their football there.The next time Redcastle won a competition was in 1981/82 season when they won the Division 2 of the Inishowen League. Eleven years later they went on to win the Division 3 title, and this time they also won the Fr. O’Gara Cup, defeating local rivals Moville Celtic in the Final by one goal to nil. Football changed an awful lot in the years after that, and Redcastle perhaps adapted slower than they should have. They struggled for the next 10 years or so but salvation came in the form of a new pitch getting developed locally. Prior to this the team had rented various fields from local famers and used them, but having a new pitch complete with Clubhouse, was a real incentive again for the team. The club also had renewed vigour about them, with ex-players coming on board the committee to give extra impetus. The team duly rewarded the hard work by winning Division 1 of the Inishowen League in 2005, and have followed this up by winning the Premier Division in 2006, and again in 2007. 2006 saw the inaugural running of a competition between teams from The Saturday morning League in Derry (IFA), and Inishowen League (FAI), called the Northwest of Ireland Champions League, which Redcastle won in it’s inaugural year. In 2007 they lost this Final, and amazingly four other finals in what turned out to be a heartbreaking season. Just for good measure the Reserve side also got to their Shield final that year and lost it as well. In 2008 the Reserve team have won their League with quite a bit to spare which augers well for the Clubs future. In 2009 we returned to the top of the pile in Inishowen football by regaining the Premier Division title, and doing it in some style by going the entire League campaign undefeated. This was an a fantastic achievement by the team under the canny stewardship of Bryan Bell and his backroom team. Redcastle United as a club now cater for players from the age of 6 right up to the adulthood. They work hard at trying to ensure football is provided to the youth of the area. Boys and girls are catered for in the younger age groups. Times have changed an awful lot since the clubs inception, and now the Club has its own Constitution, various policies on Codes of Conduct, child protection etc. It also has its own Child Protection Officer, so local football has taken on a much more professional dimension in the 40 years since the Club was first founded. All this is for the better of course, and hopefully the club will be able to keep up with the changes that inevitably will come over the coming years. The club works closely with the Redcastle Community Development Committee, which has provided the facilities for the teams. They, to their great credit have recently purchased a plot of land adjacent to the current pitch, and it is hoped that there will be a second pitch located there in the not too distant future. What an evolution in less than 40 years for a club from a small rural location in North Donegal 2010/11 season He brought with him a new management team and is doing a fantastic job. With Redcastle again challenging for the champions position.     Over the last several seasons Redcastle have seen success on the football field in 2008/09  and 2009/10 seasons they were the Inishowen Jackie Crossan Premier league champions under the stewardship of Byran Bell. When Bryan left the club John Louge took over Redcastle Utd as manager for the The reserve team under the management of Liam davenport is also going from strength to strength, with the reserve team also challenging for the top position in the Inishowen engineering reserve division one. The Club is very grateful for the sponsors of both the first and reserve teams. With Ashley Martin Shop Fitting sponsoring the first team, and also to the Bay View bar for sponsoring the Reserve team.  Foyle Park can be found half way between Quigley’s Pont and Moville. It is off the main Moville to Derry road just before (or just past the Redcastle Hotel) opposite the Bay View Bar. It is a small rural community club where everyone is made welcome with the ladies of the club providing tea and biscuits for supporters and half time at every home game. Looking forward to the future Redcastle Utd Football Club Committee and Redcastle Community Development Committee are working closely together and would like to develop Foyle Park into one of the best venues in Inishowen. Redcastle Utd Football Club has come a long way since its foundation in 1969 and we hope we can continue to develop and improve in the years to come.

The first team was managed by Seamus Farren during 2012/13 season.And due to a lot of injuries did very well to keep the first team up in the premier division.

2012/13 season the reserves were managed by Martin Rea and David Cunningham. They had a fantastic season with a young side winning their division and getting promoted and getting to two cup finals.

2013/14 season the first team is managed by Cathal Faulkner. This is his first year as a manager he is a young coach with a lot of fresh ideas and the club wish him well for the new season. 

Martin and David hope to keep their young squad together, and to be able to compete and hold their own in the reserve league. The club also wishes them well for the new season.