50 YEARS OF WEXFORD CELTIC
WEXFORD Celtic FC, the oldest soccer club in town, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a gala dinner dance in the Talbot Hotel on October 6.
THE club was founded in 1968 at a time when soccer in the town and county was very much a minority pursuit struggling to establish itself in the shadow of the GAA.
Records show that a soccer club had been established in Wexford town as far back as the 1920’s but the Wexford and District League was only founded in 1959 when a dozen men representing five clubs (St. John’s Wexford, Ballymoney, Enniscorthy, Gorey and St. Cormac’s (Boolavogue) met in the Old Slaney Valley (now Treacy’s) Hotel in Enniscorthy to organise a domestic soccer league.
They could not have foreseen that five decades later, soccer would be a thriving sport in the county with a club in the League of Ireland (and the Women’s League), 57 clubs in the Wexford Football League, 47 clubs in the Wexford & District Schoolboys League and 34 clubs in the Wexford Womens & Schoolgirls League.
The first meeting of Wexford Celtic was held on September 13 in 1968 in St. Michael’s Club in Green Street with Donal Sadler, John Lappin and Thomas O’Hara in attendance. Club subscriptions were set at 1 shilling a week and among the first tasks of the new club was securing a pitch at the Green Road, Killiane.
The first committee included some well-known names who made a notable contribution to soccer in the county including chairman Nick Delaney, secretary Nick Rossiter, treasurer John Laffan and committee members Thomas Butler, Tom O’Hara, Oliver Larkin and Nick Kavanagh.
Tom O’Hara would go on to hold the office of club chair and secretary for much of the first decade of the club’s existence and also held the position of vice-chairman.
The club travelled around Wexford in search of pitches, moving to a playing field at the Racecourse in 1970. One of the most biggest developments in its history took place in 1989 when it jointly purchased lands at Sinnottstown Lane for £15,500, with DMP Athletics Club.
Much of the funding was raised in a successful draw run by a committee comprising Colm Clare, Pat Whelan, Gerry Forde and Benny Sullivan to which the club owes a debt of gratitude.
Ground development started in 1990 with five acres drained and levelled at a cost of £20,000. The first phase of the clubhouse was completed in April 1992 and shortly afterwards on May 23, the pitch was formally opened. More land was acquired at Sinnottstown for a third pitch in 1996 and the floodlit all-weather training pitch was completed for £47,000 and officially opened in October 2001.
Work started on a new clubhouse which cost a total of £62,400 and was completed in 2006. Various expansions have seen pitches in others locations such as Drinagh and Crossabeg, becoming home to Celtic teams.
The club’s name has also been subject to change - it was renamed Town Celtic in 1976 before reverting to the original Wexford Celtic in 2000 although the Town Celtic name is still used by many people when referring to the club.
Thousands of players have worn the Wexford Celtic colours over the past 50 years. The first long service award was presented to Mick Hurley in 1980 for 175 appearances and he was also awarded Player of the Year in 1978 by the Wexford branch of the Referees Society.
A number of players went on to play at senior level, Goalie Tommie Walsh was signed by Drumcondra United in 1968; Padraig Murphy and Dessie Cunningham were signed by St. Patrick’s Athletic in 1972; Eoin Walker was signed to Limerick United in 1980; Tim McGrath went to Glasgow Celtic and Ciaran Lynch was signed by Preston North End after Ireland U15 caps.
In the other direction Eddie Campbell who was team manager in 1973/74 had previously been manager of Newry Town in the Irish Football League. Paddy Fitzpatrick who joined Glasgow Celtic with Tim McGrath from Taghmon United returned to football in Wexford by joining Celtic. In doing so, he emulated his father paddy who also played for both clubs with distinction. Paddy was named on the People Newspaper list of the 10 greatest ever football players from Wexford.
Wexford Celtic didn’t have long to wait for its first taste of glory which came with victory in the Wexford & District Football League Cup Final of 1970 and many more achievements have followed down through the years.
The Gala dinner on October 6 is a ticket-only affair. Admission is €30 which includes a fourcourse meal with music by Back 2 Back and DJ Ronnie Bent.
‘The marking of the 50th anniversary is about more than just years - it is a celebration of community’. said Wexford Celtic’s first woman chairperson Mags Creggan Smart who has been at the helm for the past few years.
‘There are the years when success is achieved on the field of play and others when the results are poor but through it all, the ultimate test of any club is that it endures and retains the loyalty of its members’, she said.
‘Wexford Celtic has a proud record of achievements but its greatest success is the sheer number of members that the club has been home to in the past 50 years. It has truly become a part of Wexford life’’, she said.
To buy tickets contact Tim McGrath on 087 6445089 , Jimmy Gregg 086 3536138 , Paul Doyle 087 7931672 and Marty Hore, Hores Stores 086 082 3935.