Castlebar Celtic F.C.

Castlebar Celtic is an amateur Irish football club based in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Republic Of Ireland. The club was founded in 1924 and currently competes in the Newstalk A Championship, the third tier of football in Ireland. Their second team competes in the Mayo Super League while the Under 20s take part in the League of Ireland Under 20 League. Their home ground is Celtic Park. The clubs colours are green and white.

The clubs current manager is Declan Kilkelly a former goalkeeper of the club. Kilkelly recently led the club's under 18 team to All Ireland success.

History

Castlebar’s first soccer team was established in 1924 and this is reflected on the club's crest. The first committee consisted of Tommy Leonard, Tommy Connolly, Tommy McDonald, Mattie Ketterick and Charlie Hanley. However, this setup was disbanded soon after until it was restarted once again in 1928. This version consisted of Tom Ketterick, Mattie's younger brother, Hughie McGartland and John Burke. The club was finally formed in Hack Welshe's on Castle Street and in 1932 the name Casltebar Celtic was chosen. The first game was against Galway Rovers in which Tom Ketterick said "we got hammered".

Competition though, was very limited. There was no Mayo League as such in those days and Dooniver Swifts (of Achill), Westport United and Quay Hearts (of Westport) were the only other soccer clubs in the county.It took until 1938 for Celtic to win their first trophy, the Alfie...
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