Late 1980s
History of the Club
In the late 1980s there was there was little or nothing for national school boys and girls to do from a recreational viewpoint in the Cregmore area. Paul Dunne approached the trustees of Cregmore Sportsfield with the view of using the pitch for a Saturday morning soccer kick-around for children attending Cregmore national school. The trustees kindly obliged and provided insurance cover for this Saturday morning kick-around. The Saturday morning soccer was played on a fun basis and always finished with a penalty shoot out to give every child a chance of winning a prize.
Over the next few years the Saturday morning soccer session at Cregmore Sportsfield became a victim of its own success and as nobody was turned away, kids from a wider area started to arrive to partake. Soon more adult help was needed and this was provided by other parents in splitting the group up into different age categories. From the beginning, a nominal fee of 30 pence was charged every Saturday morning and this provided the basis for the activities to be expanded and self financing.
1994 – 1996
In 1994 the first Cregmore N.S. soccer team under the management of Paul Dunne took part in the Galway National Schools SFAI Snickers competition where they were able to compete with other teams and managed to reach the semi-finals.
In 1995 and 1996 Cregmore N.S. continued to compete strongly in the Galway National Schools competitions, reaching the finals in 1996.
1996
Official Formation of the Club
As time passed the Saturday morning kick-round became more organised and challenge matches with other clubs took place. Eventually in 1996 it was decided to join the Galway FA and form an official soccer club as the kids demanded to play the game on a more regular basis against other established soccer clubs.
Club Founders
At a meeting in Cregmore N.S. on the 17th July 1996, Cregmore F.C. was officially formed. The founders of the club and first elected committee of Cregmore F.C. were:
Hugh Curley (President), Tom Kilgarriff (Chairman), Eddie Kavanagh (Secretary), Paul Dunne (Treasurer), and club delegates George Frazer and Gerry Mangan.
First Team Members
Now an official club it was decided to enter two teams at Under 12 and one team at Under 14 in the Galway and District League. Those teams consisted of the following pupils from Cregmore N.S.:
Barry Cullinane, Barney Carroll, Denis Forde, Barry McGrath, Martin Collins, Daniel Ryan, Damien Hurney, Garry McCafferty, Shane Duignan, Philip Mullins, Niall Gibbons, Keith McGrath, Marty Long, Anthony Kenny, David Kilgarriff, Paraic Collins, Shane Dunne, Brian McGrath, Keith McCafferty, Simon Starken, Owen Roche, John Costello, Ronan Kenny and James Collins. These players made history as the first official Cregmore F.C. teams.
Team Colours
Red and black was chosen as the teams colours for Cregmore F.C. with red as the predominant colour. It was felt that a red stripe made the players look more formidable as every advantage you could gain over the opposition was welcome especially in the early years of the club.
Club Emblem
The emblem for the new soccer club was designed and drawn by Francis Long and it captures the river and arches at Cregmore Bridge as the river Clare is the geological feature representing the catchment area from which all the kids were living.
Early Supporters
During the early years of soccer at Cregmore, local businessman, Stephen Duffy generously provided the much needed financial support to enable the expansion to soccer club status, without this help it would have been very difficult. Stephen continued to provide Cregmore F.C. with financial support during the early years of the club
2005 – Present
Club continues to grow
The club continues to grow and since July 2005 Cregmore-Claregalway F.C. (CCFC) also have a Junior Soccer team that competes in the Galway District League.
For a full list of our current teams please visit our Teams page.
