Midleton FC (Ireland)

Midleton FC were born in in the summer of 1973, at the Fr. John Murphy Youth Club in Midleton by a lively local character Pa Coakley. The had no ground of their own at the time, but the local council gave them dibs on the nearby Rosary Place Ground, and so a successful career in the lower leagues of Ireland began. They've since changed grounds on a number of occasions, before settling on their Knockgriffin Park home in time for the 1986 season.

The debut game at their new home marked Midleton's entry to senior football, as they had been accepted to the Munster Senior League, their debut game against the team where Brian Clough discovered a promising young chap called Roy Keane - Cobh Ramblers. 1991 saw further success when they not only won the Premier Division of the Munster Senior League, but knocked reigning champions Bray Wanderers out of the FAI Senior Challenge Cup by beating them 2-0 and a packed-to-the-rafters home tie.

The following year saw them become one of the very few clubs to win back-to- back titles, and they made it a double by lifting the Keane Senior Cup as well. Later that year their star player, Billy Woods, was offered a three year contract with Coventry City - Midleton's first ever player to make it as far as the English league. They may only be a small club by European standards, but they play with a passion and commitment that would put many a major club to shame, and are constantly at the heart of the community of this small town on the outskirts of Cork.

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