Achill Rovers F.D.A.C. is an Irish association football club based in

Achill Island Achill Island (; ga, Acaill, Oileán Acla) in County Mayo is the largest of the Irish isles, and is situated off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It has a population of 2,594. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

. The club was founded in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

following the merger of Achill United F.C. and Achill Eagles A.D.F.C.. Its senior men's team competes in the

Mayo Association Football League Mayo Association Football League is an association football league that features amateur and junior clubs from County Mayo. Its top division, the Super League, is a seventh level division in the Republic of Ireland football league system. The t ...

. In July 2015 Achill Rovers were named the

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

Club of the Year by the FAI.

History

Early years

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

Achill United was formed by Fr. Vincent O'Brien. Achill Rovers home ground is named after Fr. O'Brien. In August

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Achill Eagles Athletic Drama & Football Club was formed during a meeting in the Minaun Bar. Both clubs were moderately successful junior clubs. However, by 1986 it was clear that in order for an Achill team to remain competitive a merger would be necessary. By the end of the 1985–86 season both Achill United and Achill Eagles were finding it difficult to field full sides. At a meeting in the Slievemore Hotel on 21 April 1986 it was decided to amalgamate the two clubs as Achill Rovers.

Mayo champions

In 1997 and 1998 Achill Rovers finished as runners up and then champions of the

. Despite finishing the 1998 season as champions, Achill Rovers subsequently found themselves relegated following a reorganization of the Mayo League. In the addition to renaming the top division the Super League, the league also introduced new criteria for home grounds and facilities. Achill Rovers failed to match the required standards and as result the club found itself excluded from the revamped league.

Achill Rovers on Radio

In 2014

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

's ''The John Murray Show'' announced that they were going to follow and support Achill Rovers as their

underdogs An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

during the 2014 season.

Packie Bonner Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire career at Celtic. He earned a total of 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team after making his debut on h ...

was appointed celebrity coach for the show. In August 2014, Achill Rovers also featured in the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

documentary series ''

Crossing Continents ''Crossing Continents'' is a half-hour BBC Radio 4 documentary strand focusing on foreign affairs issues. It takes listeners right to the heart of story through its on-location reporting and feature making. The programmes are character driven an ...

''. The episode focused on immigration from Ireland and the importance of sport in rural communities. The programme featured interviews with

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

and with players and officials from Achill Rovers,

Achill GFC Achill GFC is a Gaelic football club which represents Achill Island and the Currane Peninsula. The club was founded in 1941. Although the area was not new to Gaelic games, there never existed a club as such to bring together the footballers of ...

and

Kilmeena GAA Kilmeena GAA ( ga, CLG Cill Mhíodhna) is a Gaelic football club associated with the town of Westport in County Mayo, Ireland. History The club was founded in 1889, and first fielded a team against Westport at Kilmeena on 10 March 1889. The cl ...

Joseph N'Do

In February 2015

Joseph N'Do Joseph Cyrille N'Do (born 28 April 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. He made 21 appearances for the Cameroon national team scoring twice. Club career Cameroon An attacking ...

joined Achill Rovers as a part-time coach, initially working with the U13 and U12 boys, U14 and U12 girls teams and the men's junior team. In January 2016 it was announced that N'Do had also registered with Rovers as a player. In March 2017, the club signed another international player, Togolese striker,

Cyril Guedjé Cyril Guedjé (born 19 June 1992) is a Togolese footballer forward who currently plays for Achill Rovers in the Mayo Association Football League, a lower league in the Republic of Ireland. He has played professionally for Boluspor, Anges de N ...

Aviva Club of the Year

In July 2015 Achill Rovers were named the

Club of the Year by the FAI and were presented with the award by John Delaney. After being nominated in the participation category Achill Rovers received a cheque of €1,500. They won the award for increasing membership numbers, despite a falling population, and building a club that is open to all the community, actively encouraging new residents to become involved in all aspects of club life. Achill Rovers received a cheque for €5,000 as the overall winners.

Grounds

Achill Rovers play their home games at Fr. O'Brien Park. They have also played home games at the Currane Community Sports Field.

Gallery

File:Joseph N'Do Achill Rovers.jpg,

File:AR Team photo.jpg, Achill Rovers senior men's team c.2015–16 File:U13.jpg, Achill Rovers U13s team 2015

Squad

Honours

**Winners (1): 1998 **Runners-up (1): 1997 *

FAI Club of the Year **Winners (1): 2015

References

{{Reflist, 2 Association football clubs in County Mayo Association football clubs established in 1986 1986 establishments in Ireland Achill Island