Magherafelt Sky Blues Football Club are an amateur football club from

Magherafelt Magherafelt (, �mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...

, County Londonderry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Spires Park. Club colours are sky blue and navy. The current manager is Brian Taylor and Sean Monaghan. The club played in the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League until announcing their resignation from the league on the eve of the 2017-18 season. They now compete in the Coleraine & District Football League.

History

The club was established by local footballers in 1970 who wanted a club that could appeal to both the Catholic and Protestant populations of the town.History of the club
/ref> Their Sky Blues name and strip colour were taken from

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. They settled at their current home Spires Park, a playing field which had been locally known as "Stoney Park", in 2007. They were members of the

Northern Ireland Intermediate League The Northern Ireland Intermediate League is an amateur intermediate league based in the north-west region of Northern Ireland. As one of the leagues in the 4th tier of Northern Irish football, the league champions can be promoted to the NIFL Prem ...

until 2012 and had their best season in that competition in 2005–06 when they finished as runners-up.Honours
/ref> For the 2012-13 season, the club moved to the

Ballymena & Provincial League Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

. Honours won at intermediate level include two Northern Ireland Challenge Cup wins (2008–09 and 2009–10). The club reached the Boxing Day final of the

Craig Memorial Cup The Craig Memorial Cup, also known as the William Craig Memorial Cup is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North West of Ireland Football Association. The competition culminates in the final which has traditionall ...

in 2008 although they lost 3–0 to

Limavady United Limavady United Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. The club comes from Limavady, County Londonderry, and plays home matches at the Showgrounds. Club colours are royal ...

. The club first entered the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

, Northern Ireland's senior knock-out competition, in the 2004–05 season when they reached the third round before being eliminated by Moyola Park. They were eliminated by Killymoon Rangers the following season

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in 2006–07, both in the first round. Bloomfield eliminated the Sky Blues in the first round for a third season running in 2007–08 although in the preliminary round they established a club record Irish Cup win, beating Dunaghy 8–2. 2008–09 saw a further first round elimination at the hands of Draperstown Celtic. The Sky Blues reached the third round in 2009–10, losing to

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

and again in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

where they lost to Shankill United.

Youth development

The club is noted for its youth development, with youth teams organised in six age groups by the club. In 2011 four of the six teams reached the league cup finals of their respective leagues. The CIS Mini Soccer Centre, where their youth teams train, was recognised by the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

for its contributions to the local game in 2007.

References

External links

Official site

Recent fixtures
{{Football in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1970 Association football clubs in County Londonderry 1970 establishments in Northern Ireland