Glenavon F.C.

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Glenavon

Full name	Glenavon Football Club
Nickname(s)	Lurgan Blues, The Mourneview Aces
Founded	November 1889; 131 years ago (1889-11)
Ground	Mourneview Park, Lurgan County Armagh
Capacity	4,160 (3,200 seated)[1]
Chairman	Adrian Teer
Manager	Gary Hamilton (player-manager)
League	NIFL Premiership
2020–21	NIFL Premiership, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Glenavon Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1889, hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gary Hamilton has been player-manager of the Lurgan Blues since December 2011 following the resignation of Marty Quinn. Glenavon's bitter rivals are Portadown, with their matches known as the 'Mid-Ulster Derby'.

History[]

Glenavon was the first provincial club to win the Irish League title (1951–52) and also the first provincial club to do the league and cup double (1956–57). The latter triumph also made them the first Northern Irish team to enter the European Cup. Glenavon has had a number of talented and famous players, none more so than Wilbur Cush and Jimmy Jones, who were to the fore in "the glory years" of the Fifties. The success of the 1950s is still the benchmark at the club – the closest the club have come to achieving a league success since came in the 1993–94 season, when but for two late goals in the final match Glenavon would have been crowned champions.

Glenavon enjoyed a good run throughout the 1990s, consistently achieving good placings in the league and winning several cup competitions, including Irish Cup wins in 1991–92 and 1996–97, and were runners-up against Glentoran in the 1995–96 and 1997–98 editions of the cup. The club then suffered a relatively poor spell during the early 2000s, which culminated in relegation to the second tier in the 2003–04 Irish League season. Although they were promoted the following season, Glenavon continued to struggle towards the bottom of the league throughout the remainder of the decade, going through several managers such as Terry Cochrane, Stephen McBride & Marty Quinn. McBride was a Northern Ireland international and a popular Glenavon player in the 1980s & 1990s, but his reign lasted just seven months before he was relieved of his managerial duties with Glenavon at the bottom of the IFA Premiership.^[2]

Former Portadown & Glentoran forward Gary Hamilton was appointed player-manager in December 2011, managing to steer the club from relegation in the remainder of the 2011–12 Irish League season. This was followed up by a 9th-place finish in the 2012–13 season. The 2013–14 season was welcomed by many as a successful season, the Lurgan club securing a top-six league finish and a return to winning major silverware with the 2013–14 Irish Cup, in which Glenavon triumphed 2–1 over Ballymena United in the final.

Following on from this cup triumph was a successful 2014–15 season. Though Glenavon did not fare as well in the Irish Cup, exiting at the 6th round to Championship 1 side Harland & Wolff Welders, an excellent late run of 7 consecutive wins saw the Lurgan Blues pip their Mid-Ulster rivals Portadown to a third-placed league finish, therefore sealing European football for the 2015–16 season.

The 2015–16 season would be another good season for the Lurgan Blues, once again securing Europe on the penultimate matchday by finishing third, on a points total of 69. Even more success was to follow, as the club claimed a second Irish Cup win in three years, defeating David Healy's Linfield 2–0 in the final.

Glenavon did not enjoy similar success in the 2016–17 season. Despite having signed former Celtic and Northern Ireland winger Paddy McCourt, the club struggled for form and could only achieve a disappointing 6th-placed finish in the league. Although the club reached the semi-finals of the Mid-Ulster Cup, League Cup and Irish Cup, they were defeated in all by Warrenpoint Town, Carrick Rangers and Coleraine respectively. Glenavon also suffered agonising defeat to Ballymena United in the Europa League playoff final, therefore missing out on a fourth successive year of European qualification.

Despite failure to qualify for Europe and a large exodus of players at the start of the 2017–18 season, the signing of players such as Sammy Clingan and Andrew Mitchell, aligned with the emergence of Bobby Burns, meant that Glenavon had a resurgence in form, finishing third once again, and qualifying for Europe. However, the only piece of silverware attained was the Mid-Ulster Cup, having exited the League Cup and Irish Cup via shock defeats at the hands of Ards and Loughgall.

While the 2018–19 season yielded a club-record points total of 70, the club had a disappointing record in the major cups, falling to defeat against Dergview and Dungannon Swifts in the League Cup and Irish Cup respectively. However, the Lurgan Blues did retain the Mid-Ulster Cup with a 4–3 victory over Warrenpoint Town. Despite attaining another third-placed finish, Glenavon fell to a 2–4 defeat against Glentoran in the Europa League playoff semi-final and failed to attain European qualification for the following season.

The club endured a difficult 2019–20 campaign, falling to several heavy defeats in the league and exiting the Irish Cup at the 5th round with a 2–0 defeat against Coleraine. Inconsistent form meant that the club finished outside of the league's top 6 for the first time since the 2012–13 season.

The Lurgan Blues' form improved significantly in the 2020–21 season, but the club narrowly missed out on a top-six finish; their final points total of 62 was the highest points tally recorded for a team in the bottom-six. Although Glenavon found themselves in the bottom half of the table, they were the second highest scoring team in the 2020-21 season, scoring 72 goals. Their seventh-place finish secured the Lurgan Blues a spot in the Europa Conference League playoffs. They faced Larne in the semi-final and secured an early lead, through a goal from Daniel Purkis in the opening minutes of the game, only for Larne to equalise a few minutes later. Both sides battled to secure a win, with Martin Donnelly scoring the winning goal for Larne in injury time, leaving Glenavon without European qualification.

Stadium[]

Mourneview Park in 2020.

Since 1895, Glenavon's home stadium has been Mourneview Park, located in the south of Lurgan.

From 1992 to 2011, significant alterations were made to Mourneview Park in order to bring the ground up to a modern standard. Along the side of the pitch runs the Geddis Stand (holds roughly 1700), and on the other side the Glenfield Road Stand (holds roughly 2000), which houses away supporters. Behind one of the goals, the ground has the Crescent End (400 seats, and standing area), and at the other end the Hospital End remains undeveloped.

In addition to Glenavon's home matches, the stadium is also a regular host for Northern Ireland under-21 matches, and was the venue for several group stage games in the UEFA Women's Under-19 Euro 2017 finals. Due to the ongoing renovation of Windsor Park, Mourneview Park was chosen as the venue for Linfield's home ties in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. The stadium has occasionally been used as a neutral ground for Irish Cup semi-finals, most recently in the 2016–17, 2018–19, and 2020–21 editions of the competition.

In September 2020, Glenavon FC unveiled a new 5m x 2m Digital LED Screen at Mourneview Park, which was supplied by FSL Scoreboards. It is the first of its kind anywhere in Ireland.^[3]

On 12 April 2021, it was announced that Mourneview Park would be the host venue for the 2020–21 Irish Cup Final; the first time the final has been staged outside of Belfast since 1975.^[4]

Although Glenavon failed to attain European qualification at the end of the 2020-21 Season, there would still be European football played in Mourneview Park, as it was announced on 15 June 2021 that Mourneview Park would host the second leg of the first round tie in the inaugural edition of the Europa Conference League between FK Velež Mostar and Coleraine F.C. on 15 July 2021, due to pitch redevelopments at The Showgrounds. ^[5]

European record[]

Glenavon was the first Northern Irish team to enter the European Cup. In their first tie they drew AGF of Denmark, drawing 0–0 at home and losing 0–3 away.

Glenavon achieved some more notable results in Europe in the 1990s. In the 1992–93 season, they drew both legs of their Cup Winners Cup tie with Royal Antwerp and lost on penalties. In 1995–96 they reached the first round proper of the UEFA Cup (the last Irish League club to do so), and were beaten by Werder Bremen.

Overview[]

Matches[]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1957–58	European Cup	PR	AGF	0–3	0–0	0–3
1960–61	European Cup	PR	Wismut Karl Marx Stadt	w/o		N/A
1961–62	European Cup Winners' Cup	PR	Leicester City	1–4	1–3	2–7
1977–78	UEFA Cup	1R	PSV Eindhoven	2–6	0–5	2–11
1979–80	UEFA Cup	1R	Standard Liège	0–1	0–1	0–2
1988–89	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	AGF	1–4	1–3	2–7
1990–91	UEFA Cup	1R	Bordeaux	0–0	0–2	0–2
1991–92	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Ilves	3–2	1–2	4–4 (a)
1992–93	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Royal Antwerp	1–1	1–1	2–2 (1–3 p)
1995–96	UEFA Cup	PR	FH	0–0	1–0	1–0
		1R	Werder Bremen	0–2	0–5	0–7
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Legia Warsaw	1–1	0–4	1–5
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Slaven Belupo	1–1	0–3	1–4
2001–02	UEFA Cup	QR	Kilmarnock	0–1	0–1	0–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1QR	FH	0–3	2–3	2–6
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	1–2	0–3	1–5
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1QR	KR Reykjavik	1–2	0–6	1–8
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Molde	2−1	1–5	3–6

Current squad[]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NIR Declan Brown 2 DF  NIR Mark Stafford 4 DF  NIR Calum Birney 5 DF  NIR Mark Haughey 6 DF  NIR Andrew Doyle 7 FW  NIR Andrew Waterworth 8 MF  NIR Michael O'Connor 9 FW  NIR Danny Purkis 10 MF  NIR Peter Campbell 11 MF  NIR Andy Hall 12 MF  NIR Kyle Beggs 14 MF  NIR Matthew Snoddy 15 MF  NIR Aaron Harmon

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  NIR Conor McCloskey 18 GK  NIR James Taylor 19 FW  NIR Matthew Fitzpatrick 21 MF  IRL Jack O'Mahony 23 DF  NIR Danny Wallace 24 MF  NIR Jamie Doran 25 FW  NIR Ross Hunter 26 FW  IRL Josh Doyle 27 DF  NIR James Singleton 28 MF  NIR Robbie Garrett 30 DF  NIR Sean Ward 40 FW  NIR Gary Hamilton (player-manager)

On Loan[]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NIR Oisin Barr (On loan at Dollingstown until 1 July 2022) — MF  NIR Robbie Norton (On loan at Annagh United until 1 July 2022) — GK  NIR Marc Matthews (On loan at Dundela F.C. until 1 July 2022)

Academy[]

Glenavon's Academy consists of teams at Under 7, Under 8, Under 9, Under 10, Under 11, Under 12, Under 13, Under 14, Under 15, Under 16 and Under 18. There is also an Under 20 development team which comes under the auspices of the Senior Club and plays as Glenavon Reserves.

The Academy was formed in 2007 as a result of the Irish league licensing requirements and then first team manager Colin Malone appointed Gordon Wylie as Academy co-ordinator. Gordon's first task was to bring ex Glenavon legend Stephen McBride back to the club as the Academy head coach.

The Glenavon Academy is now headed by Chris Chambers after previously being led by Alex Denver, Thomas McStravick and Ryan Prentice. The Academy currently has a number of UEFA A Licence and UEFA B Licence coaches.

In recent times the club has introduced various coaching programmes and training camps aimed at increasing the numbers within the Academy. These have included the Glenavon Academy Club Affiliation Programme, Schools Programme, Aces, Girls Football and annual Football Camps at Easter, Summer and Halloween.

Managerial history[]

Honours[]

Senior honours[]

• Irish League: 3
  • 1951–52, 1956–57, 1959–60
• Irish Cup: 7
  • 1956–57, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1991–92, 1996–97, 2013–14, 2015–16
• Northern Ireland Football League Cup: 1
  • 1989–90
• City Cup: 5
  • 1920–21, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1960–61, 1965–66
• Gold Cup: 4
  • 1954–55, 1956–57, 1990–91, 1997–98
• Ulster Cup: 3
  • 1954–55, 1958–59, 1962–63
• Floodlit Cup: 2
  • 1988–89, 1996–97
• County Antrim Shield: 2
  • 1990–91, 1995–96
• Mid-Ulster Cup: 27
  • 1897–98, 1901–02, 1904–05, 1906–07, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1937–38, 1947–48†, 1957–58†, 1965–66†, 1971–72†, 1976–77†, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21
• North-South Cup: 1
  • 1962–63^{[note 1]}
• Charity Shield: 2
  • 1992 (shared), 2016

† Won by Glenavon Reserves

Intermediate honours[]

• Irish Intermediate Cup: 3
  • 1907–08, 1910–11, 2004–05
• George Wilson Cup: 1
  • 1963–64†
• Bob Radcliffe Cup: 1
  • 1990–91†

† Won by Glenavon Reserves

Junior honours[]

• Irish Junior League: 2
  • 1907–08, 1910–11
• Irish Junior Cup: 1
  • 1897–98
• Beattie Cup: 1
  • 1929–30†

† Won by Glenavon Reserves

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Glenavon FC Website
• Glenavon FC Academy Website
• Glenavon Statistics and Results at the Irish Football Club Project