Bangor Hibs soccor team were founded in February 1995. In their first year they took part in the Erris League and went on to win the Erris Shield. The following year they entered the Mayo League. They played in the second division for a few seasons, then they were promoted and made it to the Super League in 2008 but unfortunately only stayed there for one season. The team won their first trophy in 2006 when they defeated Partry in the Tonra Cup. Their most successful season was in 2011 when they won the Tuohy Cup, the Premier B League Cup and also received the Mayo Club of the Year Award. The team would also travel to England for the Brendan Conway Memorial Cup for a number of years in the early naughties.
The club had success with their underage teams. In 2000, the U12's team won the U12 Mayo Cup and within two weeks, the U16's also won the U16 Mayo Cup. The underage teams have remained but the senior team has been out of action since 2019. Covid came, leagues were cancelled and the team became dorment.
A few years ago, Bangor man Johnny Nicoll decided to put together a group of lads, aiming at those in their late 30's + , who fancied passing a bit of time in the evenings and maybe loosing a few pounds by having a kick around on the astro pitch at Bangor Hibs. Word got around and soon some of the younger lads started coming along. It became very popular and over the weeks the numbers grew and grew and Johnny was over whelmed with the amount of interest. The lads never missed a training session and seeing how dedicated they were, Johnny could see the potential of putting a team together and reforming Bangor Hibs. But the first thing Johnny was told when he said that he wanted to bring the team back was that 'Bangor Hibs is dead and buried'. This wasn't going to stop Johnny though, he knew they had something here and it was worth pursuing.
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Knowing he could not do this by himself, Johnny set about putting a management team together. He knew he needed someone with a passion for Bangor Hibs so he got in touch with Martin Carey who had played with Bangor all of his life and whose Dad had also been involved with the club. Johnny convinvced him, so with Martin oboard, he then spoke to Phil Thompson who has an amazing knowledge of football and Johnny just knew that Phil was the missing piece he needed for the new management team. The journey to resurrecting Bangor Hibs from the ashes was not an easy task. There was alot of work involved including ALOT of paper work, training, fundraising and then the task of putting a committee together. The club could not have reformed without the invaluable advice from its original founding members, Jimmy Flannery, Tommy McHugh, Gerry Sweeney, Jp Healy and John Paul Carey, on how to get the club up and running again and how to get into the league. The new committee members that came on board are Marie Sweeney Khalifa, Shona Healy, Michelle Cuffe and Danielle Ginty, these girls have put an unbelievable amount of work in behind the scenes and have played a huge part in getting the team to where it is today.
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| Photo Credit: Ryan Gallagher - 2024 Team |
Now, after two years of hard work, Bangor Hibs are back and what a first season they've had!! They have gone from a club that was 'dead and buried' to a club that in their first season, has made it to a Cup Final at Umbro Park, Milebush, Castlebar, this July (24). Johnny said 'For a football club to come back after five seasons without a football team is unbelievable, but for a team to come back and be in a final in their first season has just exceeded all of our expectations and all of the boys are really enjoying it'.
Johnny said that they are so proud of the lads and have lots of plans in place for the clubs future including a Youth Academy for younger children. Johnny believes sports should be about enjoying the game and having fun. They put absolutely no pressure on the team and just want them to enjoy their love of the game. He stated they are 'having alot of fun' at Bangor Hibs at the moment.
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| Photo Credit: Ryan Gallagher |
The commitee stated: 'We were not expecting any success this year as we had such a young team. We just wanted to get the club up and running and to try and start up the youth development in the club as it was one of our main goals. We are very excited to be in a cup final. Win, loose or draw, just having a team back in the Mayo League is a massive personal achievement for all of us at Bangor Hibs and with the youth academy starting this weekend, we couldn't be happier with the way things are progressing in the club'
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