Brief History
Founded 1995
Home Colours - Blue and Black
Away Colours - Black and White
Bangor Hibs Football Club was formed in the North Mayo village of Bangor Erris in 1995.
Bangor is situated on the banks of the Owenmore river between Crossmolina and Belmullet.
Soccer had always been extremely popular in the area and attempts had been made in the mid seventies and mid eighties to organise the game on a structured basis but to no avail.
In 1995 though this was to change.
A team from the village was invited to a tournament in Killala in January of that year and ended up playing against a number of established Mayo League sides with results been more than favourable. The team reached the final of an 8 team competition and although losing out to Crossmolina in the decider the talk throughout those weeks was can we find a field, get a team together and play in the Mayo Association Football League.
Meetings were called and reasonably well attended, a committee was formed and then the real work began.
The inaugural officers of the club were Gerry Deane, Gerard Sweeney, Tommie McHugh, John “Rock” Carolan and John Cosgrove.
1995 saw the club compete in a local Erris organised league and although our initial application to the Mayo League later that year was unsuccessful we were admitted the following year in 1996 which was the first time Mayo played summer soccer.
By that stage our lotto was up and running, funds were coming in and the purchase of a pitch was completed from a local farmer Mrs. Neary.
Indeed the Bangor Hibs lotto was the first in the country to reach the then legal maximum of £10,000.
Following the pitch purchase our next target was the construction of a Clubhouse and this became a reality in the next two years culminating in the official opening of our facilities, Ballybeg Park, by Mayo’s own President of the FAI Mr. Pat Quigley on August 26th 2000.
Our clubhouse consists of changing facilities, toilets, kitchen and upstairs t.v. lounge with full size championship snooker table for our member’s enjoyment.
This year 2008 the club is embarking on another development venture with plans in place for a 50 m x 35 m synthetic playing surface.
On the football field we have also made our mark with the winning of a Mayo U 12 boys Final in 2001, 3 Mayo U16 Cup final victories in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Our Junior team have this season achieved top flight status in Mayo football following our promotion to the Mayo Super League for the very first time.
The team have had back to back promotions and also our one and only Junior Cup Final victory came at Milebush Park, Castlebar in 2006 where we were successful in the Tonra Cup Final against Partry Athletic.
Without doubt our greatest footballing hero has been Jimmy Flannery.
Jimmy who celebrated his fortieth birthday earlier in the year has scored over 110 goals for the club in all competitions and is today manager of our Super League team along with finding time to still line out in our blue and black stripes.
He is also a first class clubman getting involved in all aspects of our club.
In our modern history it looks as if Mikie Sweeney will overhaul Jimmy’s goal haul in the next couple of seasons having accumulated over 60 at present and still only 19 years of age.
There are one or two other points worth mentioning in this brief history of our club.
The Hon President of Bangor Hibs is Mr. Miomir Jugin from the Serbian capital Belgrade. You may wonder how so?
It’s a long story but suffice to say post ending up inadvertently at our club secretary Gerard Sweeney was the beginning of a life long friendship with the Yugoslav Airlines engineer who follows Hibs passionately along with his other team the mighty Red Star Belgrade.
The club’s other international connection is with our good friends in Cheshire, England where this July will see us travel for the third time to play local boys Brendoon FC in the Brendan Conway Memorial Cup.
Brendan, son of Johnny and Mary Conway (formerly Bellacorrick and Geesala) lost his life following an accident in September 2002.
The match is held annually in either Bangor or Cheshire.
Every one at Bangor Hibs is looking forward to the Football Association of Ireland coming to Mayo for the Annual General Meeting in July.
The governing body of our sport will be attending Ballybeg Park on Monday July 21st at 3.30pm for a sod turning ceremony of our Synthetic playing Facility.
Hon. Club President - Mr. Miomir Jugin, Serbia.
Club Officers 2009
Chairman - Mr. JP Healy.
Vice Chairperson - TBC.
Secretary - Mr. Gerard Sweeney.
Treasurer - Mr. Tommie McHugh.
Assistant Treasurer - Mr. Jimmy Flannery.
PRO - Mr. Gerard Sweeney.
Junior Team Manager A- Mr. John P Carey.
Club Captain - TBC.
Club Vice Captain - TBC.
Junior Team Manager B - Mr Hughie Kennedy.
Grounds Committee - Mr. John Carolan, Mr. John P Carey and Mr. Michael Mullarkey.
Underage Management - Mr. Eamon Murphy, Mr. JP Healy, Mr. Christy McManamon, Mr. Pat Ruddy, Mr. Martin Carey, Mr Darren McManamon, Mr James Sweeney, Mr Jimmy Flannery and Mr. Gerard Sweeney.
Bangor Hibs FC - February 2010
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