Limavady United F.C.

Limavady United
Full nameLimavady United Football & Athletic Club
Nicknames"The Roesiders", "The Lims"
Foundedc. 1955
GroundThe Showgrounds, Limavady
County Londonderry
Capacity1,500 (274 seated)
ChairmanGeoff Ferris
ManagerPaul Owens
LeagueNIFL Premiership
2025–26NIFL Championship, 1st of 12 (champions; promoted)
Websitehttp://www.limavadyunitedfc.com/

Limavady United Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship, the second tier of Irish football but will play in NIFL Premiership from 2026–27 season after promotion in 2025–26. The club comes from Limavady, County Londonderry, and plays home matches at the Showgrounds. Club colours are royal blue shirts with white trim, blue socks and royal blue shorts. Away colours are all yellow. The current manager is Paul Owens, with assistant manager and ex player Charlie Moore.

History

There have been many football clubs in Limavady, dating back to 1880, when Alexander, a founding member of the Irish Football Association was formed by the Alexander Cricket Club. Alexander merged with another local club, Wanderers, in 1884 to form Limavady F.C.[1] Club historian David Brewster, however, dates the current Limavady club's formation to 1955.[2]

After a long time as a junior team, the club joined the senior Irish Football League in 1997–98, and reached its first Irish Cup semi-final in over a century in 2003–04. In 2008, the club lost its senior status when it failed to gain admission to the new IFA Premiership.

In April 2013, three players received suspensions after being found guilty of breaching IFA betting rules on one of the club's league matches.[3]

The club won the NIFL Championship 2 in the 2015–2016 season but were denied promotion to NIFL Championship 1 as they were unsuccessful in applying for a licence. However they were promoted as winners of the Premier Intermediate League in 2016–2017. They would be relegated at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Following a stay in the PIL, the club would make their NIFL Championship return following a 3–0 win away to Lisburn Distillery, also securing the league trophy.[4]

On 18 April 2026, Limavady United were crowned champions of NIFL Championship for the 2025–26 season, and were promoted to the NIFL Premiership for the first time in their history from next season, after defeating Annagh United 2-0.

Carlos Tevez loan

In September 2011, the club vice chairman David Brewster issued a fax to Manchester City, offering to take Argentinian International Carlos Tevez on loan after the player had refused to go on as a substitute in a UEFA Champions League fixture. The club offer suggested that they would ensure Tevez stayed match fit and would avoid being cup tied, but asked that City continued to pay his reported £200,000 per week wages, a figure higher than Limavady's entire turnover for a year.

The offer, although meant as tongue in cheek became global headline news with some news agencies believing the offer to be a serious one. The story gained the club brief worldwide recognition although Manchester City themselves did not respond.[5]

Current squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF  NIR Aaron McLaughlin
3 DF  NIR Marcus O'Kane
5 DF  NIR Tiarnan Boorman
6 DF  NIR Jack Mullan
7 MF  NIR Philip Lowry
8 MF  NIR Stephen Lowry
10 FW  NIR Ian Parkhill
11 DF  NIR Lewis Tosh
14 MF  NIR Connor McCloskey
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF  NIR Ruairi Boorman
17 MF  NIR John Butcher
19 DF  NIR Rodney Brown
20 FW  NIR Michael McCrudden
24 DF  NIR Adam Mullan
26 FW  NIR Joe McCready
30 DF  NIR Matthew Walker
31 GK  NIR Martin Gallagher
42 FW  NIR Mikhail Kennedy

Honours

Former crest

Senior honours

  • County Londonderry Cup/North West Senior Cup: 7
    • 1993–94, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2023–24

Intermediate honours

Junior honours

  • Irish Junior Cup: 1
    • 1963–64
  • North West City Cup: 2
    • 1960–61, 1966–67
  • North West Junior League: 1
    • 1968–69

References

  1. ^ Northern Whig, 8 December 1884; Belfast Newsletter, 12 October 1880
  2. ^ David Brewster (2017), Up the Lims, Chapter Five and 'Limavady United F.C. Family Tree'.
  3. ^ "Three Limavady United players banned over betting scandal". BBC Sport. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Roesiders Sweep to Title Clinching Victory". NIFL Website. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Limavady United's loan offer to Manchester City's Carlos Tevez". BBC News. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
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