Donegal Celtic Football & Social Club is an intermediate football and social club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal Celtic Park. Club colours are green and white in Celtic-style hoops.
History
Donegal Celtic was formed in 1970 when a group of young men who had a huge interest in football decided to form a team in the Lenadoon district of west Belfast.
With no facilities, kits, pitch or equipment, the first few years were spent playing friendlies and entering local summer competitions, which helped to enhance and promote their reputation and name. They registered their chosen name with the Irish Football League, taking the name from the area in which they were based; Lenadoon, Gweedore, Glenveagh are all local areas named after towns in County Donegal, with the Celtic part being taken on due to the massive local following for Scotland's Celtic and, until 1949, Belfast Celtic.
The club has a youth setup, covering boys' age groups U10 – U18, and a girl's set-up at U14. Donegal Celtic Ladies senior side won the 'Belfast Cup' in 2004.
The club's senior men's team has a chequered and colourful history. After continually applying for Irish League entry they were denied on several occasions and forced to play amateur football, along with County Armagh team Lurgan Celtic. A 1990 cup tie at Linfield involved ground unrest. With accusations of a sectarian selection process and with the threat of court action looming , both clubs finally gained entry into the Irish League 2nd Division for the 2002–03 season.
The club managed to finish in 6th place in their first year in the Irish League proper, which due to a league shake-up was enough to earn promotion to the First Division. The club's second season in Irish League football was marred by poor home form and an inability to cope with the change in standard, finishing in 8th place.
Donegal Celtic finished the 2004–05 season in 3rd place losing out on a promotion play-off place to Lurgan club Glenavon and also lost the IFA Intermediate Cup final on penalties to the same team at Stangmore Park, Dungannon. The club's fortunes improved following the establishment of a management structure of Paddy Kelly, Marty McKiernan and Gerard Loughran. In the 2005–06 season, the club finished as runners-up to Crusaders in the league, earning the right to play over two legs for a place in the Premier League, which they achieved on 10 May 2006 with a 3–1 aggregate victory against Institute. The team also managed to capture the Intermediate Cup, defeating Coagh United 2–0 in the final.
The next few seasons would see the club going through managerial turmoil, changing managers seven times in four years. Paddy Kelly resigned as manager before the 2009–10 season started, with former Cliftonville and Coleraine player Pat McAllister replacing him. In June 2010, a few weeks after guiding the club back into the top flight for the 2010–11 IFA Premiership season with a 1–0 aggregate win over Institute in the promotion play-off, McAllister agreed a new deal to stay as manager for the 2010–11 season. However, less than a month later he shocked the club by resigning, citing personal reasons for his decision.
Marty Tabb, a former Cliftonville captain and manager, took over for the start of the 2010–11 season. However, in September 2010, he was sacked after only 74 days in charge. Paddy Kelly then returned to the club for a second spell as manager. He resigned for the second time in January 2012, along with a number of coaches and the entire club committee, due to an internal club dispute.