Sandyhill Celtic History and Honours:
Sandyhill Celtic where formed in 1982 and began playing football in the Leinster football league. Their home pitch was Coultry Park and the players mainly came from Northern Ireland but lived in Ballymun. In the first year they began to add local players from the Coultry area including Club Secretary Davy Mangan and Fintan Lalor. The Team quickly began to improve and in 1985 the first silverware arrived at the "hill in the form of a league and cup double led by captain Noel Grace. The following years saw the side quickly promoted through the divisions until they reached Premier Saturday in the LFL. Players featuring during this time included Pat O'Connor,Ray Crowley, Fintan Lalor, Ian leech, Davy and Frankie Mangan to name but a few. Managers included Joe Dennis, Eddie Rodden, Chrisy Leech and Danny Smith. Over the next few seasons Sandyhill became the dominant side in the Saturday Division of the league regularily winning the top division and a number of cups. The club then took the decision to become more competitive and joined the A.U.L, putting there first team in the Sunday leagues and a second team in the Saturday section. At this stage Padser Duffy became manager there was a major increase in local interest in the club. Richy Crean become involved on the coaching side and the club began to move through the ranks. With former Club captain Paul Murphy at the helm Sandyhill won Division one and Premier C Championships. In there first year in Premier B, Sandyhill faced a tough season that included a number of cup runs that would be the undoing of there chances of winning the league. The 'Hill enjoyed a great run in the F.A.I cup before losing out narrowly to Ballymun United in the last sixteen. Players at this time included Paul Hennessy, Fintan Lalor, Jimmy Keegan, Stephen Dolan, Davy and Paul Kane and Paul Murphy. At this time the Saturday team had one every league from Division Three right through to promotion to Senior Saturday with Davy Mangan and Ray Crowley managing at different times. The club began to suffer with the breakup of the first team and progress was slow as they remained in Premier B for a number of years. Long serving player fintan Lalor took over as manager but the rebuilding of the team was badly affected as the club had to move away from Coultry Park for a long number of years. more to follow