KILBARRY RANGERS FC

                      

Kilbarry Rangers were founded in 1972 by Noel Burke. The club was a breakaway from another local club Dolphin FC and that is also where the dolphins on the Kilbarry Rangers club crest stem from. The club operated on a small scale compared to other clubs but did have teams at First Division, Third Division and Fourth Division over the years. The club played on the old Evergreen pitch for a short few years after starting before moving to Williamstown in Johns Park where the club spent spent well over a decade, the pitch was shared with fellow clubs Tycor and St Joseph’s. The clubs first cup final came in 1980 when the Fourth Division team would lose out to Dungarvan. In 1982 the Fourth Division team once again reached the cup final and played Butlerstown however that game once again ended in defeat. Three years later in 1985 Kilbarry would reach another cup final with the Third Division team and they played Kyleogue beating them 3-1 to give the club it’s first honour. In 1987 the Third Division team would have a very successful league campaign but lost out on the title via a play off against Red Star. In 1989 the club were forced to move out of its home ground in Johns Park, the Waterford Junior League decided that one of Kilbarry, Tycor and St Joseph’s using the ground would have to relocate to a plot of land in Ballybeg and the decision was literally decided by a coin toss and Kilbarry would be the ones to lose. The new pitch was anything but ideal, visits from stray horses were not uncommon and it even began to be unsafe to play there. Luckily Noel managed to secure a new plot of land in the very next field which previously belonged to Ballybeg’s Camogie Club where the club stayed for the next number of years. In 1999 the Fourth Division team added the clubs second honour to the list winning the Fourth Division Cup by defeating Kilmacthomas 2-0 in Ozier Park. The club withdrew from the Waterford Junior League in the early 2000s after decades of running successfully leaving behind a fantastic legacy. Noel’s contribution to Waterford football with Kilbarry has not been forgotten even by the highest levels of Irish football aswell as his old Kilbarry colleagues, in 2016 he led out the Waterford United (Now Waterford FC) team before their fixture against Athlone Town as a mark of respect to his legacy from the League of Ireland club. On May 19th 2017 Noel passed away after bravely battling illness for many months. The club has previously meant a lot to many people in the past and a great example of this is when the Noel Burke Memorial game was held in Ozier Park two years in a row in 2017 & 2018, the games held in Noel’s honour received a fantastic turnout from ex players and family on both occasions and all proceeds went to Waterford Hospice. On July 7th 2017 he was honoured in the match programme of Waterford FC vs Wexford FC with ex Kilbarry player Brian Kennedy giving him a touching tribute by reminiscing of old tales and stories of Noel and the club. On September 5th Noel was given a tribute by the FAI in the match programme for the World Cup Qualifier between Republic of Ireland and Serbia.

 

In the summer of 2019 Noel’s grandson Liam decided to take the steps to reform the club, it was an ambition of his for many years and he saw the right opportunity to finally take the step into reforming mainly due to his group of friends having the same ambition to play on the same side as each other after many years of playing on opposing youth teams. Not sure if the query would even be taken seriously it was only shortly later that things started to move quickly and on July 17th the Waterford Junior League officially announced Kilbarry Rangers re-entry into the league had been accepted after proving the required structure and requirements were in place. The clubs new home ground was the RSC and we played our first game in just under two decades on the 24th of August against Carrick United at home which was a historic day for the football club, not one player in our squad that day was over the age of 2o. The game itself was a thriller and sadly ended in a narrow 3-2 defeat after a brilliant performance which was watched by plenty of proud ex players from the sidelines. The clubs first win back in Waterford football came with a 3-2 win over Dungarvan Celtic despite initially being two goals down, a double from Ben Peacock inspired us and got us level before Daniel Mihalache tucked away the winner. Not long later our first season back was cut short due to the unfortunate and unexpected Covid-19 pandemic which hit in March 2020. The break for the lockdown allowed us to plan thoroughly and for the new season and reflect and learn from our 2019/20 experiences which was one of the few positives from the lockdown. Football did indeed return for the 2020/21 season and we started the season with one win which was a club record away win which was 8-1 vs Kilmacthomas, two draws and a loss which was an improvement from the season before from our first four games. However we would go back into lockdown due to the pandemic and football would not resume until the following summer. With the new 2021/22 season looming the club were hit hard from the pandemic after having to pay league and insurance fees despite no football being played for nearly a year. It was then the club were offered €2000 by Paddy Power as part of the #SaveOurGame promotion. This figure made a massive difference to the immediate future of the club and allowed us pay off the bills and invest and make the club more professional in terms of equipment.

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