Enniskillen Rangers F.C.

Enniskillen Rangers

Full name	Enniskillen Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Gers
Founded	1953
Ground	The Ball Range, Enniskillen
Manager	Michael Kerr
League	Fermanagh & Western Division One

Enniskillen Rangers is a Northern Irish football club located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and play in the Fermanagh & Western League Division 1. The club are the current holders of the Irish Junior Cup and Fermanagh & Western Division One Champions. ^{[1] [2]}

Formed in 1953, Enniskillen Rangers play in the Fermanagh and Western Football League Division One. The club has won the prestigious Irish Junior Cup four times and finished runners-up four times. They have been Fermanagh & Western Division One champions eighteen times and Mulhern Cup winners sixteen times and are currently the most decorated team in County Fermanagh.

Between 1962 and 1966, the club won five Division One titles in a row. The 1999 season was the club's most successful, when they won the so-called 'Treble' - the Irish Junior Cup, the First Division and the Mulhern Cup. The club emphatically won the 2017 Irish Junior Cup ^[3] and in 2018, Enniskillen Rangers defended their title, winning back-to-back Irish Junior Cups for the first time in their history. ^[4] In 2019, Enniskillen Rangers created history winning the prestigious Irish Junior Cup for a third time in a row. They were defeated in the Final in 2020.

Ground

For the first fifteen years of their existence Rangers played at the old Broadmeadow ground, sharing with Enniskillen Corinthians.  This was followed by a ten-year spell at the Commons, Bellanaleck, before they acquired a hundred-year lease from Fermanagh District Council for the ground at McLaughlin's Field, Derrychara. After Fermanagh District Council sold the Derrychara site to Tesco's in 2004, and Rangers sold their lease, the club spent a number of years playing at the Lakeland Forum Playing Fields, while searching for a suitable site to develop their own facilities.

After a difficult and protracted process, Rangers eventually acquired land at Woaghternerry on the outskirts of Enniskillen,and engaged Prunty Contacts Ltd to construct two sand-based pitches on the ten acre site. In the spring and summer of 2015, a clubhouse with changing rooms to Intermediate standard, fences enclosing the main pitch, turnstiles and car parking for 200 cars were constructed. Rangers took up residence for the start of the 2015–16 season. The new grounds are located on the site of a shooting range used by Enniskillen Rifle Association in the late nineteenth century, and by the military, the police and the American Army in the first half of the twentieth century. Older locals still refer to the general area as “the Ball Range” so the club continued with the name when the grounds were put to a new sporting use. The ground has subsequently been improved by the addition of spectator stands and a VIP/Players' Lounge.

Irish Junior Cup

Enniskillen Rangers have played in eight Irish Junior Cup finals and have won the trophy four times. After vdefeats in the 1975 and 1989 Finals to Glebe Swifts and Oxford Utd respectively, their first win came in 1999 when they beat Lisburn Rangers at Loughgall FC. The following year the club reached the Final again but were defeated by Lisnaskea Rovers at Ferney Park, Ballinamallard. The club reached the Final in 2017, the first to be held at the National Stadium at Windsor Park, beating Hill Street. The club defeated Greenisland in the 2018 Final, again at the National Stadium, retaining the trophy for the first time in the club's history. ^[5] In 2018/19, the club won the Irish Junior Cup for a third time in a row, defeating Fermanagh and Western side Tummery Athletic at Ferney Park, Ballinamallard, and the following year were defeated in the Final on penalties by Willowbank at Shamrock Park, Portadown.

Winners

• 1998-99 (4-0 v Lisburn Rangers)
• 2016-17 (5-1 v Hill Street)
• 2017-18 (2-0 v Greenisland)
• 2018-19 (1-0 v Tummery Athletic)

Runners-up

• 1974-75 (2-3 v Glebe Swifts)
• 1988-89 (0-1 v Oxford United
• 1999-00 (3-4 v Lisnaskea Rovers)
• 2019-20 (1-1 v Willowbank 5-3 AET, penalties)

Fermanagh & Western League Division One

Enniskillen Rangers have won the Fermanagh & Western Division One eighteen times (18) and finished in second place fourteen (14) times.

Champions

• 1954/55
• 1956/57
• 1958/59
• 1961/62
• 1962/63
• 1963/64
• 1964/65
• 1965/66
• 1972/73
• 1976/77
• 1981/82
• 1987/88
• 1989/90
• 1990/91
• 1991/92
• 1998/99
• 2017/18
• 2018/19

Runners-Up

• 1955–56
• 1957–58
• 1967–68
• 1968–69
• 1971–72
• 1973–74
• 1974–75
• 1982–83
• 1983–84
• 1984–85
• 1988–89
• 1993–94
• 2001–02
• 2019–20

Mulhern Cup

Enniskillen Rangers have won the Mulhern Cup sixteen times (16) and have beaten finalists six times.

Winners

• 1956
• 1957
• 1958
• 1959
• 1962
• 1964
• 1965
• 1978
• 1981
• 1982
• 1984
• 1988
• 1993
• 1995
• 1999
• 2022

Finalists

• 1977
• 1986
• 1989
• 1992
• 1994
• 1998

Lowry-Corry Cup

Winners

• 2014/14

Kennedy Cup

Winners

• 2017
• 2018

Notable players

• Sandy Fulton
• Jim Cleary
• Joe Keenan
• Nigel Birney
• Adrian Hopkins
• Dessie Donegan

External Sources

• Fermanagh & Western Football League
• Northern Ireland Junior Football

References

1. "FOOTBALL REVIEW: Kerr steers Rangers to Junior Cup glory". The Impartial Reporter . 2 January 2018.
2. "Rangers see off Harps to claim title". The Impartial Reporter . 24 May 2018.
3. "Enniskillen Rangers' historic win marked at Chairman's reception at Townhall". The Impartial Reporter . 18 August 2017.
4. "Enniskillen Rangers claim Irish Junior cup crown". The Impartial Reporter . 7 May 2018.
5. "Fermanagh side prove too strong for Greenisland in decider". Irish Football Association. 7 May 2018.