Shelbourne’s success highlights a golden era of football in Omagh

WHEN those connected with the now defunct Shelbourne Football Club gather to mark the 50th anniversary of the club’s formation in the Weigh Inn on Saturday evening they won’t only be celebrating and reflecting on the 42 years that the Omagh club was in existence they’ll also be remembering a golden era of football in the town.

Shelbourne’s rise through the ranks and success has been well documented. The club was formed in 1972 and within 10 years they were crowned Fermanagh and Western League champions (1982-83) for the first time with kingpins Enniskillen Rangers finishing as runners-up.

That was essentially the beginning of the Shels’ glory years under Joe Campbell and Hugh Crawford.

The Omagh outfit retained the title in the 1983-84 season and again the following season. They also won the Top Four league competition in those seasons and in 1985 defeated Omagh Town Reserves in the final of the Mulhern Cup following a replay. The first game finished 2-2 and a crowd of some 2, 000 people returned to the Omagh Showgrounds a week later to see Shelbourne won 5-1 to complete a memorable treble.

A few months later the Shels stepped up into the Northern Ireland Intermediate League and low and behold triumphed in their first season.

On Saturday May 24th, 1986 Shelbourne sealed their league success by defeating title rivals Oxford United Stars 2-1 at Omagh Leisure Centre with Trevor Donnelly and Paul McAnea netting the all important goals.

Shelbourne were in contention for league honours the following season but were pipped at the post by Stars. That ended a remarkable period for the club and it’s fair to say that the ‘Super Shels’ subsequently became victims of their own success.

Around the same time neighbours Omagh Town had put plans in place to bring senior football and in effect they raided Shelbourne’s parlour.

Town recruited the services of Joe Campbell and Paul McAnea to take charge of their first senior team and in their very first game against Newry Town at St Julian’s Road six of the starting 11 had all played for Shelbourne.

The Shels though were far from finished. They returned to the ranks of the Fermanagh and Western League and in the mid ninties, under Liam Donnelly and Mickey O’Sullivan, the Omagh outfit clinched back-to-back Division One titles in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, that after defeating Enniskillen Rangers 1-0 in the 1992 final of the Mulhern Cup.

There followed a barren period of some seven years but in the 2002-03 season a new generation of Shelbourne players returned to the summit by securing a second Mercer League and Mulhern Cup double.

Unfortunately that turned out to be the Shels’ last major success. The club slipped into a period of decline for one reason and another and twice in the subsequent years the Omagh side was relegated from the top flight.

The struggles continued and in July 2014 the club folded in the wake of a number of managerial resignations and an exodus of players. That brought the curtain down on a golden period of football in Omagh during which ‘The Super Shels’ had won six Mercer League titles, five Top Four competitions, four Mulhern Cups and one Northern Ireland Intermediate League title.

As it so happens Shelbourne’s 50th birthday party bash falls on December 4, 30 years to the day that Omagh Town defeated Linfield 3-1 to win their one and only senior trophy, the 1991 Budweiser Cup. One of Town’s goalscorers that night was a certain Martin Woodhead – ex-Shelbourne!