Portadown

Junior years (1886–1924)

The Mid Ulster Football Association was established in 1887 and a series of meetings were held in the Young Men's Institute in Edward Street in Portadown to create a club to compete in the Mid-Ulster Cup. Early matches were played at Tavanagh, Ripley's Field, Armagh Road and Old Shamrock Park which was located close to the site of what is now Clounagh Junior High School. Among the early names to turn out for The Ports were Val Wilson, who would later become High Sheriff for County Armagh; and Harry Bell, whose father owned brickworks on the Armagh Road.

The club won the Irish Junior Cup after defeating Larne at Grosvenor Park on 18 March 1899. That same season, The Ports won their first ever cup double by winning the Mid-Ulster Cup for the first time. Portadown retained the trophy the following season and the following next five seasons before the outbreak of World War I. While the Irish Intermediate League was formed in 1916, and Portadown were selected as one of its inaugural clubs, they withdrew as a large number of the club's players left to fight in World War I. With the return of local men from the war, there was a demand for senior football in the region. A number of junior clubs in the area put aside their rivalries and backed Portadown's bid to join the Irish League. In 1923, the Irish League was expanded from six to ten clubs with the introduction of Newry Town, Ards and Barn. Subsequently, after a number of years of preparation, representatives of the club (including William Mullen, Tom Dawson and a committee) met the league chiefs in June 1924 and were able to present a case for joining the league. Portadown became a full member club of the Irish League together with the readmittance of Belfast Celtic.

Early Irish League years (1924–1932)

Portadown played their first senior game, in August 1924, against Glentoran. The first Irish League game played at Shamrock Park was against the champions Queens Island in a game that finished 0–0.

In that first season, Portadown finished fourth, two points behind Belfast Celtic with Queens Island taking second place, behind champions Glentoran. Along the way, The Ports played some memorable matches, including a 4–3 victory over Linfield at Shamrock Park and a 1–0 win against Belfast Celtic in the City Cup.

The 1925–26 season saw a continuation of their consolidation in the league with away victories at both Belfast Celtic and Linfield.

After nine seasons in senior football, Portadown won their first senior trophy, defeating Glentoran 1–0 at Solitude in the Gold Cup Final. Around 5,000 fans travelled to witness the win. With three minutes remaining and the scores level at 0–0, William Johnston scored the winning goal.

As the team returned to town that night, they were met by thousands of people at the railway station and toured the town in an open top bus before stopping at St. Mark's Church for speeches. Chairman William Mullen led the speeches before igniting a large bonfire.

Tommy Sloan trophy winning era (1932–1938)

Tommy Sloan was appointed manager in 1932 and his and Portadown's first major trophy success came in the 1933–34 season when they won the Gold Cup under Sloan's charge and won the same trophy again in the 1937–38 season before his resignation due to the coming war in 1938. He was replaced by Hugh Bullough, but would return to the club for a brief spell during World War II.

Postwar era (1945–1954)

Post-war, Portadown were in the shadow of Mid Ulster rivals Glenavon, who were undergoing their period of glory years in the 1950s that is yet to be repeated by The Lurgan Blues.

Gibby McKenzie era (1958–1977)

In 1958, the club appointed Scottish manager Gibby McKenzie. The press described him as "the fast-talking Scot with the fanatical zeal for the game who eats sleeps and breathes football" after Harry Walker's short spell in charge. McKenzie very nearly clinched that first elusive league title in the 1960–61 season with Albert Mitchell missing a penalty that would have secured the league championship against Glentoran and in the 1961–62 season, where they finished second to Linfield in these seasons and finished third in the Irish League the following season. McKenzie left The Ports for good in 1977 after his second spell in charge of the club.

Bertie Neil era (1977–1979)

In 1977, the club appointed former Bangor Bertie Neil, famed for the development of Northern Ireland legend and now Sky Sports commentator Gerry Armstrong. Neil's spell, although short, was considered successful, with another Gold Cup and an Irish Cup Final appearance in a 3–2 defeat to Cliftonville. In 1979, the club announced that Neil had left the club "by mutual consent".

Terry Kingon era (1983–1986)

After Jon Flanagan's short spell in charge, the club appointed former player Terry Kingon. His team reached the Ulster Cup final in 1985, defeating Linfield 3–1 in the semi-final at The Oval. But the serious injury in that match to star Scottish striker Billy Paton (who had scored 28 goals the previous season for The Ports) was a devastating blow.

Portadown held Coleraine to a 0–0 draw during the 90 minutes but collapsed in extra-time, losing 5–0. Paton, who had started the game with pain-killing injections, broke down early on. Deprived of his scoring qualities for the rest of the season, Portadown struggled financially and this resulted in the sale of the training ground to meet creditors' demands. Kingon did his best with limited resources and one of the fascinating features of his season in charge at Shamrock Park was the large number of drawn games involving Portadown. In fact, before he resigned in December 1986, Portadown had drawn 9 of the first 14 Irish League games, losing the other five.