Midleton

Billy Woods came through the youth ranks at Midleton, signed for Coventry City in 1991 and won caps for the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level. In November 2024 he came back to the club as Head of Football.

Midleton began on 10 June 1973 at Fr Murphy's Youth Club, set up by Pa Coakley and Mick Kirby. The first kit was yellow and blue. The black and white stripes came later and gave the club its nickname, The Magpies.

Woods's departure for Coventry came just after the club's first Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division title, in 1990–91. A second followed in 1991–92. Then came a long wait: the next was 2017–18, and there have been two more since, in 2023–24 and 2024–25. The Beamish Senior Cup arrived in 2015–16, and in 2011–12 the Football Association of Ireland and Aviva named Midleton their Club of the Year.

Denis Mulcahy set a club scoring record in the late 1970s, then took up hurling and won All-Ireland medals with Cork. The club also runs the Denise McArdle Moore Midleton FC Girls Football Academy. Its nearest rivals are Youghal United, and their meetings are known as the East Cork derby.

All of this has been done in the Munster Senior League. Midleton have not yet played in the League of Ireland, the national league above it.