By Jonathan Brown
ONE of the Amateur League’s most successful teams can see light at the end of the tunnel after a nightmare five-year period.
Killyleagh YC, eight-time NAFL Premier Division champions, after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier Division in 2022, finished rock bottom of the Premier Division table a year later, with one point and an astounding goal difference of -131.
After finishing 11th in the 1A table in 2023/24, another relegation followed last year, as the Whites sank to 1B after winning just two league games all season.
That’s not to mention the constant flooding problems with the club’s Showgrounds pitch, and the tragic death of much-loved player Callum McVeigh at the end of last year.
Former player Stephen Lindsay returned for his second spell as manager in early 2025, having previously saved them from Premier Division relegation in the 2021/22 season, but couldn’t repeat the trick last year.
When Lindsay was asked to return to the Showgrounds, he agreed, on the condition that club legend Dee Heron would join him as assistant manager.
“When the club rang me and asked me to come back, one of the conditions was I wanted Dee in with me.
“Our team is one of the youngest teams in the Amateur League, so it can be good for those young players to see that experience sitting alongside me, someone that’s won everything for the club.
“I just thought it would be a nice thing to bring that sort of experience in alongside me.”
Heron famously led Killyleagh to six consecutive Premier Division titles between 1999 and 2005, and the semi-final of the Irish Cup in 2002.
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