Buncrana Hearts F.C.

Castle Park, the home ground of Buncrana Hearts, is based at The Buncrana Youth Club.[2] This has been Buncrana Hearts's home since the 1970s. It has two full-size pitches, one training pitch, two Astroturf pitches, indoor pitch and excellent changing facilities.

Buncrana Hearts' underage structure in recent times has been extremely successful, producing teams that have won all competitions they have played in the last five years. Individual progression has also been excellent in recent times with players progressing to higher levels. Since 2007, the club has had several players go on trial with professional clubs in England.[3]

Conor O'Donnell is currently a member of Limerick F.C. first-team. Mark Timlin is currently a member of the St. Patrick's Athletic first-team and was a runner up in the 2014 FAI Cup final. Reamonn McCormick is the club's all time top scorer with 3 goals. The Creggan man left the club to pursue a career in pornographic acting.

Buncrana Hearts won the Ulster Senior League and Buncrana Cup double for the first time in 1992/1993. F.A.I. Development Officer Stephen McNutt was player-manager and was assisted by Sean Murphy with Derek Smith team captain. Player of the Year was Shane Byrne with Top Goalscorer going to John Coyle. The team continued its success the following season narrowly missing out on retaining the title after losing a play-off and by becoming the first winners of the Ulster Senior Cup defeating Letterkenny Rovers in the final.

In the last few years, Buncrana Hearts have developed a relationship with Derry City in the League of Ireland,[4] and English Championship side Preston North End. This has seen several players join these clubs, either on trial or on a permanent basis.