Cliftonville 1879-1910

John McAlery was responsible for the introduction of Association Football to Ireland. McAlery was a Belfast based clothier who imported tweeds from Scotland. In 1878 he was in Scotland on honeymoon when he saw a game of  football being played.
On his return to Belfast McAlery arranged for 2 Scottish teams, Queen's Park and Caledonian (Inverness), to play an exhibition match at the Ulster Cricket Ground. Queen's Park won 3-2.

The exhibition match took place in October 1878 and the following year McAlery decided to try and set up a football club to play Scottish Association Rules (which differed from those of the Football Association). He placed the above advertisement in the Belfast press and enlisted the support of fellow members of Cliftonville Cricket Club.
Cliftonville became a major force in Irish football (which, in the early days, focused almost exclusively on Belfast).  

	Cliftonville		Honours
1879	Foundation. An inauspicious start, losing 2-1 against a team of Rugby players known as Quidnunces and 9-1 to Caledonian.
1880		John McAlery instigates the foundation of the Irish Football Association. He is secretary up until 1888
1881	Lost in the final of the first edition of the Irish Cup, 1-0 to Mayola Park	Irish Football Association Challenge Cup inaugurated
1882	Lost in the final of the Irish Cup , 1-0 to Queen's Island	4 Cliftonville players in Ireland’s first international XI, McAlery as captain
1883	Beat Ulster 5-0 to win Irish Cup for the first time		Irish Cup
1884			Belfast Charity Cup
1885
1886	Played in FA Cup		Belfast Charity Cup
1887	Lost 3-1 to Ulster  in cup final		Belfast Charity Cup
1888	Beat Distillery 2-1 to win Irish Cup Played in FA Cup		Irish Cup Belfast Charity Cup
1889			Belfast Charity Cup
1890	Moved to Solitude. Lost 3-0 to  Gordon Highlanders in a  cup final replay	The Irish Football League founded. (Belfast & District League)
1891
1892			County Antrim Shield
1893	Lost 5-1 to Linfield in cup final
1894			County Antrim Shield
1895
1896
1897	Beat Sherwood Foresters 3-1 in cup final		Irish Cup Belfast Charity Cup
1898			County Antrim Shield
1899
1900	Beat Bohemians 2-1 in cup final		Irish Cup
1901		Division A Ireland	Irish Cup
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906			Irish League
1907	Beat Shelbourne 1-0 in cup final replay		Irish Cup Belfast Charity Cup
1908			Belfast Charity Cup
1909	Beat Bohemians 2-1 in cup final replay		Irish Cup Belfast Charity Cup
1910			Irish League

1897