Founded in 1986 Sands MacSwineys developed from Pearse Harps in Glasgow. As the numbers of Coatbridge players began to increase with the Glasgow based club this led to the birth of a more local-based team just a few miles from Glasgow city centre in an area decades before renowned for its Gaelic sports activities, especially hurling. Sands MacSwineys first full season was marked with success in reaching the 1986 final of the then Glasgow Championship only to lose to St Patrick's. By 1988 Sands achieved its first major trophy winning the O'Fiaich Cup beating Beltane Shamrocks at Pearse Park: the same trophy was won in 1996 and 1998. Sands won three league titles in a row between 1998 and 2000. The Coatbridge team, which has traditionally drawn its players from the greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire areas, won the Championship in 1990, 1991 and 1999, were runners-up in 1986, 1989, 1996 and 2000, and also won the Pearse Cup in 1990 and 1998. Sands were defeated in the British junior championship semi-final in 1999. Sands have been regular contributors to the County team, its members playing for Scotland in three prestigious international tournaments organised by Croke Park in the late 1990s and in 2002. The club initiated a minor set-up in the early 1990s and a successful local schools tournament during 1996 and 1997 and this involved approximately one hundred and fifty boys and girls from local primary schools. By the new millennium the Coatbridge side had once again became involved in the wider community sending coaches into local schools and providing coaching for hundreds of youngsters. This development has since spawned a new generation of young Gaelic Footballers in the town and its surrounding areas. By 2011 almost 3000 boys and girls had played and experienced Gaelic Football as a result of coaching activities in the area in the previous years. In addition, Gaelic footballers in the area also set up a successful youth team in 2008, Coatbridge Davitts. In the recent past Sands MacSwineys have been frequent visitors to Ireland over the years. Since jointly visiting Maghera County Derry, Crossmaglen County Armagh, Letterkenny County Donegal and Belfast County Antrim with Pearse Harps in 1986, Sands have visited clubs in Gortin, County Tyrone, Killarney, County Kerry, Nobber, County Meath, Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ardoyne and Falls Road, Belfast. Sands have also been frequent visitors to Watty Grahams Glen, Maghera, County Derry, who have also reciprocated with numerous visits to Coatbridge with both seniors and youngsters. The club has also hosted a number of teams from Mayo, Derry, Monaghan and Leeds as well as the County Sligo senior squad as part of the County Board of Scotland's centenary celebrations in 1997. In 1994, Micky Moran, coach of 1993 All-Ireland football winners Derry, brought the Sam Maguire trophy to Coatbridge to display to local football enthusiasts. Sands MacSwineys are current holders of the Paul Lennon Memorial Trophy and the St Patrick's Festival Cup played against University sides. The club celebrated its existence as the longest established team in Scotland since the 1980s with a dinner dance at St Patrick's Church Hall Coatbridge in May 2006 and looks forward to commemorating 30 years in the near future.