The earliest recorded match for the club is a 2–0 win over the Campbeltown Rangers at Kinloch Park in May 1885.

In 1889–90, the clubs met in the semi-final at the Showfield, the game ending 3–3;[7] Campbeltown protested about the "vacillation of an incompetent referee" who was "a round man in a square hole when acting as a referee", albeit in vain,[8] and the Volunteers won the replay 3–2, with a goal in the last three minutes.

There were however very few entrants in the two tournaments; the Athletics' only other tie was a 5–0 win in 1890–91 over a Kintyre side reduced to 8 men by the end of the match.

Goalkeeper Mathieson - a crew member on a smack - had to sail through a storm from Lamlash in order to get to the final, held at Cappielow Park, so it was a distinctly second-choice Athletic which lost 5–0.

[11] Perhaps because of the difficulties in raising a side, no more is heard of the team after the end of the season.