THIS year saw Cherry Orchard football club celebrate their 50th
anniversary. The Ballyfermot side have long been a leading developer of
talent, as well as combining successes at both senior and schoolboy
levels.

Since their foundation in 1957, Cherry Orchard have played in the Le
Fanu Park. But to look at their modest pitch you’d be deceived, it
hardly looks like a place where future English Premiership,
Championship and even Irish international players learned their trade.

But it was on this bumpy surface that players like Charlton and Ireland
playmaker Andy Reid, Preston and Ireland Goalkeeper Wayne Henderson and
current PFAI Player of the Year, Drogheda United defender, Brian
Shelley, developed their skills before moving into realms of
professional football.

The unassuming surroundings of ‘The Lawns’ park in many ways sums up
life for a Dublin football team. It couldn’t be any more grassroots.

There’s no place for ego on a icy winter Saturday or Sunday morning,
where the sharp winds and heavy rain take the place of crowds, other
than a small gathering of loyal fans. Dreams of playing at Old
Trafford, Anfield and representing your country couldn’t be further
from a player’s mind, yet this is what many Orchard players have gone
on to achieve.

Currently there are more then thirty former Orchard players playing
professionally with clubs in both England and Scotland, notable past
players include former Manchester City midfielder Willo Flood,
Sheffield United star Stephen Quinn and in-form Colchester attacker
Mark Yeates. One of club’s first exports, David Langan, went on to be
capped 26 times for Ireland from 1978 to 1986, as well as playing with
Derby County and Birmingham City.

So-far six former Orchard players have represented Ireland at senior
level; the latest to make the break through was Stephen Gleeson. The 19
year old Wolves midfielder made two appearances against Bolivia and
Ecuador back in May and has been ever present for the both U21s and
U19s.

Since entering into schoolboy football in 1970, the Orchard have been
one of the key suppliers of players to the Irish underage teams and are
regarded as one of the top schoolboy teams in the country.

Their greatest victory came in 1993, when, in front of 10,000
spectators at the Coleraine Showgrounds, the U-16 side defeated Glasgow
Rangers on penalties to win the Milk Cup, a competition that is
annually contested by teams such as the mighty Manchester United and
Liverpool, as well as teams from countries as far away as Chile and
Russia. Cherry Orchard remains the only amateur side to have won the
competition.

Another great season for the Ballyfermot club came in 2002-03 when the
schoolboy sides captured six of the eight 11-a-side Premier league
titles, three national cups and the Leinster Youths cup. The senior
side have been equally as successful and over the last twenty five
years they’ve won six FAI Junior Cups, four league and cup doubles, one
treble and are currently Leinster Senior League champions.

Cherry Orchard are a football club that have managed for half a century
to provide a grassroots education for their young players while
teaching them their own brand of attacking, positive one-touch football.

They’ve achieved near un-rivalled success at both senior and schoolboy
levels, produced Irish internationals and are rightly regarded as one
of the best nurturers of talent in Irish club football.

- Robert Redmond