Cherry Orchard Football Club is an Irish association football club based in the Cherry Orchard district of

Ballyfermot Ballyfermot () is a suburb town nw of the city aside Dublin, Ireland. It is located, seven kilometres (5 miles) west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park, it is bordered on the north by Chapelizod, on the south by Bluebell; on the east ...

, Dublin. Their senior team plays in the Leinster Senior League. They have also competed in the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

, the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup ( ga, Corn Comortais Peile na hÉireann), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediat ...

, the

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairv ...

and the Leinster Senior Cup. The Orchard also have reserve teams playing in the Leinster Senior League and enter teams in the Dublin & District Schoolboy League. Cherry Orchard is well known for its

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

which has successfully produced dozens of players who have gone onto play for clubs throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. In addition, many have also gone on to represent the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

at various international levels.

History

Senior Teams

When Cherry Orchard was formed in 1957 it initially only organised adult teams. They began playing in the Leinster Alliance League and then the Leinster Junior League before switching to the Athletic Union League in the mid-1960s. Orchard first came to national prominence when they won the

in 1981–82. Between 1984 and 1985 and 1986–87 they also won the FAI Junior Cup three times in a row and then won it twice in a row in 1989–90 and 1990–91. During this time Orchard also won the Athletic Union League five times. Based on these successes, the club decided to join the Leinster Senior League for the 1992–93 season. In their first season in the Leinster Senior League, Orchard gained promotion to the Senior Division. In 1993–94, in their debut season in the Senior Division, Orchard won their first Leinster Senior League title. In the 2015–16 season, 'The Orchard' won the Leinster Senior League Senior 1 Sunday Division and the Charlie Cahill Cup double. They also finished runners-up in the Leinster Senior League Major Saturday Division.

Youth Academy

Cherry Orchard first began to field schoolboy teams in 1970. In the decades since, Orchard have won an assortment of schoolboy and youth league and cup competitions at both provincial and national level. In 1993 Cherry Orchard also won the prestigious

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area o ...

, beating

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fo ...

4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final played before a crowd of 10,000 at the

Coleraine Showgrounds The Showgrounds is a football stadium in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Coleraine F.C. The stadium holds approximately 3,500 with the stadium consisting of a mix of terracing and seating. Between Septe ...

. All the previous winners of the Milk Cup had been academy teams of top clubs from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. Cherry Orchard regularly supplies players to

schoolboy and youth teams. In 1998 when the Republic of Ireland won both the

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

and the

UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and Englan ...

both teams included former Orchard players.

Andy Reid Andrew Walter Reid (born March 19, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Reid was previously head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2012. From 200 ...

played in the Under-16 team, while

Alan Quinn Alan Quinn (born 13 June 1979 in Dublin) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is one of nine brothers; both Stephen and Keith were on the books at Alan's former club, Sheffield United while another brother ...

scored in the Under-18 final against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Grounds

Cherry Orchard play their home games at Elmdale, the Lawns (Le Fanu Park) and at St. John’s College in

. The facility in Elmdale has been transformed in recent years with the addition of an AstroTurf.

Notable former players

;

internationals ; Republic of Ireland women internationals * Jessica Stapleton ;

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of it ...

representatives * Jackie Jameson *

Conor Kenna Conor Kenna (born 21 August 1984) is a retired Irish footballer who played as a centre back. Club career Shelbourne & UCD Kenna began his League of Ireland career with Shelbourne where he was a primary figure in the Reds' under 21 squad and ...

Aidan Price Aidan Price (born 8 December 1981) is an Irish former association football, football player and currently head coach of Shamrock Rovers F.C. II, Shamrock Rovers II. Price played for Kilkenny City F.C., Kilkenny City until the start of 2006 whe ...

; Republic of Ireland B internationals *

Seán Dillon Seán Dillon (born 30 July 1983) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Montrose, where he is a player-coach. He previously played for Dundee United and Irish teams Longford Town and Shelbourne in the League of Irela ...

Paddy McCarthy Patrick Richard McCarthy (born 31 May 1983) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is currently assistant manager of Premier League club Crystal Palace. Born in Dublin, he began his football career as a juni ...

Ger O'Brien Gerard O'Brien (born 2 July 1984) is an Irish former professional footballer who played in the League of Ireland as a defender. He is the current Director of Football of St Patrick's Athletic, who he spent 5 seasons playing with. His former cl ...

Tony Scully Anthony Derek Thomas Scully (born 12 June 1976 in Dublin) is an Irish former professional footballer and coach who started his career with Crystal Palace. Career While at Palace Scully went on loan to AFC Bournemouth and Cardiff City before jo ...

; Republic of Ireland U23 international *

Brendan Clarke Brendan Clarke (born 17 September 1985 in Dublin) is an Irish football player who plays for Galway United in the League of Ireland First Division. Club career St Patrick's Athletic Clarke is a goalkeeper and played schoolboy football for ...

; Republic of Ireland U21 internationals ; Republic of Ireland U19 internationals ; Republic of Ireland U17 internationals * Sinclair Armstrong * Gary Dempsey * David Freeman *

Darragh Markey Darragh Markey (born 23 May 1997) is an Irish professional footballer playing for League of Ireland Premier Division club, Drogheda United, having previously spent six seasons with St Patrick's Athletic, the club he started his professional car ...

; Republic of Ireland U16 internationals * Barry Prenderville * Ben Quinn *

James Abankwah James Bright Adusei Abankwah (born 16 January 2004) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Udinese, having joined in January 2022 from League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic, the club ...

Tommy Lonergan Thomas Lonergan (born 2 January 2004) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Fleetwood Town F.C., Fleetwood Town. Club career Youth career A native of Dunboyn ...

* Glory Nzingo ; Republic of Ireland U16 international * Ben Quinn *

Craig King Craig Stuart King (born 6 October 1990) is a professional association football, footballer who plays for Northern Premier League side Matlock Town F.C., Matlock Town, where he plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. Born in England, he represente ...

* Glory Nzingo ; Republic of Ireland futsal international *

Dane Massey Dane Massey (born 17 April 1988) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bray Wanderers in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He has also played for Dundalk, Drogheda United and for the Republic of Ireland nationa ...

;

Ireland national Australian rules football team The Irish national Australian rules football team ( ga, Foireann peile rialacha na hAstrálie náisiúnta na hÉireann) represent Ireland in Australian rules football and is selected from the best Irish born and raised players primarily from ...

player * Paul Sharry

Honours

Senior Team

* Leinster Senior League **''Winners'': 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07: 6 **''Runners-up'': 1995–96, 1998–99,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

: 3 * Athletic Union League **''Winners'': 1981–82, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92: 5 *

**''Winners'': 1997–98 **''Runners-up'': 2001–02, 2010–11, 2011–12: 3 *

**''Winners'': 1981–82, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1994–95: 7 **''Runners-up'': 1977–78: 1 * Leinster Senior Cup **''Runners-up'': 1997–98: 1

Youth Team

FAI Youth Cup The FAI Youth Cup, also known as the FAI Umbro Youth Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organised by the FAI for youth association football clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Greenmount Rangers. The competi ...

**''Winners'': 1989–90, 1992–93: 2 * FAI Under-17 Cup **''Winners'': 1988–89, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2013–14: 8 **''Runners-up'': 2012–13: 1 *

**''Winners'': 1992–93: 1 www.cherryorchardfc.yourclub.ie
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References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Cherry Orchard on Facebook
Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs Association football clubs established in 1957 1957 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Former Athletic Union League (Dublin) clubs Association football academies in the Republic of Ireland