Cherry Orchard F.C.

History

Cherry Orchard was formed in 1957 and initially organised only adult teams. The club began playing in the Leinster Alliance League, then the Leinster Junior League, before switching to the Athletic Union League in the mid-1960s. Cherry Orchard, also known as Orchard, first won a national competition in the 1981–1982 season by taking the FAI Junior Cup. They then won that cup three times in a row between the 1984–1985 and 1986–1987 seasons, and twice in a row in 1989–1990 and 1990–1991.

During this period Orchard also won the Athletic Union League five times. After these successes the club joined the Leinster Senior League for the 1992–93 season, gaining promotion to the LSL Senior Division in its first season. In 1993–94, its debut season in that division, Orchard won its first Leinster Senior League title. In the 2015–16 season the club won the Leinster Senior League Senior 1 Sunday Division and the Charlie Cahill Cup double.

Cherry Orchard first fielded schoolboy teams in 1970, and in the decades since has won several schoolboy and youth league and cup competitions at provincial and national level. In 1993 Cherry Orchard won the Milk Cup, beating Rangers F.C. 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final played before a crowd of 10,000 at the Coleraine Showgrounds; all previous winners had been academy teams of top clubs from England and Scotland. A number of Cherry Orchard youth players have played on Republic of Ireland youth teams.

In 1998, when the Republic of Ireland won both the UEFA European Under-16 Championship and the UEFA European Under-18 Championship, both teams included former Orchard players: Andy Reid played in the under-16 team, while Alan Quinn scored in the under-18 final against Germany. Jessie Stapleton, who later played with West Ham United and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team, also started at Cherry Orchard.