Rearcross FC and Clodiagh Rangers have been soccer neighbours dating back to the late seventies with many memorable encounters taking place in Drombane and various pitch locations around Rearcross over the intervening years. It is indeed fitting that both Clubs have joined forces to enter a Youths Team in the NT&DL for the 2024 / 2025 season. Rearcross fielded a competitive Youths team last season, however with half the team over age for this campaign, the opportunity arose for both Clubs to merge forces with the main objective of giving Youths players in the region the chance to play Youths football. The combination outfit got off to a flyer in Rearcross last Saturday with a comprehensive six nil victory over Cloughjordan FC in the Youths Premier Division. A great start for coach Paul Carey and management team of Sean Purcell and Tommy Carroll.
Cloughjordan FC are also congratulated on their recent allocation of €149,000 from the Sports Capital Programme and are wished all the best with their Grounds developments.

Clodiagh Rangers / Rearcross Youths off to a flyer in league opener

Clodiagh Rangers/Rearcross FC Youths played their first match together at the superbly laid out grounds, even with the torrential weather the field was in immaculate condition with players and management team very complimentary to the Rearcross FC Grounds group on having the pitch in such great condition. This set the tone of the type of standard we want from these young players. The Rearcross and Clodiagh combination team got off to the best possible start when a great cross by Liam Challen was met by Sean Griffin who showed maturity beyond his years to pick his spot to give the home team a one nil lead after two minutes. Cloughjordan immediately responded and started playing some great football from their back line out. It took some solid defending at the early stages by Conor Brett, Max Carroll, Micheal Quinlan and Liam Challen to keep us 1-0. On eight minutes, a great cross by James Butler was met by Hugh Purcell who rose highest between two defenders to get a great header on goal hitting the crossbar. On 10 minutes, Michael Quinlan broke down a Cloughjordan attack and played the ball to Liam Challen who again fed the ball to James Butler who had a shot on goal, Max Carroll followed up the rebound with another shot on target. At this stage, the combination outfit were piling on quite a lot of pressure on the visiting Cloughjordan team when a great cross from Paddy Ryan was met by Larry Collins for a shot on goal. On the left side Taylor Light got a great cross to Paddy Ryan with another shot on goal. The Cloughjordan team held firm and were playing some great football from their backs out and pulled Jack Brett into action on 16 minutes with a great save. Cloughjordan were coming into the game and playing a nice brand of football but the Rearcross/Clodiagh team did not have to wait long for the next goal. A free kick won by Larry Collins on the edge of the box saw Sean Griffin and James Butler stand over the ball on 21 minutes with James Butler scoring via a deflection to give the Cloughjordan custodian no chance. Cloughjordan showed that they were still very much in this game with some great interplay from midfield and a great cross from the right side putting our defence under pressure, but Jack Brett came out highest to punch clear and avert the danger. The clearance came to Taylor Light who in turn set up James Butler for a goal in the 24th minute to leave the home side 3-0 up. A well work free kick on the 27th minute this time by Sean Griffin was just narrowly wide. As the first half wore on the Rearcross/Clodiagh team were starting to create quite a lot of chances and then on 33 minutes a great pass by Hugh Purcell set up James Butler for a shot on goal. Hugh Purcell was playing a super role up front making a lot of runs, moving the defence out of position and creating space for his teammates. On 34 minutes at great pass by Conor Brett set up Paddy Ryan for a shot on goal. Larry Collins played in Jame Butler for another shot on 37th minute. The Cloughjordan team gave us a reminder that they were still in this game when a very well worked play forced a shot on target from which Jack Brett pulled off a huge save on 42 minutes. Paddy Ryan put in a huge amount of work on the right side and set James Butler through on goal in the 43rd minute but the Cloughjordan keeper was equal to the effort. Just before half time Sean Griffin made his way into the box chasing down the defence and won the ball back and was taken down in the box for a penalty. James Butler made no mistake to make it 4-0 and completed his hat-trick in the process. As the weather got worse both teams got inside to warm up and regroup at half time. The management team of Sean Purcell and Tommy Carroll kept the young men organised and sent them out to work on keeping a clean sheet in the second half.
Rearcross/Clodiagh got off to a good start in the second half when a great ball from Conor Brett up the line to Paddy Ryan won us a corner. A well worked corner from Paddy Ryan to James Butler who turned his marker and squared to Sean Griffin and from outside the box placed it perfectly into the top corner. We continued to create a lot of scoring chances with Hugh Purcell and Larry Collins both going really close but for some great saves by the Cloughjordan keeper. Cloughjordan kept playing some really good football from the back line right up to the top end of the pitch and on another day would have yielded a lot more. We started to make some changes with Aaron Quinlan on for the hard-working Taylor Light and he worked very hard on the left side making some vital interceptions for his team. Timmy Costello came on for Hugh Purcell who put in a huge performance and ran his socks off for the team. It was Timmy Costello who played a neat one / two with James Butler and found himself in on goal only for the Cloughjordan keeper to make a great save. Jack Brett was called into action again on the 83rd and 84th minute with two great saves. In the 87th minute with Cloughjordan playing really well we caught them on the break with five passes starting from Max Carroll to Larry Collins to James Butler to Sean Griffin and back to the onrushing Max Carroll who was able to turn past two defenders and place his shot across the keeper to the bottom corner for a very good goal. The Rearcross /Clodiagh team saw out the rest of the game holding firm not to concede from a very hard-working Cloughjordan team that play a very nice brand of football. Both teams are complimented on trying to play football on the ground in such conditions. For the host team, this was a very good start with some super goals and great team work. Jack Brett and his defence were solid all day and when needed he was there with vital saves at important moments. For these young men, it was their first game together so we have a lot to work on to get ready for the next league fixture against Arra Rovers. Best on the day were Conor Brett, Hugh Purcell, Sean Griffin, Larry Collins and man of the match James Butler. A thankful mention to referee Bobby O’Connor who also had to endure the terrible weather conditions and did a great job encouraging both teams to play.

Clodiagh Rangers / Rearcross Youths: Jack Brett, Conor Brett (Joint Capt), Max Carroll, Micheal Quinlan, Liam Challen, Sean Griffin, Taylor Light (Joint Capt), Larry Collins, James Butler, Paddy Ryan, Hugh Purcell
Subs Leo Ryan for Micheal Quinlan, Aaron Quinlan for Taylor Light, Timmy Costello for Hugh Purcell

Cloughjordan FC Youths: J Naughnane, C Kennedy, F Woods Aherne, J Quinlisk, M Henelly, F Doheny, D Delaney, J Carroll, S O’Brien, M Ryan Byrne, W Jones.
Subs: C Haverty, D O’Meara

Referee: Bobby O’Connor

Report by Paul Carey
Photos courtesy of John Collins