Rhine of the times

When the Clare Junior Soccer League begins its new season in August, Rhine Rovers will be celebrating their 30th anniversary in existence. The Quin club could scarcely have provided themselves with a more fitting birthday present than securing promotion to the Premier Division for the first time in 27 years.
It is a success tinged with disappointment, however, given the dramatic and anti-climatic end to their league campaign. Needing only a draw on the last day of the season to clinch the title, they suffered the pain of a last minute goal against Bunratty Cratloe and, with Connolly winning their final game, the championship went to a play-off decider between the two clubs.
Connolly prevailed in the County Grounds to seal their first league win in 25 years and Rovers’ players could only look on as Connolly skipper Niall Quinn raised the trophy. The club was magnanimous in defeat though and congratulated their counterparts on their success, acknowledging that the league table at the end of a season tells no lies. When the dust settles on a dramatic season, Rovers will surely overcome that loss and as their disappointment fades, they will begin to look ahead to a massive season in the Premier Division where they will be rubbing shoulders with the best players in the county.    
It’s a remarkable reversal in the fortunes for a club who, until recently, had languished in the lowest division of the league for several years. Since 2006, they have climbed the footballing ladder and the prospect of dining at the top table is something that is exciting the club and the parish alike.
“We are incredibly excited by the thought of Premier Division soccer next season,” says chairman Rory O’Connor.
“We were a struggling club for many, many seasons, getting the odd promotion to the second division where we would invariably struggle before being relegated straight away the following year.
“We are under no illusions as to how difficult it will be. Watching Newmarket and Avenue recently illustrated that we are some way off that level of football. That Newmarket side are incredible to watch and we will definitely need a few players to make us competitive but we’re confident we can get them, especially with the calibre of the management team we have now in Paudie Cullinan and James Carrig. These guys know only success and they will not be going up just looking to make up the numbers. We’re hopeful we can make an impact but time will tell.”
Rovers have moved steadily through the divisions with a burgeoning reputation for playing good football. A runaway Third Division Championship in ’07-’08 under Timmy Clune and Ed Manley proved to be the spark needed to lift the club to greater heights, with the management team having successfully coaxed talented local players to join their home club.
It was the home of Timmy Clune that, in 2006, hosted a crucial meeting in the history of the club and members of the executive committee left that night with a five-year plan rattling in their brains. The ultimate goal was promotion to the Premier League.
Rovers hadn’t scaled any heights of note since finishing second to Newmarket in the old first division way back in ’85-’86. A Second Division Shield in ’94 and promotion to the second division in ’99 was the sum total of notable seasons. Finishing the ‘06-‘07 season mid-table in the Third Division completed another miserable year for the Quin club and, not for the first time in recent years, disbanding was an issue up for discussion.
“It was discussed, certainly,” says O’Connor, “and not without good reason either. We had effectively been the weakest junior club in the county for several years with nothing below us in the table only B teams and, frankly, the notion of continuing in that vein wasn’t something that appealed to us. We had an ambitious executive and management team (Timmy Clune and Ed Manley) but the players weren’t interested in committing to training at the time so something had to give. The best players in the parish were playing elsewhere and the first step, once we decided to continue, was to convince these guys that we had something to offer them.”
Convince them they did. Brothers Paul and Kevin Johnston were lured down from Premier side Lifford and Christy and Johnny O’Brien returned from Newmarket (a third brother Davy followed within a year) with the promise of a new attitude, a greater emphasis on good football and, crucially, the opportunity to build something special with their home club.
“Hurling rules the roost in Clooney-Quin,” says treasurer Ed Manley, “so we needed players who were willing to put soccer and Rhine Rovers first for once. With the lads coming back we had that, along with a handful of players like Brendan Quinn, Martin McInerney, Rory and Caimin O’Connor and Owen O’Brien. In the space of a month, we suddenly had a pretty serious side.”
The level of training increased substantially with two high tempo sessions per week in Lees Road and, sure enough, by the end of the ‘07/’08 season Rovers had annexed their first league championship in 23 years, unbeaten until the last game of the season.
“The work that Timmy and Ed did with us laid a template for the years to come,” says O’Connor, anxious to give credit to two men who are very modest about their achievements.
“They got their coaching badges and convinced us to approach every training session and every match with the correct attitude and socialising before a game became a no-no. It might sound like a prerequisite these days but it wasn’t always the case.
“When you make the effort to train twice a week though, and train hard, it seemed silly to ruin your chances on a Sunday morning by going on the lash the night before. The two lads certainly drummed that into us and I would genuinely say that their level of commitment rubbed off on the rest of the club and set us up for the years ahead.
“That Third Division League, which most clubs would scoff at, was very important for us. It was a piece of silverware but it was a tangible reward and it laid the foundation for future success and instilled a belief in players that the correct attitude could lead to success.”
They came close to winning the Second Division in the following two years but just fell short on each occasion before last year’s thrilling finale when Rovers brilliantly won ten of their last eleven league games to pip Manus Celtic A to the title by just a point. An informal partnership with Doora-Barefield had begun to develop and it ensured Rovers suddenly had access to players they might not have had previously.
Rory O’Connor and Owen O’Brien managed that team and O’Brien reckons, “the influx from Barefield was another huge boost for us. It meant that brilliant players like Keith Whelan (since emigrated), Ivor Whyte, Mark and Conor Hanrahan were massive additions to the squad and team. This year Cathal O’Sullivan, Aidan O’Connor and Shane O’Grady have joined the ranks too and have really bought into the club ethos. It’s really a great mix of the best players from the two parishes.”
Rhine’s Player of the Year, Cillian Duggan, added strength and class to their backline and Shannon’s Stephen Monaghan has taken the pressure off the O’Brien brothers in terms of goals.
Now the Premier Division beckons and Rhine are proud to be sitting at the top table, even if they have a way to go before establishing themselves up there on a consistent basis. Manager Paudie Cullian, who led Newmarket Celtic to a Premier title in 2008, says the top division holds no fears for him.
“We’re up there now and we have to make sure that we stay up there. We told the players at the start of this season that if they fully committed to the cause they would be in with a serious shout and, in fairness, they gave us everything they could. We will look for the same next year and although we’re not of the opinion that we can win the league, we are confident that we can make an impact and consolidate our place up there. We’ll take it year by year but this is a very good club that is building solid foundations and myself and James (Carrig) are delighted to be a part of it.”
The committee is keen to acknowledge their sponsors, Tom and Jackie Ryan, from the Village Inn in Quin. The village of Quin, has seen a huge influx of people over the past ten years and Rovers recognised the opportunity to tap into a well of potential talent at underage level
“It took a while for us,” says Ed Manley, “but people are now aware of who we are because the success of the junior team has rekindled interest amongst the locality. They are now aware that our name derives from the River Rhine which flows through the village and we have resisted attempts to change the name over the years because it’s important to those of us who have been there so long. We initiated an underage set up three years ago and we now have kids from five to eight-years-old playing soccer under our name and each year we will have a new batch of five-year-olds kicking a ball. Kevin Palache and Vincent O’Mullane (both ex-players) along with Richard Maxstead and Pat Begley are doing brilliant work with these kids and our aim is to ensure that these kids are technically proficient when the time comes to enter the competitive leagues.”
Several attempts have been made to secure a home ground since their local agreement expired some six years ago but nothing has come to fruition.
Club PRO Vincent O’Mullane says, “we are hugely envious of the incredible work carried out in Tulla where their facilities are very impressive and they should be held up as a template for rural clubs because they have proved that anything is possible with the correct level of organisation and, of course, determination.”
“Our progression must now be measured in its ability to secure a pitch in the coming years in order to fully establish ourselves in the community,” concludes O’Connor.
“We are firm believers that the aim of every community should be to provide children with the greatest number of sporting outlets possible and if it is run correctly you are more likely to succeed. We will continue to work at it so that we can give local children the opportunity to play for their home team and it will be an exciting day when one of the current crop makes his debut for the junior side. All going well we will still be in the Premier but that’s work for another day.”
That work begins when pre-season training for a landmark year kicks in towards the end of the summer. For now though, Rovers can enjoy the summer break knowing that autumn brings a 30th anniversary that they have already marked in style.

Contact Rhine Rovers at rhinerovers@hotmail.com.