Rossglass County FC

Rossglass County have secured two premium tickets (value£150) for the Manchester Utd game against Athletico Bilbao at the Aviva Stadium, 6th August in Dublin. We are giving you the chance to win these tickets and surprise the Man United fan in your life.

The draw will take place 29th July  at our Annual Gold Day.

Tickets are limited due to demand….you can get your tickets today by clicking here….https://www.klubfunder.com/Clubs/Rossglass_County_FC/Events/2358148

You cant win if you’re not in!

The club are delighted to announce that Connor Denver has been appointed as First Team Manager. Club chairperson, Fintan Bradley said, ” …we are absolutely thrilled that Connor has agreed to take on this position. Connor has served us well as a player and as we continue our 21st consecutive season in the Newcastle League we wish him every success in taking the team and club forward.”

Fintan also paid tribute to last season’s manager and club founder, Ollie Burke who decided to step down this year, “Ollie has put a tremendous amount of work in with our full squad, I want to thank him for his timeless dedication and effort. I’m delighted he has decided to stay on the club’s committee. His experience will be invaluable.”

Ollie Burke

Pre season training has already started and we look forward to welcoming old and new players to the team.

The club is hosting an open training night for players aged 10 and upwards on Wednesday 24th July from 6:30 to 8pm at Dunleath pitches to attract new players to the club. We ask all our current junior players to attend and would like to invite anyone interested in becoming part of a great family club to come along and get to know the players and coaches and take part in training sessions.

There are many reasons why you may want to choose to play for Rossglass County FC or choose it for the player in your family. Simply put Rossglass is for those players who wish to develop their football skills in a fun, safe and developmental environment. We have dedicated trained coaches to every age group. We have produced age appropriate coaching activities for all our age groups.

We have excellent player development programmes which caters for players from the age of 5 and upwards. The club has teams at every age group from our little nipper’s right up to under 17 who can then develop from the Downpatrick Youth League to our senior teams who compete in the Newcastle & District Amateur League.

We cater for all the footballers developing needs. Teaching them respect for the game, their team mates, opponents, referees and parents. So why not bring your child along and find out what the club is all about. You and your child will be very welcome.

Rossglass County Seniors are back in pre-season training, Tuesday & Thursday evenings at 7pm and 12 noon on a Saturday at Dunleath playing pitches. All existing players are expected to attend and we would very happily welcome any new players looking to join the senior set up.

Rossglass County took part in the Valley Rangers 7-aside tournament last Saturday afternoon. The guys got off to a great start with a two nil win over Mourne Rovers with Cailean Toner and James Cusack getting themselves on the scoresheet. The second game saw a 1-1 draw with Valley Swifts, Cormac McLaughlin getting the Rossglass goal but two defeats by Valley Coaches and Dunnaman saw County exit the tournament.

All in all it was a good run out for the boys, despite the results and the sunburn, we would like to extend our thanks to Valley Rangers for their hospitality.

Rossglass County Under 13s produced their best performance of the season to overcome a battling Strangford side in what ended as a 4-0 victory for the blues. It was a result that belies the competitiveness of the match and it was Darragh Gordon who was the chief architect of the victory with a wonderful hat-trick. Gordon got County off to a flying start when, in the opening minutes, he broke forward down Strangford’s right wing to calmly slot the ball home.

Eamon Tierney made it two early in the second half when he scored a cracker, bursting through from midfield before planting an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Rossglass played with an experimental system of 5-3-2 and it paid off with a rare clean sheet, primarily founded upon a strong back three of Finn O’Neill, Mark Curran and Aidan Brannigan, who worked together to snuff out Strangford’s efforts at forging a shot at goal.

County’s wing backs were also superb with Robert Napier and Man of the Match, Declan O’Connor stemming numerous Strangford attacks down the flanks. Ryan Gordon was magnificent at the centre of midfield, but in truth, he was all over the park and he was instrumental in his brother’s second goal, floating over a beautiful cross from the right wing that looked goal bound before  Darragh finished it off with a fine header.

Luke Fitzpatrick also put in a commanding midfield performance and James Tumelty showed his usual flair on the ball while adding a tenacious dimension to his game. In goal, Shay Curran dealt with any danger in consummate fashion and KJ McCullough showed some great skill in an unaccustomed forward role. Daniel McMullan was also given responsibility up front and he chased everything down tirelessly in a commendable team performance.

Our 9 year old superstar Annie Montgomery has just been selected to take part in the Irish football Association’s Elite Girls’ development programme. Annie is a pupil at St. Brigid’s Primary school and plays for our Under 10 team in the small sided games in the Downpatrick Youth League.

Annie is a box to box midfielder, who has an eye for goal. She started her career with Celtic Bhoys at the age of six but moved to Rossglass where her dad BJ played his football. BJ has an eye for goal himself having scored two goals for the Rossglass over 35’s in a 3-1 win over Ballynagross.

“She really enjoys scoring goals and can play anywhere” said BJ, “Annie was enjoying her time at Celtic Bhoys but moved to Rossglass to get more game time and under coach Danny McGarrity hasn’t looked back. She is a great wee worker, willing to learn the tricks of the trade and takes everything in her stride,” he added.

“Ideally Annie would love to play in a girls’ only side, but she knows how to mix it with the best come Sunday morning. She is in a mixed team and can handle herself.”

What a talent! We are very lucky to have her!
Everyone at Rossglass wishes Annie the best of luck.

Recently Rossglass County applied for a grant from the Aviva Community Fund to help fund the Rossglass Community Cup football tournament and raise funds for Matthew Fitzpatrick’s physiotherapy. Young Mathew is 5 years old, has cerebral palsy and is currently in a wheelchair. Matthew doesn’t let his disability get in the way of enjoying life but for Mathew’s parents, their wish is that he can eventually leave his wheelchair behind him and walk unaided.  Mathew needs more physiotherapy and as a community club, we wanted to support him and his family by providing assistance to help continue his treatment and visits to the hospital.

The Clubs’ project made it through to the final stages of the application process having received almost 2500 votes from the local community. However when it came to the judging panel unfortunately we came up just short. Though we were disappointed with the result it wasn’t all bad news. While we didn’t receive the grant we applied for, the Judging panel decided to award Rossglass £500 for the effort that was put into the proposal.

The club have decided that we will donate the £500 to young Matthew’s continued physiotherapy to allow him to pursue his goal of learning to walk. We would like to thank everyone who voted for our project. We will continue to explore other avenues to fund the tournament.

There was a special treat in store for the Rossglass County First Kickers and Under 8’s when Santa made a surprise visit to their Christmas Party last night. The kids had an amazing night of fun and games with Jenny from Downpatrick Sports Centre. The kids entertained Santa with a rendition of “Jingle Bells” and it’s fair to say that they’re a better football team than a choir, but you couldn’t fault their effort!

Santa gave the kids selection boxes, a small treat before their real gifts arrive on Christmas morning.

The club would like to thank Jenny and Tony from the Sports Centre for being fabulous hosts once again, the parents for all their support throughout the year and of course the big man himself who travelled all the way from the North Pole to make that special visit.

We hope to see all the kids back in the New Year raring to go!