New Kids on the Block: an Irish Story

Dynamo_ZahnZee

Dynamo_ZahnZee

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Summerville Rovers: an Irish Story

"They say Limerick is a lady, and I certainly
want the privilege of dancing with her"


View attachment 371960Limerick City

Region: South-West (Munster)
Population: 91,454

Notable Football Team: Limerick F.C.
Notable Players: Steve Finnan (Liverpool F.C.)



View attachment 371954Limerick is very much a sporting city; it's schools known for their incredible success in both Rugby and Hurling.
The Provincial Rugby team, Munster Rugby, are twice European Champions and based on the north side
of the city in Thomand park.

Football was almost a forgotten game here but it's local side, Limerick F.C. had pedigree. Having once played European Giants Real Madrid in 1980. Things seem to be changing in the Shannon side city as Limerick F.C. won promotion to the Premier Division in 2012. However, being the cities only Domestic League representative, many locals are calling for another Limerick side to apply to the F.A.I. for a First Division License.
​
 
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View attachment 371941I couldn't quite believe it, This was exactly the sort of opportunity we'd been waiting for! I opened the front page of the Irish Examiner, spread it out on the table for all to see and told them "We're taking this spot!"

View attachment 371940
Salthill Devon, a Galway side and new to the First Division had run into financial trouble and had thus been expelled form the First Division. While Many didn't fancy us to have a chance of replacing Salthill and winning a First Division License, we kept hope in our hearts knowing that the last 15 years worth of work could help us win over the FAI.

​


Who are we? No one special really. I doubt we've ever played a game outside of the county before but what we do have are dreams. Football is a passion this side of the city. While the north side has it's sporting schools and the theater of Rugby: Thomond Park; what we have is the undying support and passion of the locals.

Founded in 1956, we built ourselves from the ground up. It was not easy, but what ever is? What saw us get to where we are now was the dedications of many who came before us. Many who probably, never in their wildest dreams, thought we'd ever be where we are now.

View attachment 371017
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View attachment 371939South side of Limerick City: Portland Park

"In truth, we're a tiny club. Most of our players pay their own insurance fees
and work full time jobs; football is merely a hobby."


View attachment 371937
Established in 1959, The club made a big step forward in 1993 with the installation of two dressing rooms and a store area, in a converted container. In the same year floodlights for training were also installed.

Summerville Rovers celebrated the official opening of our new Clubhouse Development and expanded sports facilities on 15th of May 2010. This development was first instigated in the late Eighties when a fundraiser was organized for the purchase of a playing pitch and dressing rooms at Portland Park
View attachment 371938Portland Park: Home of Summerville Rovers

Portland Park
Built: 1975
Capacity (Seated): 400 (0)
Dimensions: 102 x 65

​
 
Brendn said:
Cheers mate, I fancied doing an Irish challenge that was. . . . .well, challenging :P
This is quite literally my local side so it should be fun :)
Click to expand...

There's something mystical about ireland, strange league. When I had my Coleraine save it felt like I really was building the entire club (going pro, expanding/building a stadium, and improving the facilities) and there's very few country's you can do that in, I'm looking forward to the day that your "stadium" is just used for your training
 
"Some people think football is a matter of life and death.
I assure you, it's much more serious than that." Bill Shankly


Who am I?
That is a good question; one which wasn't relevant until now.

My name is John McDremot and I'm the Manager of. . . . we'll get to that,
first, let me tell you a story.



22 long years have passed since I started down this road.​
If I remember correctly, it all began back in my home town:​
Limerick.​
I was a fresh faced 15 year old when my story began. I enjoyed playing Football at the local
park with the other boys. Like any typical child in Ireland, I dreamed of playing professionally,
but It was only ever a dream. I never seriously considered, for even a second, that I'd ever make it.

I was a bit of a odd one, much preferring to stay in goals than run outfield with the other kids.
My local club, Summerville Rovers obliged and played me between the sticks but neither of us thought
I'd turn out to be quite as good as I was.
​

​
At 5'9", I was a more of a Sweeper than a Keeper. I relied on quick bursts of pace and a​
never-say-die-attitude to get the job done. But where I really stood out was in being able to read the game.
​
It was this ability, that brought me to the attention of an Notts County Scouts.

View attachment 371931
I joined Notts County in 1992 and spent 2 years in the youth team before bursting onto the scene in January 1994. I made 210 appearances in 8 years before a dream move to Premier Division side, Leeds United came to be. Unfortunately, this proved to me more of a nightmare than a dream. During my first appearance for the club, a 2-2 draw at home to Charlton Athletic, a goalmouth horror challenge left my knee with shattered cartilage as well as a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

​
Just when I thought I'd gotten my big break, my playing career had been quenched. I had to come to terms with the fact that I may never play football again. My surgeries involved both a cartilage transplant and bone graft to reconstruct my knee, the surrounding bone and soft tissue structures. The whole process took 5 years at in that time, I found my desire to remain in football grow.

View attachment 371930UCD offer a Bachelor in Sports Management and Coaching
​
4 long years of intensive study and a Thesis entitled "The Evolution of the Goalkeeper in Modern Football"​
earned me an invaluable qualification, and my first coaching Job; with UCD's League of Ireland Football Club.​
It was here that I honed my skills and climbed the FAI Coaching ladder. First getting my UEFA B License,​
then 2 years ago completing my UEFA A License.

View attachment 371929
And now here I stand, beside John Delaney and other chief members of the Football Association of Ireland, about​
to proudly receive the highest level of qualification awarded by UEFA.

View attachment 371928
​

So there it is, you have my life story. The joys of being picked out of obscurity and given a chance to live out your dream. I was a boy who saw the highs and saw the lows. My love for this game left me in a hospital bed.
Again you ask, Who am I?

I'm John McDermot, Manager of my Local team:
Summerville Rovers.

View attachment 371927
​
 
Hello Everyone. I'd like to introduce you all to my Newest Story: New Kids on the Block.
I really wanted to get back into my Liverpool Story but I suffered the, pleasure, of being sacked.

3 times (in a row) Champions League winners but horrid league form saw me sitting 12th at Christmas.

Born and raised in Limerick City, I really wanted to do a local Irish save but I didn't want to do a Limerick F.C. save since CoolMCool has, for the second year running, produced an excellent story featuring Limerick F.C.
you can read that story here.

So the next option after that left me with an exciting opportunity.

Summerville Rovers are more than likely a side none of ye have heard of before. This is because they have an in-game Reputation of 200 (Limerick F.C. have a reputation of 3350 to put that into perspective).

So why Summerville rovers?
The answer is simple: They are my local Sunday league team, and I play for them :)
So you can imagine my delight when I found them in the database.


I hope everyone will enjoy reading this story and I look forward to your support during the rough times this team has ahead. If I finish last in the first season, I'll call that a successful season :P
 
TurboGav said:
There's something mystical about ireland, strange league. When I had my Coleraine save it felt like I really was building the entire club (going pro, expanding/building a stadium, and improving the facilities) and there's very few country's you can do that in, I'm looking forward to the day that your "stadium" is just used for your training
Click to expand...

Well I'm from here so I'm naturally going to support the mystical title :P
 
"By Christ John, I told you we could do it!" a clearly delighted Mark Woods gleefully spoke down the phone. "We've been granted a First Division License by the FAI!" he couldn't keep the excitement out of him voice

"Calm yourself Mark, calm yourself", I tried to interject. The Summerville chairman was the kind of man we all knew. A true football fanatic. He wore his heart on his sleeve and this was no exception. He couldn't believe that a club, who'd previously been playing in the Premier Division of the Limerick Desmond League was now in the Airtricity First Division.

To put that into perspective, we've essentially jumped from the 8th Tier of Irish football, to the Second Tier.

I can't say I wasn't excited, I was delighted to be where we were and I still couldn't believe that my local club was in this position, but the job I had to do was very much different from Wood's: I had just under 3 months to build a squad to compete in this league.


​
View attachment 371925


"Playing stall; none.
Coaching staff; none.
time to waste, none!"

View attachment 371924
I currently had about 12 teenagers who've been playing with us since they were kids, I'll have to organize a
7-a-side kick about on tuesday to have a look at them. I'm not going to be able to offer a single penny to
these lads so passion is what I need; skill can came later.

I was quite excited the day out kit's arrived. I ordered about 22 home and away Jerseys; each costing us ?80 for a full set but such expenses were necessary.

We recieved an approach from local News Paper, The Limerick Post, offering to share the cost of the bill in return for being the shirt sponsor. We happily agreed!

View attachment 371923Home Kit

View attachment 371922Away Kit

Despite the optimism in the air, it was clear that a last place finish was about the best we could hope for.

View attachment 371921
​
 
View attachment 371920

I wasted no time in organizing my backroom staff. What I needed were people with a work ethic, no money
hungry staff, just good honest people who share my vision for the club.

View attachment 371919
My playing staff was quite thin. We arranged a trial day but, would you believe it, no one showed up.
So I've had to go with the local lads. I know them well, having played with many of their parents back in my playing days.

View attachment 371918
With only a month left before the opening day of the season, I've scheduled 5 pre-seaosn friendlies against teams form Limerick and Cork at Portman Park. Hopefully these games will get the locals out and encourage them to support the lads.

View attachment 371917


​
 
View attachment 371764

I had all but decided on a starting IX but friendly matches would change who is and isn't in my plans.
Before our first friendly kicked off, I told the lads to line up on the lower 1st team pitch; I wanted to remember
my first match with my beloved club

View attachment 371763
I still can't believe how far we've come but when you look at where we were, this is a huge step forward. I very idea of one day being able to play in Europe both terrifes and excites me. Though alot of work would need to be done to Portman Park before we could bring a European Fixture here.

View attachment 371762
​
 
View attachment 371393
"Hello, is this David Keogh? ... Ah yes, My name is John McDermot, I'm Manager
of Irish First Division side Summerville Rovers. I'm currently contacting potential players to invite them
to come on a trial with the club. We're looking to sign some players since our squad is a little thin.
Would you be interested? ... That's great, we're looking to build for the future here and I'm sure you could be
a big part of that... What kind of contracts do we offer? we'll, we're an amateur club so we .... hello?"

View attachment 371405
Finding players who are willing to play for nothing wasn't exactly what I'd call easy.
I did however manage to bring in some quality.

View attachment 371402

View attachment 371398
I feel I've pulled off an absolutely amazing deal in bringing Michael Devine. Anyone
who knows Irish Football will knows just how experienced this guy is; previous Irish
Premier Division Champions with Cork City.

View attachment 371396
View attachment 371390
Kieran Kenneally​
is a guy I think can lead the line and he was brought in to do exactly that. With his 6'0" frame and decent physical attributes, I think he has the energy to keep us in with a chance of scoring some goals int his league.

View attachment 371389
​
 
View attachment 371387Pre-Season in the City

View attachment 371386
Goal Scorers
[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Kieran Kenneally[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ray Spilan[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Martin Devine[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Conor Mullins[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Colin Scanlan[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Kenneally is already proving to be an inspired signing. Though since we're just an amateur club
we can't tie our players down with contracts. If he shines for us, it's inevitable that he'll leave us. Lets hope
he can do a job first and we'll wish him all the best when the time comes for his to go.

​
 
As an Irish man, I am excited by this story! Loving the 'personal' feeling to it :D
Will be following! :)
 
View attachment 371379

In 1956 Summerville Rovers gained entry into the Limerick Schoolboy league and their first competitive match was against Wolf Tone Rangers in Caledonian park, which ended in a scoreless draw. Charlie Elliott and Aidan Corr lined out in this first historical team.

View attachment 371377

In 1967 Summerville Rovers joined the junior ranks and played their first ever game on Sept 1st​ at Shelbourne Park but due to lack of players and facilities only lasted the one season.

It took until 1974 when Charlie Elliott and Aidan Corr once again tried to ignite the return of Summerville Rovers. The team lined out in the colour of maroon and white on Sunday August 1975 in the Pike Field with Glebe Rangers providing the opposition but were unlucky to loose 3-1. Well know Limerick personalities lined out in the names of Mike Foley, Johnny Casey, Dom Riordan, Aidan Corr, Jim Mc Mahon, John Thompson Gerry Webb and Terry Carey. Summerville had now moved to Portland Park located in the Ballinacurra Gardens, which they shared with Priory United.

View attachment 371374

Success at last came for Summerville Rovers when the first ever junior cup came to the club in 1979 with a 3 - 0 victory over Geraldines in the Power Cup final. Goals from Ken Browne (2) and Denis Toomey (1) set the scene of wild celebrations in Priory Park.

In 1975 / 76 season Summerville Rovers introduced a minor team under the management of Gerry Webb. In 1981/ 82 Summerville Rovers were back in schoolboy soccer and under guidance of Aidan Corr captured the under 10 cup.
Over the coming years Summerville went from strength to strength on and off the playing fields with the introductions of additional schoolboy and junior teams.

To-day Summerville have 7 Schoolboy teams and 3 junior teams with a total of 200 signed players for the club.

The club made a big step forward in 1993 with the installation of two dressing rooms and a store area, in a converted container. In the same year floodlights for training were also installed.

View attachment 371373
when Priory amalgamated with Prospect United and moved out of Portland Park. This allowed us to successfully apply for a Ninety Nine Year Lease on the Portland Park from Limerick City Council.

View attachment 371372

View attachment 608993

We are now entering the clubs greatest period in existence and we are exceptionally proud of our roots.
Under the guidence of John McDermot, we have a five year plan in place to add 200 seets t Portman Park and make the transition towards Semi-Professional Status and secure our position as a mid table First Division team.
​
 
Disclaimer89 said:
As an Irish man, I am excited by this story! Loving the 'personal' feeling to it :D
Will be following! :)
Click to expand...

Cheers mate. I love making little tweeks to the game to add to my enjoyment. You really do need to be inventive and creative to keep this game fresh, otherwise you'll just keep playing the same teams over and over again, year after year.


Summerville Rovers are litterally my local side so there is a little bit of pride to be in charge of them going up against, what are to us, the giants of domestic Irish football :P
 
View attachment 609156
View attachment 371298
I think we're always going to have to come to term with just how difficult this season was going to be.
But to loose 5-0, at home in our opening game, was a bitter one indeed to take. I've been proud
of the boys though, some hard fought results, that we were unfortunate to be on the end of.

View attachment 371294View attachment 371293
Our first goal of the Campaign and we celebrated it like it was a cup final win.
To most, a draw is disappointing but we're not really expecting to win many,
if any games this season, so to get points on the table this early in the season is huge for us.

League Table
View attachment 371289
​
 
View attachment 371288View attachment 371287

The first of three cups on offer, the EA Sports Cup, second round draw is today.

View attachment 371286
Obviously, I want to avoid everyone! :P

View attachment 371285
Tough, tough draw. 3 times EA Sports Cup winners Cork City are who I have to face off against.
I wouldn't have minded loosing to them at home since the gate receipts would cousin it somewhat
but now we've to cover travel expensive down to cork to be on the end of what will most likely be a hiding.
​
 
View attachment 609204
View attachment 371278

A month out of the office, a month away from home.
We earned a magnificent draw against Waterford United but we still couldn't find out first win.
Though we are starting to score more goals, this is encouraging.

View attachment 371275
View attachment 371274

Oh this result stung. To have battled back form 1-0 down to score an equalizing goal, only to have our 1pt
taken form us by a cruel 90+4th minute penalty. I was gutted.


League Table
View attachment 371273
​
 
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