Rathangan FC looking forward to the visit of Celtic coaches

Rathangan Football Club is gearing up for the much-anticipated visit of Celtic stalwarts, Darren O’Dea and Jose Romero to the club this coming Saturday.

Rathangan coaches and players will take part in a series of tutorials and presentations run by former Celtic player and current Professional Player Pathway Manager, O’Dea, along with Celtic’s International Soccer Academy Manager, Romero, over the course of the day.

Both will bring a wealth of experience to the table on Saturday, with O’Dea having chalked up 20 caps for the Republic of Ireland and played for the likes of Celtic, Leeds United, Ipswich Town, Toronto FC, and Dundee.

The event, which is a highlight in Rathangan FC’s 30th anniversary celebrations, also ties in perfectly with Celtic’s efforts to strengthen their Irish connections by working with grassroots-based clubs here.

And Rathangan FC certainly represents one of the most progressive soccer outlets in Kildare, having trebled their membership over the past decade, so that, today, the club boasts 26 teams from their junior academy (4-7 year-olds) right the way through to Over 35s.

What’s more, female participation accounts for more than 30 per cent of the club’s 450 members, with Rathangan looking to increase that to 50 per cent in the coming years.

Such growth and development for the 2021 FAI Club Mark Award recipients, was one of the key factors in Rathangan securing the visit of the Celtic coaches this weekend.

“It’s going to be an unbelievable day, one to remember” said Rathangan FC committee member and Under 12 coach, Craig Butler who has played a huge part in organising the visit of O’Dea and Romero to the club.

“You can only imagine the buzz and the excitement in the community for this.

“Anyone who is even half interested in football, they can come to Rathangan that afternoon and they’re going to see world-class coaching sessions.

“We’re not charging anyone in the community for this. This is being brought to people’s doorsteps here” he told The Kildare Nationalist.

This Saturday will see both O’Dea and Romero overseeing the club’s Under 8s, 9s, 10s and 11s in the morning before they head to the local community centre where they will provide presentations for both the coaches and parents.

Following that, they will be running coaching sessions for some 80 Rathangan boys and girls, spanning teams from Under 12 up to Under 17.

“That is open to all, everyone connected with our community and our club” said Butler “It’s an exciting project and we’re putting a lot of energy into it” he added.

The presentations and coaching will be the highlight of a day that will be capped with a special dinner dance for club members and supporters in the Keadeen Hotel that evening.

That event will also feature a preview to a special documentary on the club and its history that Butler has been working on for the past three months.

“We’ll be playing the documentary and presenting awards to our founders and our committee members” continued Butler.

“Later on in October, we’re going to do a separate night in our community centre to hold a movie premier of the documentary, a red carpet kind of thing, because at that stage we’re going to have all the Celtic content as well, so, as you can imagine, that story is going to have a Hollywood ending.

“When you think about it, we started with one pub team from The Burrow [a local pub] back in the 1990s and now we’re having Darren O’Dea and Jose Romero coming to our grounds from Celtic to do three sessions.

“The whole community will see and know where we started from and where we’re at now.

“Our club has trebled in size over the last ten years and a lot of that is down to inclusivity for all, great committee members, great coaches and also our facilities.

“We’ve two main pitches and we’re looking to convert one of those pitches to an astro.

“We’ve over 450 members now, 30 per cent female, and we’re well on track to fulfil that 50/50 ambition that we have.

“The guys in 2012/13 started women’s football. Their ethos was that everyone should be equal.

“Girls and women should have the same access to training and changing room facilities, the same access to coaching.

“In our club we have a full pathway from boys at four-years-old to Over 35s. We’re only missing a couple of underage sections with the girls.

“Even on our women’s senior team, we have a mother and daughter playing, Olive and Mischa Conroy, and they both play central defence together.

“Both our women and men’s senior teams have reached shield finals which are coming up soon. It’s just great to see” he smiled.