Rasheney F.C. -- A short history
Rasheney Football Club was founded in 1976 and has continues to be an integral member of the Inishowen Football League with unbroken membership right up to the present. While football was always played in the local area, the establishment of the Rasheney club created further interest in the Rasheney/Isle of Doagh/Ballyliffen area and demand became so intense that a second team was fielded a year later in 1977.
For most of the next 20 years the first team was managed by the late Denis Doherty – a very highly respected servant of the club who succeeded in establishing the team on a firm footing and bringing success during the early years. Initially matches were played in ‘Geordie’s field’ in Rasheney. Home base during the eighties was at the Loch Field in the Isle of Doagh.
The club’s present home, Trawbreaga Park, Isle of Doagh was opened in 1990 with dressing rooms being completed in the summer of 1992. Danny Grant (1993) succeeded the legendary Denis Doherty as manager in the early nineties and following John Armour’s tenure (1994 – 1998) he returned to guide the club’s fortunes until Liam Mc Gonigle took the managerial reins at the beginning of the 2003 – 2004 season. Liam guided the First Team to a fifth place league finish in the Premier Division – the club’s highest position for over a decade. However, after two seasons Danny Grant was back in charge – a position he holds right up to the present.
Meanwhile the second string have had their ups and downs but have done particularly well in recent years, having won the Reserve League in two successive seasons in the opening years of the new millenium. The 2004 – 2005 season saw a family connection with club management maintained with the appointment of John Doherty, the late Denis’s nephew as manager of the Reserve team. He continues to manage our Reserve team. A new chapter in the club’s history was written in the 2004 – 2005 season with the fielding, for the very first time, of a third team under the name Rasheney Rovers. A new team but an old hand to guide it – Danny Grant who has been with the club from the very beginning. However, this team’s existence lasted only one season and they were ineligible to compete in the First Division because of the First Team’s relegation from the Premier. Over the past few seasons the First Team has been involved in the promotion battle in the First Division and hope to be involved again this season while quite a number of players, fresh from underage football are battling for a starting position on our Reserve team whose results so far this season would indicate that they are in with a realistic chance of regaining their position in the Premier Reserve Division come the end of the season.
In April 2007, at the conclusion of 30 years participation in the Inishowen League the club held a Nostalgia Night at which anyone who had ever played for the club was invited to attend. Among those who reminisced on the night were 3 who are still actively involved in the club and whose first involvement with the club was when Rasheney United took to the field competitively for the very first time in 1976 – Neil Doherty, Mickey Mc Laughlin and Danny Grant.