1968-69 League of Ireland season

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After winning their first League of Ireland Shield in ten years, ten wins from their eleven home games helped Waterford retain the league championship in 1969, five points ahead of Shamrock Rovers, with Cork Hibernians registering their highest league finish to date in third. Vinny Maguire’s Blues were becoming known for a fluid and confident style of play, with the ball being moved upfield at opportune moments before being taken advantage of by the team’s clever, opportunistic forwards. In fact, all 68 of Waterford’s’ league goals this season came from the six players who had been most regularly lining out in the front five positions. Waterford were also becoming known as a team that were willing and able to engage in the less savoury sides of the game (such as timewasting and gamesmanship) and a slight shift towards full-time professionals (to the detriment of local players) was another feature of this particular season on Suirside. The club also now found themselves in a very good financial position, having faced holders Manchester United at Lansdowne Road in the first round of the European Cup in front of a crowd of about 48,000, the biggest attendance yet for an association football match in Ireland.

Shamrock Rovers had gone toe-to-toe with the champions for almost the entire season, but an injury crisis and some cup-related fixture congestion had seen their league challenge almost completely fade away in the closing stages. The Hoops did manage to capture a very precious prize, however, with two Mick Leech goals helping them beat Cork Celtic 4-1 in a replay to take the F.A.I. Cup for an incredible sixth season in-a-row. A late own-goal by former Milltown player John Keogh had saved them from defeat in the first game, and a hotly disputed Frank O’Neill penalty had gotten them out of jail in the first of two semi-final meetings with Shelbourne. Rovers had little or no luck left over for the other cup competitions, though, letting a 2-0 half-time lead slip to lose the Dublin City Cup final 5-2 to Dundalk (Derek Stokes and Turlough O’Connor both scored braces in a game that took place on St. Patrick’s Day, a day after a full league programme), and a refusal by Waterford to agree to a rescheduling of the Top Four Cup final was a prelude to goals from Vinny Maguire and Shamie Coad giving the Blues a 2-0 success. Liam Tuohy’s side also fell just short in the final of the Blaxnit tournament, with Coleraine scoring twice in the last 15 minutes of the Dalymount Park second leg to clinch the trophy 4-3 on aggregate.

Johnny Fullam was one of the Shamrock Rovers players who missed crucial end-of-season games through injury, and his non-appearance in the F.A.I. Cup beyond the second round meant that the international wing-half was denied the chance to continue his record of appearing in every game of the club’s six-year winning run. Mick Leech, meanwhile, had been having an exceptional season in front of goal, and with just a few weeks of the season remaining, found himself within sight of Dan McCaffrey’s 56-goal haul (across all competitions) from the 1960-61 season. Leech picked up a knee injury in a match against Drogheda, however, and though he got back in among the goals during the ‘Blaxnit’ matches, his final tally of 55 meant that he fell just one goal short of McCaffrey’s record. The 20-year old Dubliner had already picked up this season’s Soccer Writers’ ‘Personality of the Year’ award, though, and was also included (along with several other home-based players) in the Republic of Ireland starting line-up for World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Czechoslovakia.

Limerick (with Al Finucane as interim player-coach) had set the early pace in this year’s title race, taking 13 points from their first 14 to open up a three-point lead over the chasing pack. The Shannonsiders were never taken as genuine title contenders, however, and a lack of attacking firepower (they scored only 13 goals in their first 10 games) meant they eventually began to fall away, slipping to seventh by the time the league campaign wound down. A strong showing in the cup (with three home games being played at Thomond Park) saw them knock out Cork Hibernians and Waterford to make the semi-finals, but Cork Celtic eventually emerged victorious from an epic four-game struggle after the third replay had been controversially diverted from Thomond Park to Dalymount Park. Limerick at least earned themselves a place in the Blaxnit competition (with Belfast-based former manager Ewan Fenton acting as their representative for some of the associated events), and a win over Ards in the first round saw them reach another semi-final before losing to eventual winners Coleraine.

Player-coach Alan Fox had parted ways with Limerick before the league programme got underway, with the Welshman requesting a transfer immediately after returning from the six-month suspension that had been imposed on him earlier in the year. While there was a temporary reconciliation following an impressive shield performance against Cork Hibernians, Fox soon asked to leave the club again, and ended up joining Tony Bartley’s Sligo Rovers (who were again utilising a number of full-time professionals), with his first match for the Bit O’ Red being a shield game against Limerick at Markets Field. Having become something of a lightning rod for drama and controversy in recent times, Fox later played in a league game against former club Dundalk that saw three players being sent off, and towards the end of the season the former League of Ireland-winning manager was suspended by Sligo Rovers for a breach of contract. One further twist saw Tony Bartley (who had been one of the league’s most consistent performers over the previous 18 months or so) leave the Showgrounds in March to join up with Fox’s former charges at Limerick, after a 2-0 F.A.I. Cup loss to non-league Longford Town had soured relations between Bartley and his players. Limerick chose to keep Al Finucane in charge of team affairs, however, though former manager Ewan Fenton did get consulted on the morning of some of their cup games.

Before the season had begun, Carl Davenport parted ways with Cork Celtic after a breakdown in his relationship with the board of directors, but before long the Lancashire native had moved across town to join Amby Fogarty’s Cork Hibernians. Davenport would score both in a 2-0 win over his former club (he also scored an eight-minute hat-trick against St. Pat’s), and the goals of another English player, 18-year old winger Dave Wigginton, also helped the Flower Lodge side compete towards the top end of the table, with their form in the second half of the league season being particularly impressive. They won 10 of the 11 games in this part of the campaign, with their only defeat coming in a re-scheduled game against Waterford at Kilcohan Park, a day after they had won 2-0 in Limerick. Fogarty (who had overseen a very robust and tough-tackling Hibernians since becoming player-coach) was dismissed in the middle of this run, however, but would eventually take Davenport’s old job as Cork Celtic player-manager for the 1969-70 season.

Bohemian F.C. made a historic move during the 1968-69 season, when members voted by a three-quarters majority to change the memorandum of association and allow professional and semi-professional footballers to play for the club. The relative success they had enjoyed in the mid-1960s having evaporated, the Gypsies (who failed to win any of their shield games) had been facing the prospect of a second successive last-placed league finish as the 1968-69 season entered its latter weeks. Though initial suggestions were that the change from amateurism would be gradual and unrushed, within days, former Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk and Ireland midfielder Tony O’Connell, and former St. Patrick’s Athletic and Ireland goalkeeper Dinny Lowry had been signed by Seán Thomas as the club’s first ever pros. Bohemians managed to draw their first three league games as a semi-professional team (against the current ‘big three’ of Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Waterford) and the wisdom of the club’s decision would be demonstrated even more clearly in the seasons ahead.

Although Waterford had won this season’s shield by three clear points, the competition had delivered a bit more excitement, and contained a few more subplots than usual. Drogheda won their first five games to set the initial pace, but eventually ended up as one of three clubs tied for second (on points at least), the others being Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. The latter club had broken Drogheda’s run by winning 5-0 at Oriel Park, and the Lilywhites’ shield campaign then proceeded to become something of a goalfest, as they scored 22 more in their remaining five matches. Tommy Rowe’s side beat Limerick 7-4 at Oriel Park, and won a farcical, error-strewn game at Richmond Park 7-5 (the latter game, played in difficult weather conditions, was reminiscent of the two sides’ high-scoring league meeting from the 1954-55 season). Derek Stokes finished on 10 goals alongside Shamrock Rovers’ Mick Leech, but it was Shelbourne’s newly arrived, Galway-born forward Brian Delargy who somehow topped the shield scoring chart with 14. Towards the end of the competition Eoin Hand left Drumcondra for Portsmouth, and though Pompey manager George Smith had initially wanted to sign Waterford’s Jimmy McGeough, the move was just reward for a versatile player who had performed superbly the previous season.

Dundalk’s eventful shield campaign took place alongside an eventful European one, which began with a notable progression against Dutch side DOS Utrecht. This success (against a team who had not seemed at all impressive when scouted by Dundalk) came at a cost, however, as a double-fracture leg break for Patsy McKeown ended the playing career of the long-serving Lilywhite full-back. A tie with Glasgow Rangers followed, and future Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson scored twice for the Scottish side in a 9-1 aggregate win. The Oriel Park leg was remembered for a number of violent incidents, however, as Belfast-based Rangers fans clashed with gardaí and opposing fans. Although many friendly matches had taken place between northern and southern clubs during the last couple of years, increasing political and social unrest in the north meant the potential for matches to attract trouble was also increasing. As it turned out, the Dublin leg of the Blaxnit final between Shamrock Rovers and Coleraine saw a number of incidents take place inside and outside the stadium, with three Coleraine fans being hospitalised.

One domestic fixture ended up being memorable for all the wrong reasons, with some crowd trouble occurring at a league game between Waterford and Cork Celtic at Turner’s Cross. With the match level at 1-1 after 85 minutes, the sending off of Celtic’s Donie Leahy for a challenge on Waterford keeper Peter Thomas (the ball actually found its way into the net after the clash, but the goal was disallowed) was deemed unjust by some sections of the Cork support. Suddenly stones and other missiles began emanating from the crowd, and although the match was eventually restarted and played to its conclusion, hordes of fans subsequently blocked the pathway from the pitch to the players’ dressing rooms. Some fans climbed on top of the changing room building (part of the roof collapsed in and they were fortunate to avoid serious injury), and began aiming missiles at the referee and the Waterford players (mainly goalkeeper Thomas). Despite pleas from the Cork Celtic players (including Donal Leahy himself) and manager, the crowd continued to lay in wait, and 25 minutes after the final whistle had sounded, the Waterford players finally made their escape from the ground.

In a slightly unusual move, the League of Ireland management committee decided to invite applications for new clubs to join the league with a few weeks of the 1968-69 season still remaining. Home Farm made an application for the eighth season in a row, and as well as Limerick side Plassey Vale F.C., it led to expressions of interest from former League of Ireland clubs Bray Unknowns and Transport F.C. It was the applications of Athlone Town A.F.C. and Co. Donegal-based Finn Harps that ended up being of most interest to League of Ireland delegates, however; as well as potentially increasing geographical spread, both clubs were also on an upward trajectory, with Finn Harps having won the F.A.I. Junior Cup and subsequently making the final of the Intermediate Cup. Athlone Town, meanwhile, had established themselves as a solid League of Ireland ‘B’ division team, and this season had also seen them make the Leinster Senior Cup semi-finals, having beaten Shelbourne along the way. Although ground improvements were required to be carried out over the summer, both clubs’ applications were approved by the league’s management committee. The admission of these two new sides meant that a new decade would begin with 14 League of Ireland clubs.

LEAGUE OF IRELAND 1968-69

PWDLFAPts
Waterford221642683036
Shamrock Rovers221435562831
Cork Hibernians221426392730
Dundalk221336542929
St. Patrick’s Athletic221048414224
Drogheda22868353022
Limerick22949303622
Sligo Rovers228410293220
Drumcondra226511384417
Shelbourne222812306912
Cork Celtic223514285211
Bohemians223415215010

European Competition : European Cup First Round (first leg at Lansdowne Road), Waterford 1-3 Manchester United, Manchester United 7-1 Waterford European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round (second leg at Dalymount Park), Randers Freja (Denmark) 1-0 Shamrock Rovers, Shamrock Rovers 1-2 Randers Freja Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round, DOS Utrecht (Holland) 1-1 Dundalk, Dundalk 2-1 DOS Utrecht (after extra-time). Second Round, Rangers 6-1 Dundalk, Dundalk 0-3 Rangers

League top scorers : Mick Leech Shamrock Rovers, 19 Turlough O’Connor Dundalk, 17 Alfie Hale Waterford, 16 John O’Neill Waterford, 16

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Mick Leech, Shamrock Rovers

Representative matches : League of Ireland 0-0 Scottish League, Irish League 1-2 League of Ireland

1967-68 League of Ireland season

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Waterford regained the League of Ireland title in 1968, seeing off strong challenges from Dundalk and Cork Celtic (who were now being managed by their 23-year old English forward Carl Davenport). The Blues (who added Cork Hibernians centre-half Jackie Morley to their squad ahead of the league campaign) rode their luck in terms of results, losing to each of the other top four clubs and winning a number of matches without playing especially well, and also in terms of injuries, with players often carrying knocks in the run-up to games but almost always being declared fit to play. They also survived a managerial upheaval when wing-half Vinny Maguire took over from the departed Martin Ferguson (brother of future Manchester United supremo Alex), who was surprisingly dismissed after a 1-0 home loss to Dundalk. Ferguson himself had scored an important winning goal against Shamrock Rovers earlier in the season, and was one of just 15 players that the Suirsiders used on the way to becoming champions.

Waterford also made it to a first F.A.I. Cup final in nine years to give themselves a chance of picking up their first league and cup “double”, and the fact that cup specialists Shamrock Rovers (who were aiming to complete a five-in-a-row and equal their achievement from 1929-1933) were waiting in the decider meant that it was an ideal match-up for the Blue Riband showpiece. The much-hyped showdown (attended by nearly 40,000) ended up being a bit of a disappointment, however, as two Mick Leech goals and one by Mick Lawlor (both players were still just 19) gave the Hoops a rather straightforward 3-0 win. Lawlor (whose father ‘Kit’ had won the cup with Drumcondra in 1957) had scored a goal in every round and the Milltown club also kept a clean sheet in each of their four F.A.I. Cup matches.

The clubs renewed rivalries in the final of the Top Four Cup, and this time the match came close to living up to expectations, with Waterford surviving a Rovers comeback to win on a 3-2 scoreline. Two goals by Alfie Hale and one by Al Casey (goalkeeper Peter Thomas also made some excellent saves) gave the Blues just their second win over Rovers in the sixth meeting of the season between the two sides. Liam Tuohy’s men had beaten the Blues on the way to lifting the League of Ireland Shield (they went unbeaten to win the competition for an incredible 18th time), and they also knocked them out of the Dublin City Cup, at a point in the season when most observers felt Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk were the two best teams in the country. These two sides would play out draws in both the shield and the league before drawing twice more in the Dublin City Cup final, with a Ben Hannigan goal needed to finally separate the teams in the second replay.

Hannigan had actually left Dundalk at the end of the 1966-67 league season having failed to agree new terms, and ended up spending a couple of months with Wrexham before eventually returning to Oriel Park. Despite the Lilywhites doing enough to finish second in the shield (and because of Shamrock Rovers’ cup win, gain the European place that it had to offer), their forward line had lost a lot of its lustre in Hannigan’s absence, and the club were also dogged by a number of other setbacks this season, as an 8-1 European Cup defeat by Vasas of Hungary led to player-coach Alan Fox being suspended by the club for “mismanagement of the team”. Fox asked to be placed on the transfer list and several other players suggested they might consider leaving too, before the board relented and reversed their decision. The reigning champions then took just one point from their first four league games before kicking into gear with a 10-game winning streak, but disaster struck in mid-January when Oriel Park’s new floodlight system (unveiled ahead of the home leg against Vasas) got badly damaged by high winds. This put paid to the club’s plans to have European champions Celtic F.C. visit for a friendly later in the season (the Glaswegians did end up playing Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount), and then, his relationship with club officials having become increasingly strained, Fox was released from his contract in March.

Former Ireland internationals Arthur Fitzsimons (who helped Drogheda scale new heights this season) and Amby Fogarty (Cork Hibernians) were among the new managerial appointments during the close season, but in spite of bringing a couple of candidates over from the U.K. (and adding Republic of Ireland forward Andy McEvoy to the playing squad), Limerick were finding it difficult to fill the position recently vacated by Ewan Fenton. Paddy Coad took the reins, but with the club keen to have someone who could also act as an on-field leader, Scotsman Tommy Anderson (who had been one of those linked with the job during August) was appointed as player-coach in mid-December. Anderson’s tenure was going along quite well until Limerick decided to release him and appoint Alan Fox as player-coach just a few days after Fox had parted company with Dundalk.

As fate would have it, Limerick and Dundalk were set to meet at the Markets Field on March 24th, and an all-ticket game exploded into life midway through the second half, when Fox struck Derek Stokes, and Kevin Blount then ran from the other end of the pitch to land a punch on his former manager. After the referee got things under control (a total of five players were booked during the game), play resumed with a penalty for Dundalk, which was converted by Kevin Murray to give the visitors a 3-2 win. The home crowd were incensed, however, and stones were thrown at the referee and linesman, and a crowd of about 500 gathered at the main entrance to the ground after the game. The officials and the Dundalk team had to be smuggled out via a back exit (the injured referee being taken to hospital), and after the crowd eventually forced their way back in through the front gate, the gardaí were able to reassure them that the dressing rooms were, indeed, empty.

There was nearly some crowd trouble at the end of Waterford’s 3-3 draw with Cork Celtic at Kilcohan Park in December, and Martin Ferguson’s last match in charge of the Blues also had some issues, as the 1-0 loss to Dundalk was watched by a crowd much bigger than the ground was able to safely accommodate. It was estimated that about 12,000 people had found their way in, and the second half was delayed by about 15 minutes as the referee threatened to abandon the game unless spectators moved back from the sidelines. A shield match between Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers, meanwhile, ended with a pitch invasion and the referee being assaulted for awarding a contentious penalty that allowed the visitors to snatch a 2-2 draw. Following on from an incident the previous season, the Sligo board decided to install five-foot high mesh fencing (topped off with barbed wire) around the perimeter of the pitch.

Shamrock Rovers had spent most of the close season in the U.S.A., after being invited to participate in the first edition of a new American soccer league as the ‘Boston Rovers‘. The league (called the ‘United Soccer Association’) had been hastily created some months ahead of schedule in order to keep abreast of a rival competition. The franchises that were supposed to make up the league had not been properly formed yet, so the Hoops were one of 12 clubs (the bulk of them from the U.K. and Ireland, with Brazil, Uruguay, Italy and Netherlands also represented) who travelled to take part, with the competition set to run from late May to the middle of July.

Rovers had a full-strength squad and also brought a number of guest players (including Sligo Rovers’ David Pugh and Derry City’s Doug Wood), but after making a decent start by drawing their first two games, a mounting injury list was a factor in them subsequently going on a run of six straight defeats. Things improved for their final four games, with the team picking up two wins (against Brazilian club Bangu and also Aberdeen, playing as Houston and Washington respectively) and another draw, but they finished three points adrift at the bottom of the six-team Eastern Division. The Hoops had played in front of crowds that ranged from the hundreds to almost 10,000, and scored 12 goals in the 12 games, with Frank O’Neill their standout player in terms of goals and assists.

Like the previous season, Sligo Rovers made a very good start in the league (they won their first three matches), but the departure of star players David Pugh and John Brookes for pastures new saw their form fall off very quickly. Player-manager Tony Bartley had hoped to bring in some players from his native England, but travel restrictions imposed because of concerns about foot-and-mouth disease meant his transfer business was delayed by a number of weeks, and as bad results began to pile up, the crowds at the Showgrounds started to dwindle away. The club still had a high wage bill, however, and when Bartley was finally able to bring in some new faces (including former Newcastle centre-forward Len White), it was now said to be for an assault on the F.A.I. Cup. A first round defeat by Dundalk put paid to that plan, however, and over the next few games (which included a club record 9-0 defeat by Waterford), the cross-channel players were gradually phased out of the team. Sligo were left with an almost completely local side and although there were some positives (future club legend Tony Fagan had been successfully bedded in, and erstwhile goalkeeper Fintan Brett scored the winner against Limerick while playing in the right-back position) the club ended up finishing in the bottom two.

It was eventually decided that the two rival U.S. leagues should be brought together, and this meant that former Bohemians coach Seán Thomas never got to take charge of the Boston-based team he had signed with, as it was the other league’s Boston franchise that was accepted into the new competition. Thomas spent the next few months in limbo (albeit with his contract being honoured and a number of clubs enquiring about his availability), before the way was clear for him to return to Bohemians (who had finished bottom of the league in his absence) in the summer of 1968. A number of League of Ireland players did go to play in the new league, as Paddy Mulligan and Tommy Kelly of Shamrock Rovers and David Pugh of Sligo Rovers all joined the ‘Boston Beacons’, and Pugh’s former Sligo teammate Johnny Brookes ended up playing for Cleveland Stokers. The transfer fees received for Pugh and Brookes also allowed Sligo Rovers to make a small profit at the end of a very challenging season.

Ex-Shelbourne players Eric Barber and Joe Haverty had also gone to play in the U.S., but the Reds themselves (having finished bottom of the league the previous season) were hoping to revive their own fortunes, with Gerry Doyle returning to the club he had managed with great success in the first half of the decade. They had a very good shield campaign (winning seven of the 11 games), and one of the young players Doyle introduced was 19-year old inside-right Jimmy O’Connor, who scored three shield goals, and also scored a hat-trick against Bohemians in the quarter-finals of the Leinster Senior Cup. This treble, though, was just a dress rehearsal for a much more impressive feat by O’Connor, as he followed it up by scoring a hat-trick in just two minutes and 13 seconds on a visit to Dalymount Park in the league on the 19th of November, turning around a 2-0 half-time deficit to give Shels a 3-2 win. Scored between the 54th and 57th minutes, it was the fastest hat-trick in top flight football at the time, still stands as the fastest hat-trick in any European top division, and another point of note is that it happened to be witnessed by Manchester United manager Matt Busby. Sligo Rovers’ John Brookes had helped set the scene by scoring a 15-minute hat-trick against St. Pat’s a couple of weeks previously, and two trebles by Waterford’s John O’Neill in the closing weeks of the shield had helped him finish that competition with a total of 11 goals.

This season also saw the introduction of a new end-of-season cross-border competition, which was to be sponsored by a Northern Irish clothing company called Blaxnit. Featuring the four semi-finalists from both the Irish Cup and the F.A.I. Cup, it saw each southern club face an Irish League side in a one-off quarter-final, with the final itself being contested over two legs (though just one if it featured two clubs from the same jurisdiction). The competition (where teams competed for a trophy called the ‘Cashel Cup’) had a prize pool of £2,000, with half of this going to the winning club. Shamrock Rovers won a semi-final against Waterford (their fifth win from seven this season against the Blues) to set up a final against Irish Cup holders Crusaders, and after goals by Micks Leech and Lawlor had given the Hoops a 2-0 win at Windsor Park, another Lawlor goal at Dalymount (in front of a crowd of 15,000) saw them win the first ‘Blaxnit’ decider 3-2 on aggregate.

League of Ireland 1967-68

PWDLFAPts
Waterford221624591834
Dundalk221426442430
Cork Celtic221264402730
Shamrock Rovers221156442627
Drogheda221066332926
Limerick229211354520
Shelbourne228311323619
Drumcondra22679313519
St. Patrick’s Athletic227411294618
Cork Hibernians226511192817
Sligo Rovers226412244816
Bohemians22241620488

European Competition : European Cup First Round, Dundalk 0-1 Vasas SC (Hungary), Vasas SC 8-1 Dundalk European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round (first leg at Dalymount Park), Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Cardiff City, Cardiff City 2-0 Shamrock Rovers Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round (first leg at Dalymount Park), St. Patrick’s Athletic 1-3 Bordeaux, Bordeaux 6-3 St. Patrick’s Athletic

League top scorers : Carl Davenport Cork Celtic, 15 Ben Hannigan Dundalk, 15 Alfie Hale Waterford, 14

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Johnny Fullam, Shamrock Rovers

Representative matches : League of Ireland 3-2 Irish League, League of Ireland 2-7 English League

1966-67 League of Ireland season

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With the club becoming a P.L.C., and a decision being taken to invest heavily in both the playing squad and their home ground of Oriel Park, the 1966-67 season ended up being a very significant one for Dundalk F.C. A squad containing only six players from the previous season (and just three survivors from their 1963 league success) propelled the club to its third League of Ireland title, with the Lilywhites finishing a full seven points clear of both Bohemians and Sligo Rovers. Victory in the League of Ireland Shield (the club’s first ever), and also the Top Four Cup, meant that it was easily Dundalk’s most successful campaign to date.

The title was won at both ends of the pitch, with the Louth club scoring more and conceding far less than any other side. The defence was marshalled by Welsh player-coach Alan Fox, and a newly-assembled forward line included players like Ben Hannigan, Tony O’Connell and Paddy Turner. Northern Irishman Danny Hale (who finished as the league’s joint top scorer), and former Bradford City and Huddersfield Town forward Derek Stokes (who scored an extra-time winner in the Top Four Cup final replay win over Bohemians) also became key players, and the club could easily have picked up even more honours, having made the final of both the Dublin City Cup and Leinster Senior Cup, and the last four of the F.A.I. Cup. Dundalk also won the first ever edition of the ‘Donegan Cup’, after a 5-2 aggregate win over local rivals Drogheda.

Action from what seems to be the first Top Four Cup final meeting between Dundalk and Bohemians

Shamrock Rovers knocked Dundalk out of the F.A.I. Cup at the semi-final stage, and the Hoops would go on to win the trophy for the fourth consecutive year, after a 3-2 win over Gerry Doyle’s St. Patrick’s Athletic. Goals from Frank O’Neill, Mick Leech (the 18-year old had freshened up a somewhat stagnant attack since joining a few months previously) and Billy Dixon did the trick for the Milltown club, in the first ever final to be shown live on television (the novelty factor meant that just 12,000 attended the game itself). Goals from Mick Kearin and Frank O’Neill gave them a 2-1 win over Dundalk in the final of the Dublin City Cup, but it was the Hoops’ European exploits this year that really caught the imagination. Following a 1-1 draw with German giants Bayern Munich (whose side included Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier and Gerd Müller) in the Cup Winners’ Cup at Dalymount Park, Rovers fell two goals behind in the return leg in the Olympic Stadium, before strikes from Bobby Gilbert and player-manager Liam Tuohy gave them the lead in the tie on the away goals rule. They were denied what would have been a truly historic victory when Gerd Müller snatched a late winner for the Germans, who would eventually go on to lift the trophy at the end of the season.

Rovers’ goal in the first match against Bayern had been scored by Billy Dixon, who had previously netted against the German side for Drumcondra in 1962. Having also scored during Drumcondra’s historic tie against Stævnet Odense that same year, his total of four European goals for Rovers this season (he netted three in the 8-2 aggregate win over Spora Luxembourg) saw him become the highest-scoring League of Ireland player in European competition (a title he would retain until the 2000s). While he also scored the winner in this season’s F.A.I. Cup final, Dixon would accumulate a surprisingly low tally of 34 league goals over the course of a 12-year League of Ireland career. Frank O’Neill’s excellent form on the wing this season, meanwhile, saw him hold down a position with the Irish national team, and his goal in a Euro 1968 qualifying win against Turkey at Dalymount Park remains the last competitive international goal scored by a home-based player.

Bohemians’ strong showing this season (it happened to be their first runners-up finish since 1929) was down to some more brilliant work by Seán Thomas, who had had to contend with the loss of as many as nine first team players from the previous campaign. On-field leader Willie Browne had retired, Mick Kearin was now with Shamrock Rovers, Kevin Murray and Larry Gilmore were now with Dundalk and Jimmy Conway and Turlough O’Connor had both transferred to Fulham. Players like Paul Flood, Eamonn Carroll and Anthony Swan (goalkeeper and brother of former Drumcondra netminder Maurice) really stepped up this season, however, with a Flood goal against Dundalk allowing the Gypsies to retain the Leinster Senior Cup, and a Republic of Ireland amateur international against England in March seeing six Bohemian players take to the field (Paul Cahill, Tom Kelly and Ben O’Sullivan appeared along with Swan, Flood and Carroll). Seán Thomas announced his shock departure from the club at the end of the season, however, signing a two-year contract to take over a Boston club in the new American soccer league.

Another established League of Ireland coach about to leave for pastures new was Limerick player-manager Ewan Fenton, who decided to take on a fresh challenge at Linfield. The Scotsman had been at the Markets Field since 1960, and his last season had been another good one for the Shannonsiders, with the club having been in the mix for the title at one stage. Local player and future club legend Joe O’Mahony had made a great impact in his first season, but this was the campaign where Al Finucane really emerged as a standout player in the League of Ireland. A composed and elegant defender (he was also more than capable of playing further forward) whose positioning and distribution were among his best attributes, Finucane was called into the Republic of Ireland squad for a Euro qualifying game against Turkey, and acquitted himself especially well after being deployed as a sweeper on his debut in Ankara. A home game against a strong Czechoslovakia team was a difficult one for Finucane, but he would go on to win a further nine international caps, and was recognised by the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland as their ‘Personality of the Year’ for the 1966-67 season.

Defending champions Waterford faced disruption this season due to injuries (Jimmy McGeough missed a large portion of the season), and also because of uncertainty over the status of cross-channel players Johnny Matthews and Peter Thomas (both natives of Coventry who had come through the youth system of their local club). Matthews had been part of the previous season’s success but left Waterford in October after being unable to agree terms, before finally re-signing for the club a few weeks later, this time as a full-time professional. Goalkeeper Thomas made a good impact after joining Paddy Coad’s side for a short loan spell, but after the club had struggled to adequately replace him, he was convinced to return to Kilcohan Park in late January on a two-year full-time contract. Thomas then played for the League of Ireland against the Irish League in Belfast in March and prevented the scoreline from getting out of hand, while Matthews scored 12 league goals (including a couple of great individual efforts) for Waterford to finish as the club’s top scorer.

Another complicated transfer saga involved former Shelbourne winger Joey Wilson, who left Derry City after three successful seasons to sign for Drogheda F.C. Shelbourne claimed, however, that Derry had given them first refusal if Wilson was ever to return to the League of Ireland, but with the transfer being deemed a legitimate one by the F.A.I., Drogheda insisted that the player was theirs. The Boynesiders relaxed their position once it became obvious that Wilson no longer wanted to go through with the move, but with a £600 transfer fee (which Wilson himself claimed was “excessive”) being sought and Shelbourne not in a strong financial position after a season towards the foot of the table, Wilson eventually agreed to become a Drogheda player for the 1967-68 season.

The previous season had seen League of Ireland crowds receive something of a boost, and this positive pattern continued for 1966-67, with a number of clubs registering record attendances during this campaign. 14,000 were at Oriel Park for Dundalk’s 2-0 win over Shamrock Rovers that all but guaranteed their first League of Ireland Shield, and there was a crowd of 10,000 present when the two clubs met in the Dublin City Cup final at Dalymount Park ten days later. Sligo Rovers (with their defence being brilliantly led by David Pugh) had kept pace with Dundalk for the first dozen or so league games, and a 2-1 win over Shamrock Rovers on the 15th of January was seen by the biggest crowd ever at the Showgrounds. On the very same day, a record Richmond Park crowd watched St. Patrick’s Athletic beat Bohemians 3-2, while at a packed Markets Field, Dundalk beat Limerick by the same scoreline to put a big dent in the Shannonsiders’ league chances (Limerick did at least have another great crowd for the visit of Sligo Rovers a week later, to help them meet the costs of a rent that had more than doubled since the stadium had been renovated). February then saw Drogheda’s Lourdes Stadium record its biggest attendance to date, as neighbours Dundalk left with a 3-1 win, despite the best efforts of ex-Lilywhite players Jimmy Hasty and Leo O’Reilly.

As had been the case in the 1950s, bigger crowds sometimes led to more crowd trouble, and following on from a disturbance at the end of their Kilcohan Park meeting in 1965, a Shamrock Rovers v Waterford game at Milltown in late 1966 saw some outbreaks of violence in the stands. A more notable flare-up took place at a Sligo Rovers v Dundalk match at the Showgrounds towards the end of the season (the Lilywhites had not quite been confirmed as champions), when a late equaliser for the home team saw some supporters overcelebrate by invading the pitch and attacking members of the away team. The referee decided to abandon the match with a couple of minutes still to be played, and while Sligo requested a replay, the 1-1 scoreline was allowed to stand.

Even though some of the criticism that had been aimed at clubs’ attacking play in recent years persisted, the 1966-67 season was definitely a more productive and profitable one for League of Ireland forward lines. Dundalk’s brand new attack took a few weeks to “gel”, but the goals soon started flowing freely, and it was a similar story in Sligo, though it could be said that their full-time, mostly cross-channel attack faded after making a very bright start. Waterford scored a lot of goals in the second half of the championship (almost earning themselves a spot in the Top Four Cup) and they were also involved in a lot of high-scoring thrillers this season. Cork Celtic stumbled upon an English forward called Carl Davenport, who scored in his first nine league appearances, and the man that Davenport had been brought in to replace was the scorer of one of a number of quickfire hat-tricks this season. Austin Noonan took just six minutes to score all three in Cork Hibernians’ 3-2 shield win over Sligo at the Showgrounds, before Hibs themselves were on the receiving end of a similar feat by Mick Jordan of Shelbourne at Flower Lodge. Derek Stokes took just seven minutes to score three in Dundalk’s F.A.I. Cup win over Tramore Athletic, and while the best the league itself could offer was an 18-minute hat-trick by Cork Celtic’s John McCarthy, the stage has been set for something extraordinary that was to come.

League of Ireland 1966-67


PWDLFAPts
Dundalk221543541934
Bohemians221237452727
Sligo Rovers221156372927
Limerick22967312924
Waterford2211110534823
St. Patrick’s Athletic22859495121
Shamrock Rovers228410313120
Drumcondra22688353820
Cork Hibernians227510313919
Drogheda227510314219
Cork Celtic228311305219
Shelbourne224315325411

European Competition (all home legs at Dalymount Park) : European Cup Preliminary Round, Waterford 1-6 FC Vorwärts Berlin, FC Vorwärts Berlin 6-0 Waterford European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round, Shamrock Rovers 4-1 Spora Luxembourg, Spora Luxembourg 1-4 Shamrock Rovers. Second Round, Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich 3-2 Shamrock Rovers Inter Cities Fairs Cup First Round, Drumcondra 0-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1 Drumcondra

League top scorers : Johnny Brooks Sligo Rovers, 15 Danny Hale Dundalk, 15 Ben Hannigan Dundalk, 14

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Al Finucane, Limerick

Representative matches : Scottish League 6-0 League of Ireland, Irish League 3-1 League of Ireland

1965-66 League of Ireland season

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The 1965-66 League of Ireland season was probably the most compelling one of the 1960s, as well as being a standout season in the history of League of Ireland football as a whole. It was a league campaign of two halves, with Shamrock Rovers impressively winning each of their first 11 matches to open up a six-point advantage at the halfway point, the Hoops defeating Sligo Rovers 3-1 on a snow-covered Milltown pitch to equal the achievement of the northwesterners in their 1936-37 league winning season. To most observers it seemed as if Rovers’ eleventh League of Ireland title would now be little more than a formality, but while the Milltown game had been taking place, Waterford had been defeating Drogheda 3-1 to record their sixth league win in a row and install themselves as the Hoops’ nearest challengers.

In the league’s bottom two for each of the previous two years (they finished bottom in 1965), very little was expected of Waterford for the 1965-66 season, despite the fact that Paddy Coad had now returned for a second stint as manager. The much-travelled Mick Lynch had also returned to Kilcohan Park for a second spell, but while they finished their shield campaign strongly (scoring 21 goals on the way to winning their last five games) they took just four points from their opening five league games, and given their struggles over the last couple of seasons, a top six finish for the Blues would probably have been considered a very good achievement. But while Shamrock Rovers’ winning run (and an unbeaten home league record stretching back to February 1963) was being ended by third-placed Bohemians at Milltown, Waterford were registering their seventh consecutive league win, and when a Mick Lynch goal gave them both points at Dalymount Park the following Sunday, the scene was well and truly set for their visit to Milltown to tackle the leaders.

Crowd trouble had erupted at the end of the Kilcohan Park meeting of the sides earlier in the league (Rovers won 4-3 with the help of a hotly-disputed penalty and the referee needed the help of the gardaí to escape the stadium), but a record Glenmalure Park crowd of almost 25,000 were on their best behaviour for this all-important return match. An Al Casey goal in the 39th minute gave the spoils to Waterford and brought them to within a point of their rivals, and among other things, the Blues were now just two games away from winning 11 on the trot themselves. Victories over Drumcondra and Dundalk in the next two outings meant that they did just that. Having been runners-up on four previous occasions, Blues fans began believing that this finally might be their year, and when Cork Hibernians and Sligo were beaten to bring the winning run to an incredible 13, the championship appeared to be Waterford’s to lose. Despite drawing their next two league games (they thus fell short of Bohemians’ run of 15 straight wins from the 1923-24 season), and losing an F.A.I. Cup semi-final replay to Shamrock Rovers, the title was closed out with wins in their last two matches, a last day victory at Drogheda giving them the championship with two points to spare (they had taken 21 points from 22 away from home). The celebrations that the victory triggered on Suirside had only ever been matched by those that greeted the Waterford hurlers following their All-Ireland victories in 1948 and 1959.

Waterford had gradually been adding to their squad as the league campaign progressed, and the players that Paddy Coad brought in all played their part in the Blues’ success. Waterford native John O’Neill had re-joined in November from champions Drumcondra, before wing-half Jimmy McGeough was recruited for a fee of £3,000 from Derry City. After a slow start, McGeough’s midfield partnership with Vinny Maguire eventually became pivotal, and it was the Belfast native who supplied the cross for Al Casey’s winning goal at Milltown. In March, an English winger by the name of Johnny Matthews joined Waterford from Coventry City, and it was Matthews who scored the only goal at the Sligo Showgrounds to give the Blues their 13th league win in a row. Mick Lynch finished as outright top scorer on the way to winning his first ever League of Ireland medal, and Paddy Coad’s much younger brother Shamie was also in scoring form, his versatility having helped him to establish himself as the club’s key player during the previous number of seasons.

League of Ireland attendances in the 1960s had dipped considerably compared to the previous decade, but the exciting events of the first few months of 1966 allowed this trend to be bucked somewhat, at least temporarily. When Shamrock Rovers faced Bohemians with the aim of winning their 12th league game from 12, a record “gate” of over £1,300 was paid at the Milltown turnstiles, and those who were there were treated to one of the best League of Ireland matches for years, with Bohs eventually winning 3-2 to bring their rivals’ winning run to an end. There was an even bigger crowd at Dalymount for the visit of Waterford the following week, and when the Blues then faced Rovers at Milltown, several thousand were unable to gain entry. The cup semi-finals between Shamrock Rovers and Waterford also attracted bumper crowds, with 25,000 at Dalymount to see the Hoops progress to the final on a 4-2 scoreline.

Rovers had required replays in the two previous rounds as well, and found last season’s opponents, Limerick, waiting for them in the final. The Hoops would be without Liam Tuohy for the decider but second-half goals from Tony O’Connell and Frank O’Neill gave them their third ‘blue riband’ success in a row. The Hoops had earlier won their fourth League of Ireland Shield in succession (the second time they had achieved this feat) but it came at a cost, with a serious knee injury sustained by Jackie Mooney in a shield game against Shelbourne resulting in the Republic of Ireland international being on the sidelines for the next two years. Bobby Gilbert was brought in from Derry City, however, and finished as the club’s top scorer, with two goals coming in a 3-0 win over Bohemians in a Top Four Cup final second replay. The Hoops had also ran eventual runners-up, Zaragoza, very close in this season’s Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, holding on until a 78th minute winner for the Spanish side in the second leg.

Limerick had reached the final in spite of a little bit of disruption, caused by the unavailability of the Markets Field for their cup run. The ground’s owners, Limerick Greyhound Racing Company, had initiated some renovations and though the club were able to remain there for league games, they had to play two ‘home’ F.A.I. Cup matches at Thomond Park and Dalymount Park. Limerick’s European Cup Winners’ Cup game against CSKA Sofia had also taken place at Dalymount, but the match ended up being delayed for 24 hours due to fog, resulting in a wasted journey for about 800 Limerick fans (ironically, there was no fog over Limerick on the same night). A crowd of 11,000 were then present on the Thursday evening to see Ewan Fenton’s men fall to a rather unlucky 2-1 defeat.

As well as achieving another third-placed finish in the league, the Bohemians revival under Seán Thomas also saw them win some silverware this season for the first time in almost 20 years. The Gypsies came from 2-0 down to beat Shamrock Rovers 3-2 in a replayed L.F.A. President’s Cup final (this competition had been expanded to a six-team knockout format the previous season), before overcoming Shelbourne by the same scoreline in the final of the Leinster Senior Cup. Wing-half Jimmy Conway (one of the young players that had been recruited from Stella Maris) had emerged as the team’s key player, and his excellent performances saw him attract the attention of several cross-channel clubs. Fulham won the race for his signature at the end of the season, and the London club decided to add Turlough O’Connor to the ticket as well. The duo’s last game for Bohs was the first of the two drawn Top Four Cup finals against Shamrock Rovers, with both players scoring in the 3-3 draw at Dalymount Park.

Goals from Pat O’Callaghan, Tony Allen and one of the Gosnell twins helped Cork Hibernians beat Dundalk 3-2 in the final of the Dublin City Cup to secure their first national honour. On the whole, however, it was probably a season to forget for the two Leeside-based League of Ireland clubs, as both Hibernians (who took just one point from their first 10 games) and Celtic spent the season hovering near the foot of the table and Celtic eventually had to apply for re-election. A thrilling January derby (one of the best ever) between the clubs saw Celtic score two late goals to win 4-3 and provide their supporters with a rare high point for the season. At the end of the campaign, Austin Noonan’s departure from Celtic to Hibernians saw his prolific strike partnership with Donal Leahy finally come to an end. The pair had scored 267 league goals between them over the course of the previous 11 seasons, and while neither player had ever had any trouble in gaining the attention of the inter-league selectors, Noonan and Leahy were to be denied the opportunity to appear for the Republic of Ireland. Leahy’s non-appearance for the national side was seen as a particular injustice (his seven goals in 17 League of Ireland XI appearances is a record), and this was especially so when one considers that he was called up to the Irish international squad on a number of occasions.

After their gradual introduction into other competitions during recent seasons, 1965-66 finally saw substitutions being allowed in League of Ireland championship matches. As it turned out, the law was introduced very hastily, with a broken leg sustained by Drumcondra’s Jimmy Morrissey proving to be the final straw. The substitute / twelfth man had to be nominated in advance and could enter in place of an injured player at any stage of the contest. Although the first weekend didn’t see any substitution being made, a match at the Showgrounds on the 27th of February saw St. Patrick’s Athletic’s Des Downey coming on for an injured Noel Bates after 21 minutes of the second half. In a peculiar twist, Sligo Rovers managed to score while their opponents were still readying their replacement player.

The floodgates soon opened and there were many uses of the substitute rule before the end of the season. Waterford’s Peter Fitzgerald (who had recently returned after a few months out injured) became the first substitute to score in a League of Ireland match when he gave the champions-elect a 1-0 win over Cork Celtic at Turner’s Cross. The lack of a substitute rule had previously thrown up some ridiculous situations, with injured players often staying on the pitch (they were usually put out on the wing) despite being of no real benefit to their team. The practice also raised player welfare concerns, but occasionally / ironically, a badly injured player might end up making a telling contribution, such as Mick Rice scoring in the P.J. Casey Cup final in 1962, or Ben O’Sullivan scoring the winner for Bohs in this season’s five-goal thriller at Milltown. However, substitutions were not yet common in other leagues throughout Europe, with 1965-66 being the first English league season to feature them, and UEFA proving very slow to introduce them into their competitions. In Spain, the first substitution in La Liga would not happen until 1969.

League of Ireland 1965-66

PWDLFAPts
Waterford221642532636
Shamrock Rovers221543592334
Bohemians221318463027
Shelbourne221057373025
Sligo Rovers22877272623
Limerick22787363522
Drumcondra22868323522
Dundalk229310323521
St. Patrick’s Athletic229211354320
Cork Hibernians226313305115
Cork Celtic224612325114
Drogheda22131815485

European Competition : European Cup First Round, Drumcondra 1-0 ASK Vorwärts Berlin (East Germany), ASK Vorwärts Berlin 3-0 Drumcondra European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round (first leg at Dalymount Park), Limerick 1-2 CSKA Sofia, CSKA Sofia 2-0 Limerick Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Second Round (Rovers received a bye to this stage, first leg at Dalymount Park), Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Real Zaragoza, Real Zaragoza 2-1 Shamrock Rovers

League top scorers : Mick Lynch Waterford, 17 Shamie Coad Waterford, 14 Bobby Gilbert Shamrock Rovers, 14 Liam Tuohy Shamrock Rovers, 14

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Liam Tuohy, Shamrock Rovers player-manager

Representative match : English League 5-0 League of Ireland

1964-65 League of Ireland season

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A great team effort, built around a very solid defence, saw Drumcondra win their fifth League of Ireland title in 1964-65, a season that was, on the whole, a little bit dull and uneventful. The standard of play had been relatively poor during the first half of the 1960s, and it seemed to dip a little bit further this year, with many, if not most matches being described in less than glowing terms. The poor attacking play of the previous season continued, but the one thing to receive praise this season was the performance of the league’s goalkeepers, with their many excellent displays helping to keep the scoring rate at just three goals per game. The fact that it was a standout year for the league’s goalkeeping fraternity seemed to be confirmed by Shelbourne’s John Heavey becoming the first goalkeeper to score in a championship match, when he scored the first in a 2-0 win over Waterford at Kilcohan Park.

A good start and strong finish were key for Drumcondra, as they won five of their first six matches and also each of their last six to finish just a point ahead of Shamrock Rovers, who had led the league table for much of the middle part of the season (both clubs had taken 21 home points from 22 and remained unbeaten at home all season). A late Jimmy Hasty goal along with a brilliant display by home goalkeeper Gerry Macken prevented the Hoops from forcing a play-off, with their delayed last league game against Dundalk at Oriel Park finishing in a 1-1 draw. Drumcondra also captured the Top Four Cup at Rovers’ expense, and the competition saw them suddenly find their shooting boots (new signing Johnny Kingston had been their top league scorer this season with nine), with a 3-0 win over Cork Hibernians in the semi-final being matched by a 3-0 win over the Hoops in the decider (Billy Dixon scored twice with David Brooks getting the other). An injury crisis had seen veteran Christy ‘Bunny’ Fullam making his first appearance of the season for Drums in their final league game, and he remained in the side for both of the Top Four Cup matches.

Shamrock Rovers managed to retain two of the trophies that they had won the previous season, with a gallant Limerick team unlucky to lose their first ever F.A.I. Cup final, after a replay. Johnny Fullam netted the only goal after the first meeting had ended in a 1-1 draw, and Limerick became the first team to bring on a substitute in the final when Michael Doyle sustained a broken leg during the first half of the first game (Denis Linnane was his replacement; the rule permitting a first-half injury substitution had been introduced for the previous season’s final). The two clubs had taken part in a novel League of Ireland Shield game earlier in the season, with Rovers winning 3-1 and all four of the goals being scored from the penalty spot (Eddie Bailham scored all three for the Hoops, not long before emigrating to England), before then being involved in a five-way tie (along with Drumcondra, Dundalk and Cork Celtic) at the top of the shield table, brought about by an unlikely combination of final round results. A series of play-off matches eventually got under way in the new year, and with bad weather causing both semi-finals to be postponed, Shamrock Rovers and Cork Celtic met in the final on St. Patrick’s Day, with two Liam Tuohy goals giving the Hoops a 2-1 win at Tolka Park.

Limerick’s appearance in the cup final would prove enough to secure them a place in the European Cup Winners’ Cup for the following year, with Rovers electing to compete in the following season’s Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. This latter tournament had been very kind to the League of Ireland clubs so far, with Shelbourne’s thrilling first round victory over Portugal’s Belenenses one of the latest, and arguably the most significant, in a string of respectable results. The Reds set some very unconvincing domestic form aside to prevail following a play-off (the goals came from Ben Hannigan and Mick Conroy), and then performed admirably against Atlético Madrid in the next round. Shels had qualified for the Fairs Cup despite only finishing fifth in the 1963-64 League of Ireland Shield, but as the highest-placed Dublin club (the tournament was initially only open to clubs from a city where an international trade fair took place) apart from quadruple-winning Shamrock Rovers, the European spot went to the Tolka Park tenants ahead of Dundalk and Waterford (Cork Celtic had also finished above the Reds, but had secured qualification for the European Cup Winners’ Cup).

Shelbourne also managed to snag some silverware this season, with an Eric Barber hat-trick helping them to a 5-1 win over Drumcondra in a Dublin City Cup final replay in January. The first match had taken place in October, and many present actually thought that Drumcondra had won the game on corners after the sides finished level at 3-3 (the rule, however, only applied to the competition’s earlier rounds). Alvarito, a former Atlético Madrid defender and Spanish international, joined Shelbourne midway through the season, and even helped out with coaching duties when long-serving manager Gerry Doyle ended up moving on from the club. Con Martin, who had been out of the game since his spell at Dundalk a few years ago, was approached to take over for the 1965-66 season.

Bohemians had received their sternest warning yet from the rest of the League of Ireland when seeking re-election for the 1964-65 season (something akin to “improve or get out”), so the fact that Seán Thomas had taken over at the club following his acrimonious departure from Shamrock Rovers seemed particularly timely. He set about revamping the Dalymount Park squad, with many young players being brought in, mostly from the northside Stella Maris club. The changes brought no immediate improvement, however, and the Gypsies won just two of their first 11 league matches. Fortunes improved immediately, and dramatically, with the signing of Turlough O’Connor from Athlone Town, however, the young inside-left hitting the ground running and scoring eight goals (including both in a 2-2 draw away to Drumcondra) to help the club climb up the table. An unbeaten run of eight wins and three draws saw them eventually finish third, and O’Connor’s brilliant form not only appeared to have resolved Bohs’ long-standing goalscoring problem, but he had breathed some life into an otherwise very tame domestic season.

O’Connor had spent a few months playing for Athlone Town in the new League of Ireland ‘B’ league, a competition that also included Home Farm and Bray Wanderers, along with the reserve teams of most of the Leinster-based League of Ireland clubs (Bohemians were the exception; the ‘B’ teams of the Munster clubs played in the Munster Senior League). Home Farm were the team that grabbed all the headlines this season, winning the first League of Ireland ‘B’ championship, and also pulling off a huge shock by lifting the Leinster Senior Cup. Bohemians, St. Patrick’s Athletic and Dundalk’s first teams were all beaten on the way to ‘Farm becoming the first non-League of Ireland ‘A’ club to win the trophy for over 20 years. The Whitehall club (whose key player was future Stoke City and Ireland star Terry Conroy) also undertook a trip to the U.S. during the close season, playing friendly matches in front of big crowds, and recording a 6-0 win over Trenton All-Stars from New Jersey. Despite all this success, however, there was still no appetite within the League of Ireland to add another Dublin club to the ‘A’ division, so as with a number of previous attempts, Home Farm’s application to join the top flight for 1965-66 was unsuccessful.

League of Ireland 1964-65

PWDLFAPts
Drumcondra221444352232
Shamrock Rovers221435402231
Bohemians221075382427
Cork Hibernians221156412927
Sligo Rovers221057303125
Shelbourne221129383724
St. Patrick’s Athletic229310373621
Cork Celtic228311333419
Dundalk227510313719
Drogheda225512193415
Limerick224414294812
Waterford224414254212

European Competition : European Cup Preliminary Round (second leg at Dalymount Park), Rapid Vienna 3-0 Shamrock Rovers, Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Rapid Vienna European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round (second leg at Flower Lodge), Slavia Sofia 1-1 Cork Celtic, Cork Celtic 0-2 Slavia Sofia Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (home legs at Dalymount Park) First Round, Belenenses (Portugal) 1-1 Shelbourne, Shelbourne 0-0 Belenenses. Play-off (Dalymount Park, Shelbourne having won the toss of a coin), Shelbourne 2-1 Belenenses. Second Round, Shelbourne 0-1 Atlético Madrid, Atlético Madrid 1-0 Shelbourne

League top scorers : Jackie Mooney Shamrock Rovers, 16 Eric Barber Shelbourne, 14 Noel Bates St. Patrick’s Athletic, 14

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Seán Thomas, manager, Bohemians

Representative matches : League of Ireland 2-2 Scottish League, League of Ireland 0-1 Irish League

1963-64 League of Ireland season

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The 1963-64 season was all about Shamrock Rovers. Under the management of Seán Thomas (who had been with the club since 1961), and boosted by the return of Liam Tuohy from Newcastle, they made up for the disappointment of the 1956-57 season by achieving an incredible domestic quadruple / grand slam. They brought their league championship haul into double figures, finishing five points clear of both Dundalk and Limerick, and overcame Cork Celtic in a replayed final (Eddie Bailham scored both in a 2-1 mid-week win under the Dalymount lights) to achieve their first league and F.A.I. Cup double since 1932. With half-backs Ronnie Nolan and Johnny Fullam pulling the strings, Rovers had already secured a fifteenth League of Ireland Shield (six home wins helping them finish three points ahead of Dundalk) and an eighth Dublin City Cup (two Liam Tuohy goals helped them get the better of Drumcondra in the final for a sixth time) in the first half of the season, and added the Leinster Senior Cup for good measure.

The Milltown club complemented their domestic achievements by pushing Valencia (winners of the tournament for the last two seasons) all the way in the first round of the Fairs Cup. Goals from Liam Tuohy and Jackie Mooney put Rovers 2-0 up in the second leg in Spain, before the Spaniards, albeit with the help of a disputed goal, brought the match level to progress 3-2 on aggregate. Controversy reigned at Milltown towards the end of the campaign, however, when the Cunningham family once again became embroiled in a team selection scandal. Star winger and Republic of Ireland international Frank O’Neill was left out of the Rovers side for the F.A.I. Cup final replay, prompting Seán Thomas to resign as Rovers manager, and move across the city to Bohemians. Club captain Liam Tuohy stepped into the managerial breach (one of his first tasks would be to replace goalkeeper Pat Dunne, sold to Manchester United for £10,500), but Thomas’s acrimonious departure had unquestionably taken some of the shine off the club’s remarkable achievements this season.

Although the scoring rate was slightly up from the previous season, match reports for this campaign were often dominated by tales of profligate forward lines and wasted goalscoring opportunities. Bohemians’ struggles in front of goal continued, Limerick failed to properly capitalise on the excellent half-back play of Ewan Fenton and Al Finucane, and it was left to Ronnie Whelan to score almost half of St. Patrick’s Athletic’s league goals. Even Shamrock Rovers were not immune from the criticism, despite recording an 8-1 win away to Waterford and a 4-0 win over Shelbourne at Tolka Park. Some League of Ireland supporters would, however, have been happy to see players like Eric Barber, Jimmy Hasty and Donal Leahy (none of whom had reached double figures the previous season) back among the goals.

Shamrock Rovers had also defeated Dundalk 7-0 in the first round of the F.A.I. Cup (the two sides had been level on points at the top of the league at the time of this result), but it was the Lilywhites (under the management of Joey Donnelly) who handed the Hoops their only two domestic defeats of the season. A 2-1 win at Oriel Park represented Rovers’ only league loss, and a Top Four Cup semi-final between the sides was said to be the most keenly contested Independent Cup match ever. Two goals from the Lilywhites’ legendary one-armed centre-forward Jimmy Hasty helped them to a 3-2 win, and Dundalk’s meeting with Limerick in the final (the teams had drawn 2-2 at the Markets Field on the last day of the league season) took on added significance because of Rovers’ dominance. After Limerick had missed a host of chances in both games, Dundalk prevailed after a replay, with Hasty again on the mark.

One of the league’s top three goalscorers this season (he had been Dundalk’s top marksman for each of the previous three), Hasty’s disability did not seem to affect his play at all, and the Belfastman had been attracting huge crowds to League of Ireland grounds since signing for Dundalk in 1960. Word of him had also spread to Switzerland in advance of Dundalk’s European Cup second leg game against FC Zürich, and with the outcome of the tie seemingly a foregone conclusion after Dundalk’s 3-0 Dalymount Park defeat (the visitors had scored with virtually all of their chances), Hasty made a goal, scored a goal, and hit the crossbar before the Swiss scored again to put the issue beyond doubt. After a couple of more seasons with Dundalk and a short spell with Drogheda, Hasty returned to the north in the late 1960s, but unfortunately, would lose his life in a sectarian attack in Belfast in 1974.

Despite the great showing by Hasty and his teammates in Zürich (and their status as current league champions), it was something of a shock that not a single Dundalk player was selected for the League of Ireland’s match against the English League at Dalymount Park in October of 1963. As it turned out, five Shamrock Rovers players helped the Irish selection to their first and only ever win over their English counterparts, with Eddie Bailham and Ronnie Whelan scoring the goals in a historic 2-1 victory. The visitors’ line-up had included names like Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Roger Hunt, but there had been some Irish optimism due to the recent European performances and also a depleted Republic of Ireland team (one that included Liam Tuohy, Willie Browne and Ronnie Whelan) holding Austria to a goalless draw in Vienna on the same night that Dundalk had been in action in Zürich. The English League had a penalty saved by Drumcondra’s Eamonn Darcy (a standout performer this season) before taking a half-time lead, but Bailham’s 25-yard drive set the home team on their way to success.

With Irish football’s stock having fallen somewhat in recent years, the respectable performances that had been put in against overseas opposition seemed to restore the pride of Irish football supporters, but better was to come, as the national team followed up the away draw with a 3-2 home win over Austria in the second leg of their European Nations Cup tie. The Dalymount crowd was at fever pitch and there were several pitch invasions, but in spite of a possible objection by the Austrians, the result was allowed to stand. Spain were to end Ireland’s interest in the competition at the quarter-final stage, but a 4-2 win for the League of Ireland against the Irish League along with a 2-2 draw in a return game in Belfast meant the representative team (coached by Seán Thomas) had gone through their three matches unbeaten.

A few months after their visit to Valencia, Shamrock Rovers had found themselves back in Spain, after being invited to play a February friendly against a Spanish international ‘B’ team, with the hosts recording a fairly straightforward 7-2 win. The Hoops’ trophy-winning exploits this season were also, slightly peculiarly, bookended by two friendly matches against English second division club Sunderland. It ended up being a notable / historic season for both clubs, with Sunderland winning promotion to the top flight after a six-year absence (Derryman Johnny Crossan was their top scorer), but it was a run to the quarter-finals of the F.A. Cup that saw them make headlines in England and beyond. A three-match tussle with a star-studded Manchester United was eventually lost (had the Black Cats won there would have been three second division clubs in the last four) but the huge demand for entry to the first replay led to an extremely dangerous case of overcrowding at Roker Park. Two Sunderland fans lost their lives and it was only because of good fortune that a more serious disaster was averted. Rovers had won 2-1 on their visit to Roker Park in August, but Sunderland made amends by winning 3-1 at Dalymount Park in early May.

Drogheda‘s first season as a League of Ireland club ended up as a bit of a mixed bag, but they could ultimately be quite satisfied that they managed to avoid having to seek re-election. Their first match of the season was a 4-3 Dublin City Cup defeat by neighbours Dundalk at Oriel Park, but they struggled to attract crowds to their matches early on as they found wins hard to come by. The players had to take a pay cut, but with Dan McCaffrey leading the line the Boynesiders managed to find a little bit of form, and the crowds also started to come through the turnstiles. Although they were heavily beaten in both league matches against Dundalk, a 5-5 draw away to champions Shamrock Rovers was a definite high point of this debut season.

Sligo Rovers had returned after their one-season absence from the league, and although this was the last season for club legend (and all-time top scorer) Johnny Armstrong, another Bit O’ Red great appeared on the scene this year. A local 20-year old centre-half called David Pugh made a big impact and received much praise for his performances, drawing favourable comparisons to the likes of Shelbourne’s Freddie Strahan. By 1966, the well-built defender would be captaining Ireland’s under-23 team, and as well as serving Sligo Rovers with distinction, Pugh would go on to appear for Sligo G.A.A. in a Connacht final against Galway. Several other newcomers to the league this season were destined to make big names for themselves, with Shamrock Rovers handing a debut to 16-year old Damien Richardson, and a 17-year old Turlough O’Connor scoring on his first appearance for Limerick. A young Paddy Mulligan also made his debut for Bohemians before leaving to join Home Farm, but then signed a professional contract with Shamrock Rovers a short time later.

League of Ireland 1963-64


PWDLFAPts

Shamrock Rovers221471682735

Dundalk221264492730

Limerick221264463230

Cork Celtic22985493626

St. Patrick’s Athletic22895412925

Cork Hibernians22976383125

Shelbourne22859464221

Drumcondra229310313821

Sligo Rovers22679305317*

Drogheda225611314416

Waterford22411727649

Bohemians22151619527

* Sligo Rovers deducted two points

European Competition (all home legs at Dalymount Park) : European Cup Preliminary Round, Dundalk 0-3 FC Zürich, FC Zürich 1-2 Dundalk European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round, Shelbourne 0-2 Barcelona, Barcelona 3-1 Shelbourne Inter-Cities Fairs Cup First Round, Shamrock Rovers 0-1 Valencia, Valencia 2-2 Shamrock Rovers

League top scorers : Eddie Bailham Shamrock Rovers, 18 Jimmy Hasty Dundalk, 18 Johnny Kingston Cork Hibernians, 18

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Joe Wickham, F.A.I. Secretary

Representative matches : League of Ireland 2-1 English League, League of Ireland 4-2 Irish League, Irish League 2-2 League of Ireland

1962-63 League of Ireland season

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Though not as severely affected as the U.K., the 1962-63 League of Ireland football season was largely defined by the winter “Big Freeze”, which led to a succession of postponements during December and January and threw the championship race almost completely out of step. Dundalk F.C. somehow escaped the worst of it, however, and with a team containing a number of “cast-offs” from other clubs, managed to keep their noses ahead of everyone else for almost the entire campaign. Two late goals away to bottom club Bohemians in their final game secured a dramatic 2-2 draw, and a three-point advantage at the top of the table, but with three other clubs still in a position to catch them. Over the coming days, the title hopes of Drumcondra, Shelbourne (who lost their last three games to slip to seventh), and then Cork Celtic all evaporated, leaving the Lilywhites’ to celebrate their first league title in 30 years. It was the club’s first top four finish in 14 years, and they used a squad of just 14 players, including the versatile Leo O’Reilly (ex-Shamrock Rovers and Limerick), who won his third league title with a third different club. By the time all of the fixture congestion had been cleared, Paddy Coad’s Waterford were left in the runners-up position, ahead of Drumcondra on goal average.

A decision had been taken to reduce the amount of League of Ireland clubs from 12 to 10, and having both finished some distance adrift at the foot of the previous season’s table, Transport and Sligo Rovers had failed to retain their League of Ireland status. Although the north-westerners would soon return, 1961-62 would prove to have been the Busmen’s last League of Ireland action (they would, however, go on to win three F.A.I. Intermediate Cups). The reduction of clubs was partly to accommodate a new P.J. Casey Cup competition, which opened the new season in August. Again open to League of Ireland clubs only, but with a geographical format similar to the modern-day League Cup (two groups of five clubs played each other once, with the top two qualifying for the semi-finals), the trophy was named after the Dundalk administrator and former president of the League of Ireland who had died during the previous season. Fittingly, Dundalk reached the final, but were beaten 3-0 (Billy Dixon scored twice) by Drumcondra, in what would actually prove to be the only ever P.J. Casey Cup decider. The fixture pile-up that happened to occur this year meant that the new competition was sacrificed instead of the league having to possibly introduce a mid-season break.

The shield had kicked off immediately after the P.J. Casey Cup, with eight wins from nine helping Shamrock Rovers finish six points clear of Cork Celtic and Dundalk to capture what would prove to be the first of four consecutive League of Ireland Shields (as with the subsequent league race, most of the teams had found consistent form hard to come by). Something of a new departure for the Dublin City Cup saw it commence in November, with the first round taking place over two legs. The competition was impacted by the cold weather, however, and the second semi-final wasn’t played until the 25th of April, a whole four months after the first. Shelbourne, and Tommy Moroney’s Cork Hibernians (who this season finally began playing their home fixtures at the Flower Lodge stadium, and received big praise for both the facilities and the quality of the playing surface) could look forward to a meeting in the final on the 5th of May.

These clubs had already met in a far more prestigious fixture on April 22nd, however, with the F.A.I. Cup throwing up a repeat of the 1960 decider, and giving Hibs the chance to gain revenge for their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Gerry Doyle’s side. The Leesiders’ team this year included former Shamrock Rovers, Everton and Ireland star Tommy Eglington, and also Tommy Hamilton (hero of the previous season’s final and the reigning S.W.A.I. ‘Personality of the Year’), but in a final played in wind and rain, goals from Shels defenders Paddy Roberts and Paddy Bonham ensured that the 1960 result and scoreline were also destined to be repeated (peculiarly, just as in 1960, Hibs had a goal controversially disallowed). The Reds then rounded the season off with a win over the Corkmen in the Dublin City Cup decider, goals from Ben Hannigan (described in an F.A.I. Cup final match report as the “stormy petrel” of Irish soccer) and Joey Wilson giving them a 2-1 win at Dalymount Park.

At the end of the 1960-61 season, Drumcondra had needed two replays to collect the Top Four Cup at the expense of Cork Celtic, and the first instalment of the 1963 final between the sides finished in a 2-2 draw. Finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time in the rematch, Drums fought back to force extra-time, before a brace of goals from Jimmy ‘Maxie’ McCann helped them to a 4-3 win. It was the Dublin club’s second trophy of the season, but it was their exploits in the new Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (although the competition would eventually include sides who finished runners-up in the various European leagues, the League of Ireland was initially represented by the winners of the previous season’s shield) that were maybe more significant. A first victory, and first aggregate victory by a League of Ireland side in European competition were achieved by the Tolka Park outfit, at the expense of an ‘Odense XI’ from Denmark.

A couple of miles away in Dalymount Park, Bohemian F.C. had a somewhat peculiar season. They finished five points adrift at the foot of the table in spite of playing reasonably well, and conceding just 35 goals (two fewer than runners-up Waterford) in their 18 matches. The problem for the Gypsies was up front, where their forward players tended to waste an amount of goalscoring opportunities, week after week. Bohs often sought to remedy the problem by switching their centre-half and leader Willie Browne from defence to attack, and this sometimes paid dividends. Browne was a threat from set-pieces in any case, and he ended up as the club’s top scorer with five goals. The Longford native was voted the Soccer Writers’ ‘Personality of the Year’ for 1962-63 and would go on to win a number of international caps the following season.

The ‘Big Freeze’ affected English clubs and competitions to such an extent that some were forced to go without football for around two months. Manchester United eventually had the idea of travelling to Ireland to play a series of friendlies and exhibition matches, and they were joined by Coventry City for a match at Milltown on the 2nd of February. 20,000 were there to see Bobby Charlton score late to rescue a 2-2 draw for United, and a crowd of 6,000 braved heavy rain to see United beat Bolton Wanderers (who had not played a match since early December) 4-2 at Flower Lodge on February 13th. United rounded off their programme a week later with a 4-0 win over a Bohemians / Shamrock Rovers XI in front of 15,000 at Dalymount Park.

Paddy Crerand made his Manchester United debut and scored in the Flower Lodge match, following his recent move from Glasgow Celtic, and Crerand had been one of the tormentors-in-chief a few months earlier when the Scottish League inflicted a humiliating 11-0 defeat on the League of Ireland at Celtic Park. A match against the Irish League was also lost following a very poor performance, but with this fixture now very much an annual event, and friendly matches between northern and southern clubs also now a regular occurrence (Shelbourne and Portadown, for example, had played each other once a year for the last number of years), relations between the two leagues / associations had seemingly never been better. So much so that one meeting of League of Ireland officials this season raised / discussed the possibility of making a formal approach to their northern counterparts with respect to the creation of an all-Ireland league. In the meantime, however, the League of Ireland was to revert to a 12-team structure, and six applications would be received for the two new positions, including ones from Jacobs, Transport, Tycor Athletic (Waterford) and Home Farm. As it turned out, the 1963-64 season would see Sligo Rovers returning, and for the first time, a team from Drogheda.

League of Ireland 1962-63

PWDLFAPts
Dundalk18963392324
Waterford181035503723
Drumcondra181035332723
Cork Celtic18693332221
Shamrock Rovers18756362519
Cork Hibernians18747222518
Shelbourne18747293518
Limerick185310223013
St. Patrick’s Athletic18459234713
Bohemians18161119358

European Competition : European Cup Preliminary Round (first leg at Dalymount Park), Shelbourne 0-2 Sporting Lisbon, Sporting Lisbon 5-1 Shelbourne European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round (Rovers received a bye to this stage, first leg at Dalymount Park), Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Botev Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Botev Plovdiv 1-0 Shamrock Rovers Inter-Cities Fairs Cup First Round, Drumcondra 4-1 Stævnet Odense (Denmark), Stævnet Odense 4-2 Drumcondra. Second Round, Bayern Munich 6-0 Drumcondra, Drumcondra 1-0 Bayern Munich

League top scorers : Mick Lynch Waterford, 12 Jackie Mooney Shamrock Rovers, 11 Jimmy Hasty Dundalk, 9

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Willie Browne, Bohemians

Representative matches : Scottish League 11-0 League of Ireland, League of Ireland 1-3 Irish League

1961-62 League of Ireland season

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This season’s league race turned into a tussle between a free-scoring Cork Celtic side (who had four players in double figures) and a Shelbourne team that had shown an uncanny ability to grind out results. With both clubs finishing on 35 points (they drew 1-1 in front of a crowd of 10,000 at Turner’s Cross on the last day of the season), Shels and Cork Celtic contested a Dalymount Park play-off to decide the 1962 championship. A Ben Hannigan strike that came back off a post and went in off Cork’s Frankie McCarthy was enough to ensure a seventh league title for the Dubliners, and it meant that in spite of possessing a far superior goal average (ex-Limerick forward George Lynam had contributed ten goals, and centre-forward Donal Leahy was in the league’s top three scorers for the sixth year in a row), Celtic were condemned to a third runners-up finish in four seasons.

Shels would go on to defeat the Corkmen in the final of the Top Four Cup, and had been overwhelming favourites for the F.A.I. Cup final (which took place a few days before the league play-off) as well, only to be trounced 4-1 by Shamrock Rovers, with Tommy Hamilton and Paddy Ambrose each scoring twice. Shels had won each of the Dublin clubs’ three meetings during the season (and subsequently won a Top Four semi-final 4-1), including a 6-2 victory just nine days before the final, but an illness contracted by a number of their players from a vaccination ahead of a League of Ireland representative trip to Italy had disrupted the club’s preparations. The team that all other League of Ireland clubs loved to hate, therefore, now had some 14 Blue Riband victories to their name, and Tommy Hamilton’s great performance in light of yet another struggle with the Cunningham family (they had seen fit to drop him from the semi-final line-up, only to reconsider their decision after the fans had strenuously objected) saw him being awarded the Irish Soccer Writers’ “Personality of the Year” award.

Shelbourne’s 2-1 win over Rovers at Milltown on the 7th of January was also the first League of Ireland match to play host to a ‘Teilifís Éireann‘ camera crew, with the new television channel having been launched on New Year’s Day, 1962. Goals from Ben Hannigan and Eric Barber saw Shels defeat a Rovers team that featured future Hoops legend Frank O’Neill, who had returned to Ireland following a three-year spell at Arsenal. O’Neill had also guested with Rovers on their summer trip to the U.S.A., where they had become the first (and only ever) League of Ireland club to participate in the recently established ‘International Soccer League’ (they won one and drew two of their seven matches to finish seventh in their group of eight). The Rovers line-up this season also included brothers Eamon and Tommy Farrell, both half-backs, who were the father and uncle of future Hollywood film actor Colin.

Newcomer Hannigan, meanwhile, had arguably been the most consistent and effective forward in a Shelbourne team whose success had mostly been built around a great defence, brilliantly led by Freddie Strahan (Shels had allowed star goalkeeper Finbarr Flood leave to join Scottish club Greenock Morton during the season). Hannigan was one of a number of future League of Ireland stars who debuted during the 1961-62 season, with Johnny Fullam being another notable member of the Shamrock Rovers team this year. Inside-left Al Finucane and goalkeeper Kevin Fitzpatrick both made their debuts for Limerick, and although Finucane performed brilliantly, scoring eight league goals, he would go on to become more famous as a centre-half. Irish amateur international defender Willie Browne joined Bohemians from U.C.D., while Noel O’Mahony made his debut for Cork Hibernians in January, and would be a familiar face in League of Ireland football on Leeside for many years to come.

Cork Hibernians had been the club to lead the League of Ireland Shield table for most of the way, and so were in with a great chance of claiming their first national honour ahead of a last-day meeting with second-placed Drumcondra at Tolka Park. Goals from Jimmy Morrissey and Tommy Kinsella gave Drums a 2-1 win, however, and with it the club’s first shield success in over a decade. Since winning the last two editions of the “round robin” Dublin City Cup in the early 1950s, Drums had appeared in eight of the tournament’s 10 finals since, and they continued this pattern in 1961, with a rematch of the previous year’s decider against Cork Celtic. The issue took a little bit of time to resolve, though, with the clubs’ first meeting on 1st September ending in a 2-2 draw, and a replay in early November also finishing level at three goals apiece (ex-Cork United and Belfast Celtic star Liam O’Neill took over as Celtic coach ahead of this game, and the club lost their first two league matches before turning their form around). Drumcondra decided to fly to Cork for the second replay a few weeks later, but goals from Austin Noonan and Donie O’Leary gave Celtic a 2-0 win and their first Dublin City Cup, in what was the first match of the season to be played at Turner’s Cross (it was also their first “win” in that season’s competition, having reached the final by virtue of two “corners” victories in the earlier rounds). Cork Celtic had been sharing the Mardyke with Cork Hibernians during the early months, but an announcement by University College Cork that the ground wouldn’t be available for League of Ireland football beyond the current season prompted them to refocus their attention on trying to purchase Turner’s Cross from the F.A.I.

Drumcondra had been caught up in some controversy at the very beginning of the season, when they instigated a misuse of the substitute rule during their 3-0 L.F.A. President’s Cup win over St. Patrick’s Athletic at Dalymount Park. An injury to centre-half Sean Smyth saw him being replaced by Tony Nesbitt, but when Nesbitt got injured not long afterwards, the Tolka Park side readied Tommy Kinsella to come on in his stead. Despite the fact that only a goalkeeper substitution was available to Drums, the referee and an L.F.A. official allowed the second “outfield” change to be made. Dalymount Park itself, meanwhile, had yet another memorable moment later in the season, when the Phibsboro venue’s first ever floodlit football match took place. A ‘Bohemians XI’ (with guest players including the likes of Eric Barber and Tommy Hamilton) welcomed Arsenal for a midweek friendly in March, with the Londoners winning a high-scoring encounter by eight goals to three (the match had been played in poor weather conditions; although not as severe as the previous year, bad weather had been a feature of the 1961-62 season as a whole).

The previous season’s standout player, Dan McCaffrey, scored the first Drumcondra goal in their President’s Cup win, but injuries and a loss of form saw him struggle to hold down a place in the team as the season wore on. He eventually moved to Waterford and rediscovered some of his sharpness, but by the time the 1962-63 season rolled around McCaffrey would be on the move again, this time to Cork Hibernians. (Waterford had struggled towards the foot of the table and would have fared even worse if not for the brilliance of goalkeeper Tommy Taylor, whose displays grabbed many headlines this season.) Another of the 1960-61 season’s stars, Jimmy Hasty, also found himself on the sidelines for most of this campaign, but in spite of his injury problems, the Dundalk centre-forward still managed to register eight league goals.

The advent of a new European competition, the European Cup Winners’ Cup, saw St. Patrick’s Athletic acting as Ireland’s inaugural representatives, but unfortunately, with limited success. Meanwhile, a new cross-border tournament, the North-South Cup, had kicked off towards the end of the 1960-61 season, but due to fixture congestion for both the northern and southern-based clubs (St. Pat’s, Shels, Drums and Shamrock Rovers had each met Irish League opposition in a two-legged quarter-final), the unfinished tournament had spilled over into this year’s campaign. No League of Ireland club reached the first final (which took place between Linfield and Glentoran in early 1962), and a new edition of the competition commenced before the end of the current season, with Dundalk joining the other four southern clubs in a slightly revised 10-team version of the tournament. The competition again took place in fits and starts, however, and by the time Shelbourne lost the second decider to Glenavon in May of 1963, clubs’ appetite for the North-South Cup had been more or less exhausted.

League of Ireland 1961-62


PWDLFAPts

Shelbourne221552552335*

Cork Celtic221633712435

Shamrock Rovers221435513231

St. Patrick’s Athletic221138484625

Cork Hibernians22886373625**

Limerick221057413424**

Drumcondra22868454022

Dundalk22859423621

Bohemians226511404617

Waterford227312394917

Transport22231729767

Sligo Rovers22131831875

* Shelbourne beat Cork Celtic 1-0 in play-off for title

** Cork Hibernians awarded one point from Limerick

European Competition : European Cup Preliminary Round, FC Nuremberg (West Germany) 5-0 Drumcondra, Drumcondra 1-4 FC Nuremberg European Cup Winners’ Cup Preliminary Round (second leg at Tolka Park), Dunfermline Athletic 4-1 St. Patrick’s Athletic, St. Patrick’s Athletic 0-4 Dunfermline Athletic

League top scorers : Eddie Bailham Shamrock Rovers, 21 Donal Leahy Cork Celtic, 18 Eric Barber Shelbourne, 15 Austin Noonan Cork Celtic, 15

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Tommy Hamilton, Shamrock Rovers

Representative matches : League of Ireland 1-1 Scottish League, English League 5-2 League of Ireland, League of Ireland 0-3 Italian League, Irish League 3-1 League of Ireland, Italian League 6-0 League of Ireland

1960-61 League of Ireland season

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Though not as open as the previous season, the 1960-61 League of Ireland title race (set against a wintry backdrop of cold, wind and rain) was still fairly competitive, and eventually turned into a three-horse one, with Waterford, St. Patrick’s Athletic and Drumcondra separated by just two points with five rounds of matches remaining. A 2-0 win for Drumcondra at Richmond Park pushed them one point clear of their Dublin rivals, and with both clubs subsequently defeating Waterford, only Pats and Drums could still be champions going into the final day’s action. Drumcondra held their nerve to win 2-1 against Cork Hibernians at the Mardyke (it was their seventh successive league victory), and ensure that Pats’ 1-0 win at outgoing champions Limerick was not enough to alter the situation.

The two Dublin clubs were also scheduled to meet in the F.A.I. Cup final, but having scored eight goals without reply in the sides’ two league encounters, Drumcondra were installed as overwhelming favourites in the build-up to the Blue Riband decider. Thanks to a goal from Johnny White, and another important cup final strike from Willie Peyton, however, the Inchicore club emerged victorious on a scoreline of two goals to one (and in keeping with the pattern of this season, a very strong wind had made an appearance for the final). Drumcondra did secure the Dublin City Cup and Top Four Cup, though, and their extended presence in these competitions afforded centre-forward Dan McCaffrey (a native of Omagh, Co. Tyrone) the opportunity to amass a total of 56 goals for the season, making him an obvious choice for the inaugural Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland “Personality of the Year” award. 29 of his goals came in the league, with five coming against second from bottom Bohemians, and McCaffrey also scored five against bottom club Sligo Rovers, who he had joined Drumcondra from at the beginning of the season.

Drums had won the league in spite of losing three of their first six matches, and had also seen goalkeeper Maurice Swan (who had proved himself a very good replacement for Alan Kelly over the previous two years) leave for Cardiff City before the beginning of the season. Swan had been replaced by a 20-year old Mick Smyth, and alongside Dan McCaffrey and wing-back ‘Bunny’ Fullam, Smyth was one of the team’s standout performers. Two sons of the club’s owner, Sam Prole, also made contributions to the cause, with Robert Prole playing well as a half-back (he was also a club director) and Royden Prole acting as coach.

Drumcondra became the first League of Ireland champions to add the Top Four trophy, although the final against holders Cork Celtic turned into an epic, three-match tussle, with Drums eventually winning the third game 3-0 under lights at Tolka Park. The third match also saw the first ever use of a substitute in League of Ireland football, when Hendricks replaced Grumley for the Dublin club. Cork Celtic, for their part, had won their last two league matches 3-0 to snatch fourth place from Dundalk, and continue their record of having qualified for every Top Four competition.

Drums had also taken the Dublin City Cup at Cork Celtic’s expense, with goals from Dan McCaffrey and Tony Nesbitt giving them a 2-1 win at Tolka Park. Substitutes had also been allowed in this competition but didn’t end up being availed of, with (like the Top Four Cup) the possibility to replace one player up to the 44th minute, and a goalkeeper at any stage. One other rule change meant that corners could still decide any drawn match in the early rounds of the Dublin City Cup, but not now the final itself (however, no matches had finished level in this season’s competition). Cork Celtic could at least look back on victory in the League of Ireland Shield, having edged out Leeside rivals Cork Hibernians. The trophy was pinched with a 1-0 win at the Mardyke in the second last match of the competition, a solitary goal from Austin Noonan enough to secure one of four derby victories for Cork Celtic over the course of this season.

Ewan Fenton, a Scot who had played in the famous F.A. Cup final of 1953 alongside Stanley Matthews, took over as player-coach of Limerick at the beginning of the 1960-61 season, and with the Shannonsiders having a European Cup tie against Young Boys Berne to look forward to, the decision was taken to play the home game at Thomond Park. A shield match with Shamrock Rovers was used to acclimatise to the venue, but having lost that match by two goals to nil, they went on to concede five without reply against the Swiss outfit, with all five goals coming in the second half. Limerick fared a bit better in the second leg, and were again level at half-time (Donie Wallace had even put them ahead), but eventually lost 4-2 to the team who had won the last four Swiss championships.

Sligo Rovers experienced financial issues during the summer months, and they persisted all the way through the 1960-61 campaign, with the Connacht club eventually having to field a number of local amateur players due to not being able to pay the wages of some of their regular squad. Former Everton and Ireland star Peter Farrell had joined the club as player-coach, but they finished adrift at the bottom of the table, picking up just one win and conceding a whopping 97 goals (only Bray Unknowns in the 1935-36 season had conceded more). Second-from-bottom Bohemians (who played in white jerseys this season) had improved slightly on their 1959-60 form, which had seen them finish without a win in league, shield or F.A.I. Cup.

Though Dundalk had faded out of contention for honours during the second half of the season, the addition of a one-armed centre-forward named Jimmy Hasty to their squad had been a great success. The Belfast native joined the Lilywhites from Newry Town in November, and he set about his business straight away, scoring ten goals in his first seven games and eventually finishing with 17 goals from 20 league appearances. Hasty quickly became the focal point for Dundalk’s play, with his passing and heading ability, along with great strength, balance and footwork meaning that he was more than capable of spearheading their attack. Although Transport F.C. had been well-served by a one-armed winger, Paddy Cody, during the 1950s, Cody had not been as prolific or as dynamic as Hasty, and the Dundalk forward quickly became a major attraction at League of Ireland grounds. After scoring on his league debut in a 2-2 draw against Cork Celtic at Oriel Park, he later scored both in a 2-1 win at Turner’s Cross, a feat that saw him receive applause from the home fans.

League of Ireland 1960-61

PWDLFAPts
Drumcondra221615592133
St. Patrick’s Athletic221444432832
Waterford221255453329
Cork Celtic221147523126
Dundalk221228433726
Shamrock Rovers22976402925
Limerick221048352724
Shelbourne227510434119
Cork Hibernians22589304218
Transport226214273914
Bohemians224414255212
Sligo Rovers22141735976

European Competition : European Cup Preliminary Round (first leg at Thomond Park), Limerick 0-5 Young Boys Berne (Switzerland), Young Boys Berne 4-2 Limerick

League top scorers : Dan McCaffrey Drumcondra, 29 Donal Leahy Cork Celtic, 21 Jimmy Hasty Dundalk, 17

S.W.A.I. Personality of the Year : Dan McCaffrey, Drumcondra

Representative matches : League of Ireland 0-4 English League, Scottish League 5-1 League of Ireland, League of Ireland 2-3 Irish League, Irish League 1-1 League of Ireland

1959-60 League of Ireland season

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After just a few weeks of this season’s league programme, it looked as if it had the potential to be one of the most open championship races ever, with any one of nine different teams looking as if they could be potential champions. When Limerick ascended to the top of the table for the first time at the halfway point (earning an £11 bonus for many of their players, the equivalent of about three weeks’ wages), they had been the eighth different club to hold leadership or joint-leadership of the table, and though no-one could have known it at the time, a 1-0 win for the Shannonsiders at Dundalk the previous weekend (Gerry O’Brien was the goalscorer) ended up being a very significant result come the end of the season. Limerick won their first League of Ireland championship after taking 22 points from a possible 22 at the Markets Field, beating the bottom three sides away from home, and losing all but one of their away games against the rest of the “top nine”.

Although Austin Noonan and Donal Leahy (often swapping positions at centre-forward and inside-forward) hit 47 league goals between them to elevate Cork Celtic (who had changed their name from Evergreen United, and adopted a new colour scheme of black and gold) into the runners-up position for the second year in a row, it was Shelbourne who had looked like Limerick’s most dangerous title rivals this season. With a side containing 10 players who were 23 or under (some had been part of Shels’ F.A.I. Youth Cup win the previous year), and five current or future Irish internationals, it was a very memorable season for Shelbourne overall, with Gerry Doyle’s young guns (Doyle advocated a policy of “if they’re good enough, they’re old enough”) defeating Cork Hibernians 2-0 in the F.A.I. Cup final to record what was only their second Blue Riband success. Eric Barber scored a goal in every round, and Tony Dunne, later to become a European Cup winner, an Irish international captain, and one of the world’s finest full-backs, left Tolka Park for Manchester United the day after the game. One other notable member of the Shels team was goalkeeper Finbarr Flood, who had broken three fingers in the semi-final but still ended up playing in the final with a heavily strapped hand. Flood later became managing director of Guinness and chairman of the Labour Court, before rejoining the Reds as club chairman in the early 2000s.

This season was the first to feature St. Patrick’s Athletic playing League of Ireland football (albeit just a handful of games) at their spiritual home of Richmond Park, and the Inchicore club marked the occasion by winning their first League of Ireland Shield. They won their first eight matches to build a virtually unassailable lead, and their record was only finally blemished by a defeat at Shelbourne (Eric Barber scored four in a 5-1 win) and a home draw against runners-up Limerick. St. Pats’ Johnny McGeehan topped the shield’s goalscoring chart alongside Barber, but one other player managed to equal their tally of nine goals in this year’s competition. Drumcondra hammered Sligo Rovers 9-0 at the Showgrounds in round three, and seven of those goals came from Billy Mackay, a recent signing from Leinster Senior League side Bray Wanderers. Scottish-born Mackay was the latest in a line of players that had gone from Bray to Drumcondra during recent seasons, but in spite of his promising shield form (he had also scored in a 2-0 win over Shamrock Rovers, Drums’ first Tolka Park win over the Hoops since 1952), he only scored two goals for Drums in the league before departing the League of Ireland scene.

Paddy Coad had taken over as player-manager of Shamrock Rovers midway through the 1949-50 season, and with the team that he assembled almost coming to define League of Ireland football during the 1950s, there was a sense of perfect symmetry when Coad decided to step away from the Glenmalure Park club midway through the 1959-60 campaign. It was a very mixed, and a very transitional season for the Hoops, as they won “only” the L.F.A. President’s Cup and Dublin City Cup, the latter trophy again being secured after defeating Drumcondra on corners, in the first final to be played away from Dalymount Park (the Tolka Park game was Drums’ fourth loss in the final in as many years). Rovers went through the first nine rounds of the League of Ireland Shield without winning a game (they did win their last two but there was now a view that other teams had figured out how to counteract their playing style), had a slow start to the league that saw them fall too far back to be able to mount a realistic challenge (they were the only one of this season’s “top nine” who never held or shared the lead), and suffered a chastening 3-0 F.A.I. Cup defeat at the hands of eventual winners Shelbourne.

Coad’s final Shamrock Rovers season did have one suitable high point, however, with the Hoops’ narrow 4-3 aggregate defeat by French champions OGC Nice in the European Cup being an extremely encouraging result for all League of Ireland sides. The manner of their performance was also very encouraging, with Rovers said to have played a “continental” style of football in the first leg, where goals from Tommy Hamilton and Liam Tuohy (who would join Newcastle United for £9,000 at the end of the season) had caused significant consternation for the home team and their supporters. Liam Hennessy had to sit out part of the away game after suffering a bout of sunstroke (the temperature reached 98° F), but he recovered to put in an excellent performance, and then scored a spectacular 40-yard goal against French international goalkeeper Georges Lamia in the second leg at Dalymount Park. Nice would go on to defeat Real Madrid 3-2 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, before being eliminated by the eventual European Champions in the return leg in Spain.

39-year old Coad headed for his hometown, and took over as player-manager of a Waterford team that included several other great names from the club’s history, including his much younger brother Seamus (in his breakthrough season), the Fitzgerald brothers Jack and Denny, and also Alfie Hale. Hale’s star continued to rise following his return from the injury that had kept him out of the previous season’s cup final, as he hit a hat-trick in his inter-league debut against the Hessen League (the 5-2 win was the League of Ireland’s first against the German side), and scored twice in a 6-3 Olympic qualifier win against the Netherlands. It was the F.A.I.’s first Olympic football qualifying campaign, and with only amateur players allowed, the teams that took to the field for the four matches against Great Britain and the Dutch were almost entirely composed of League of Ireland players (Willie Browne of U.C.D. was the notable exception). Two somewhat unlucky defeats against Great Britain ultimately proved costly, but Hale’s performance against the Dutch helped him secure a move to Aston Villa a couple of months later, with a fee of £4,500 being agreed for the 20-year old.

The 1959-60 season was also one that had captured the imagination on Leeside. With both clubs in contention for honours, and a dispute having earlier arisen over the transfer of winger Paul O’Donovan from Cork Hibernians to Cork Celtic (Hibs had themselves recruited ex-Glasgow Celtic and Northern Ireland star Charlie Tully), a crowd of 30,000 attended the Mardyke in mid-January to see Celtic win a local derby 2-1, and take over from Hibs (on goal average) at the top of the League of Ireland table. It was initially believed that O’Donovan had not been properly registered by Cork Celtic, leading to them being docked two League of Ireland points and fined a sum of 10 guineas, but a subsequent appeal to the F.A.I. found that the Turner’s Cross club had not acted improperly. The two restored points helped them to finish second (instead of sixth), and they handed Limerick a rare Markets Field defeat in the semi-finals of the Top Four Cup, before goals from Donal O’Leary and Frank McCarthy gave them a 2-0 win over Shelbourne in the final.

A significant off-the-field development this season was the foundation of the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (P.F.A.I.) in February of 1960. It followed a visit to Dublin by Jimmy Hill, the secretary of the British P.F.A., who had been invited over to offer advice in relation to the grievances of some Irish players. The organisation had three key objectives, namely the improvement of conditions for players, the advancement of the game, and the improvement of player insurance and benefit schemes. Representing the interests of both professionals and semi-professionals, the P.F.A.I. was registered as an official Irish trade union in September 1960.

League of Ireland 1959-60

PWDLFAPts
Limerick221507462630
Cork Celtic221246664428
Shelbourne221165483328
Shamrock Rovers221237543127
Dundalk221237503227
Cork Hibernians221237573727
St. Patrick’s Athletic221219464425
Waterford221048404324
Drumcondra2210210453522
Sligo Rovers225314446713
Transport22321718668
Bohemians22051715715

European Competition : European Cup Preliminary Round (second leg at Dalymount Park), OGC Nice 3-2 Shamrock Rovers, Shamrock Rovers 1-1 OGC Nice

League top scorers : Austin Noonan Cork Celtic, 27 Tommy Collins Cork Hibernians, 21 Donal Leahy Cork Celtic, 20

Representative matches : League of Ireland 1-4 Scottish League, English League 2-0 League of Ireland, League of Ireland 5-2 Hessen League, League of Ireland 2-1 Irish League