Tag: jimmy dunne

1949-50 League of Ireland season

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Having finished in ninth the previous season, Cork Athletic surprised everyone by being in the shake-up for a league and cup double as the 1949-50 season (one that had been severely impacted by bad weather / bad pitches) drew to a close. Drumcondra (who had earlier won their last five Dublin City Cup matches to take the trophy ahead of Sligo Rovers) were themselves aiming for a championship three-in-a-row, and a 2-1 win for Drums at the Mardyke put them a point clear of Cork at the top of the table, with all 18 of their league games played. Thanks to Athletic becoming embroiled in a cumbersome F.A.I. Cup campaign (they needed six games to reach the final, including a three-match semi-final with non-league St. Patrick’s Athletic), the Leesiders’ last remaining league fixture against bottom club Bohemians was due to take place after their Blue Riband decider, against the league’s newest side, Transport.

Action from the first cup final match between Transport and Cork Athletic

The Corkmen squandered a two-goal lead to allow the Busmen to force a replay, and led twice in the second match before a spectacular, 35-yard overhead kick from Jim Loughran in the last minute of extra-time ensured that the sides would need to meet for a third time. A mere two days before the second replay was scheduled, Athletic faced into their delayed league fixture, and a last-minute Paddy O’Leary goal gave them a dramatic 2-1 win over Bohs, to edge out Drumcondra and capture what was essentially their sixth (but officially their first) League of Ireland championship title. Preparations for the second cup final replay, therefore, were far from ideal, and two Bernie Lester goals helped Transport (who had engaged in a full-time training regime over the course of the saga) to a comfortable 3-1 victory. Athletic’s Jackie O’Reilly (acting as player-manager this year) could at least look back on the season with a great deal of pride, having secured a record sixth League of Ireland championship winner’s medal, and also scoring a goal in the second meeting with Transport to become the all-time record goalscorer (seven goals) in F.A.I. Cup finals, having netted for Cork United in 1941, 1942 and 1943.

League of Ireland football had been rocked by the sudden death of Shamrock Rovers manager Jimmy Dunne in November 1949, at the age of 44. Paddy Coad took over as player-manager, and in a fitting tribute to Dunne, the club rallied to press home their advantage in the League of Ireland Shield, three points ahead of Transport and Drumcondra. Shelbourne (who finished third in the league behind Cork and Drumcondra) became tenants at Rovers’ Glenmalure Park ground at the beginning of the season, and proceeded to remain unbeaten in all their “home” league fixtures, but were defeated by the Hoops themselves in the match where Rovers were listed as being the home side. An unbeaten home record (consisting of two wins and seven draws, in a season where almost a third of matches were drawn), meanwhile, was not enough to prevent Limerick from having to seek re-election for the second time in four seasons, while the end of 1949-50 signalled very worrying times for amateur side Bohemians, the club propping up the League of Ireland table for a third year in succession. However, all 10 member clubs would return to contest the 1950-51 league season.

League of Ireland 1949-50

PWDLFAPts
Cork Athletic181053452625
Drumcondra18963322124
Shelbourne18774342921
Waterford18684403220
Dundalk18756353119
Sligo Rovers18756283019
Shamrock Rovers18747393018
Transport18468232914
Limerick18288264212
Bohemians18241216468

League top scorers : Dave McCulloch Waterford, 19 Paddy O’Leary Cork Athletic, 13 Johnny Vaughan Cork Athletic, 12

Representative matches : League of Ireland 0-1 Scottish League, English League 7-0 League of Ireland, League of Ireland 3-1 Irish League, Irish League 2-2 League of Ireland

1937-38 League of Ireland season

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It was decided that the Dublin City Cup, like the League of Ireland Shield, should now become a beginning of season competition, and a 2-1 win for Dundalk against Cork in the Dalymount Park final decided this season’s first piece of silverware. Shamrock Rovers (with the returned Irish international and former Arsenal star Jimmy ‘Snowy’ Dunne as player-coach) won the shield with four points to spare over Shelbourne, and went on to collect a fifth League of Ireland championship at the end of the season, one point ahead of Waterford. An unbeaten record at Kilcohan Park, and the goals of Tim O’Keeffe (who would depart for Scottish club Hibernian at the end of the season for a League of Ireland record £400) and Hughie O’Donnell had helped the Suirsiders to land the runners-up position ahead of Dundalk, and an unbeaten record at Harold’s Cross helped Brideville to a fourth-placed finish, their best League of Ireland performance to date. Meanwhile, a large exodus of players from the previous season’s runaway league champions Sligo Rovers meant that the north-westerners could only manage a sixth place finish this time around.

Having been on the losing side with St. James’s Gate in 1934 and 1937, Dundalk striker Alf Rigby now found his former teammates (including the league’s top scorer, Willie ‘Wagger’ Byrne) standing in the way of him and an F.A.I. Cup winner’s medal. A close match was expected, as Dundalk had added a semi-final victory over Shamrock Rovers to a 5-1 league win over the Hoops at Milltown (Rovers won the league in spite of having a very generous defence), and the Gate had done real damage to Dundalk’s championship hopes by inflicting two league defeats on them. A goal from Dickie Comerford gave the Gate a half-time lead, only for Rigby to equalise for the Lilywhites just two minutes into the second period. A penalty from the Gate’s Irish international defender, Paddy Gaskins, a few minutes later proved to be the winner, however, and the border club had to contend with a third defeat in a Free State / F.A.I. Cup decider. The result also ensured that the Lilywhites had been eliminated by the eventual cup winners in each of the previous six campaigns.

The 1937-38 season was definitely one to forget for Drumcondra F.C. As well as finishing bottom of the league table, they were dumped out of the F.A.I. Cup by their near neighbours Distillery, with the Leinster Senior League club strolling to an easy 4-0 win at Tolka Park. Drums put in a much better performance in losing 5-4 to champions-elect Shamrock Rovers in front of a big crowd at Tolka in March, but this game ended up being the catalyst for another bad news story. After a bag containing some of the gate receipts from the match went missing, the teenage son of a club official soon appeared in court, and with his own father among those giving evidence in the case, eventually found himself charged with larceny.

1937-38 was the first time that the league contained a club from the Free State’s third-largest city, with a newly-formed Limerick side (they beat Shamrock Rovers 1-0 in the Dublin City Cup in their debut senior fixture) having been elected to the league following the resignation of Dolphin. The Dublin club would not feature in the League of Ireland again, but with one league championship, two F.A.I. Cup final appearances (in beating St. James’s Gate 10-0 in 1932, they had established a record away winning margin in an F.A.I. Cup match that would stand for over 80 years), and six senior Irish international players, they had certainly made a significant impact on Irish football. Shamrock Rovers took part in an effort to promote the game in Galway by playing an exhibition match there the day after their league victory, but the possibility of a Galway club joining the League of Ireland still seemed some distance away. The league contained the same 12 teams for the beginning of the 1938-39 season, with the only change being Cork’s transformation (the club had been liquidated and immediately reformed in February 1938) into Cork City F.C.

League of Ireland 1937-38

PWDLFAPts
Shamrock Rovers221444714732
Waterford221354764031
Dundalk221345532930
Brideville221255513529
St. James’s Gate221318654027
Sligo Rovers227510556119
Shelbourne226610364718
Bray Unknowns228212375618
Bohemians227312556017
Limerick226511344317
Cork226115387813
Drumcondra225314326713

League top scorers : Willie Byrne St. James’s Gate, 25 Frank Fullen Bohemians, 22 Tim O’Keeffe Waterford, 21

Representative match : League of Ireland 1-3 Irish League