Tag: sligo rovers

1938-39 League of Ireland season

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In 1939, Shamrock Rovers became the first club to put League of Ireland titles back to back, a full nine points ahead of Sligo Rovers and Dundalk, and in doing so moved ahead of Bohemians in the league roll of honour. Shelbourne defeated Sligo Rovers following a replay to record what was, amazingly, their first F.A.I. Cup success, with William ‘Sacky’ Glen scoring the only goal of the game from a 2nd minute free kick to ensure that he would collect a record eighth Free State / F.A.I. Cup winner’s medal. The first half of the season had seen St. James’s Gate defeat Cork City 6-0 to take the Dublin City Cup (Cork had beaten Shamrock Rovers 7-0 in the semi-final), and Bohemians take the League of Ireland Shield after a play-off victory over Bray Unknowns at Shelbourne Park. It was a fifth shield success for the Gypsies (who introduced a permanent club programme / magazine for every league game this year, with other clubs soon to follow suit), and their fourth to be secured via a play-off. Meanwhile, the fortunes of Cork’s League of Ireland representatives continued to stagnate, with the club finishing second bottom for the third year in a row, and seeking re-election to the league for a fourth time in five years.

Sligo Rovers’ strong showing in both the league and cup could arguably be attributed to the euphoria created by the arrival of the legendary William ‘Dixie’ Dean to the club in January 1939. While the involvement of English players (and indeed coaches / managers) in the league was nothing new, a player of the calibre of Dean (widely believed to be the greatest player of his generation, Dean had scored 60 English First Division goals in the 1927-28 season) had never graced Irish football before. The former Everton and England star scored 10 goals in seven league games for Sligo, including five in a 7-1 defeat of Waterford. He also scored Sligo’s goal in the 1-1 cup final draw with Shelbourne, before returning to England at the end of the season.

St. Patrick’s Day 1939 saw the League of Ireland record a historic 2-1 victory over the Scottish League at Dalymount Park, six days after they had beaten the Irish League by the same scoreline in Belfast. 35,000 people turned out to witness this first ever meeting of the two sides, with Sligo’s Johnny Johnstone (a Derryman) and St. James’s Gate’s Irish international forward Paddy Bradshaw (who had enjoyed a meteoric rise from the Leinster Senior League to scoring twice for Ireland against Switzerland in the space of just five months) netting the all-important goals. Remarkably, it would be another 40 years, taking in an incredible 21 meetings, before the League of Ireland would record a second victory (and that would be against a mainly part-time team) over their Scottish counterparts.

The annual match against the Irish League had been restored since the previous season, but with some difficult financial times being experienced by clubs both north and south, the idea of establishing a cross-border cup competition was now also being strongly considered. To test some of the waters around this, an exhibition match between the northern and southern champions took place at the end of the 1938-39 season. Belfast Celtic had just taken the fourth in what was to be a run of five consecutive Irish League titles, but two goals by Owen McNally helped Shamrock Rovers to a 2-1 win at Dalymount Park. The attendance wasn’t quite as high as expected, however, and with the match itself also being seen as something of a disappointment, it seemed there might be some thinking to be done before any new tournament came into being.

League of Ireland 1938-39

PWDLFAPts
Shamrock Rovers221642603236
Sligo Rovers221075503127
Dundalk221075483127
St. James’s Gate221039594823
Limerick22949363822
Shelbourne22949404822
Bohemians228410414620
Drumcondra226610384518
Bray Unknowns227411414918
Brideville226610374918
Cork City227312394917
Waterford224810365916

League top scorers : Paddy Bradshaw St. James’s Gate, 22 Tom Davis Dundalk, 18 (including 15 for Cork City) Paddy Leeney Bray Unknowns, 18

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

1936-37 Free State League season

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Having finished in eighth place the season before, the influx of several cross-channel players helped Sligo Rovers march to a first league title in 1937, a full 10 points clear of their three nearest challengers. The north-western club (who had only finished tenth in the shield) won their first 11 league games in a row, and became the first team to bring the title outside the province of Leinster. In fact, the top four clubs were all from outside Dublin – Dundalk (playing their first season at their new Oriel Park home) claimed the runners-up position on goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded) ahead of Waterford, and also Bray Unknowns (just three points separated the teams from second to eighth), whose fourth-placed finish would ultimately represent their best ever league performance.

Waterford, however, with a largely full-time professional side, could claim to have been the most consistent team of the season. Defeating Bohemians in a play-off for the Free State Shield (Bohs had needed just a point from their last match against Cork, only to lose 4-1 at the Mardyke), goals from Corkmen Eugene Noonan and Timothy Jim O’Keeffe (who repeated his 1934 display by scoring in every round) saw them overcome St. James’s Gate 2-1 to win their first Free State Cup. Both clubs had faced non-league opposition in the semi-finals, in the shape of Longford Town and Fearon Athletic, and the Gate’s promising youngster Jackie Carey left for Manchester United (for a transfer fee of £250) at the end of the season.

St. James’s Gate beat Sligo Rovers 6-2 in the second round of the Cup

The Free State League, Free State Cup and Free State Shield monikers would be dropped in 1937 in line with De Valera’s “Bunreacht na hÉireann” constitution, with the F.A.I.F.S. also reverting to their original “F.A.I.” title. Sligo Rovers topped up their league success with victory in the Dublin City Cup, handing Dundalk a second successive defeat in that competition’s final, and ensuring that each of the four trophies would spend the year outside Dublin. Meanwhile, in March, the last ever outing for the “Free State League XI” saw goals from Waterford’s Tom Arrigan, Dundalk’s Joey Donnelly and St. James’s Gate’s Billy Kennedy procure a good 3-2 win over their Yugoslavian counterparts at Dalymount Park.

Free State League 1936-37

PWDLFAPts
Sligo Rovers221624683034
Dundalk221048413424
Waterford2212010594924
Bray Unknowns221048303924
St. James’s Gate22958634323
Drumcondra221039414723
Bohemians2210210545622
Shelbourne229310534821
Shamrock Rovers228311465519
Dolphin227411435918
Cork227312516017
Brideville226313325115

League top scorers : Bob Slater Shelbourne, 20 (including 1 for Waterford) Harry Litherland Sligo Rovers, 19 Hugh O’Donnell Bray Unknowns, 16 Tim O’Keeffe Waterford, 16

Representative match : Free State League 3-2 Yugoslavian League

1933-34 Free State League season

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With the Free State Shield “double-round” system of the previous year being retained, it was decided to open and close the season with a round of shield fixtures, and to effectively “sandwich” the league championship race in between. With Shamrock Rovers leading the shield at the halfway stage, victory in their last seven league games saw Bohemians (coached by Billy Lacey) claim a fourth Free State championship title one point ahead of Cork (who went unbeaten at the Mardyke and also inflicted Bohemians’ only home league defeat), before wrapping up their fourth shield with the help of an unbeaten away record and a 5-2 play-off win over Rovers at Shelbourne Park (the fixture was actually held over until August 1934). Needing seven matches to reach the final (the last ever to be held on St. Patrick’s Day), Cork did at least enjoy Free State Cup success, scoring a 2-1 win over Charlie Dowdall’s St. James’s Gate, who were making their first appearance in the decider since their league and cup double of 1922. Cork’s top scorer Tim O’Keeffe netted a goal in every round of the competition, and teammate Bobby Buckle emulated the achievement of his father Harry Buckle eight years previously by collecting a Free State Cup winner’s medal.

Apart from the trophies that were added to their cabinet, Bohemians’ 1933-34 season became memorable because of the somewhat international / cosmopolitan flavour that it ended up taking on. On the 1st of October a Peruvian / Chilean team were at Dalymount Park to play against Bohs in the opening match of a five-month long European tour. The team consisted mostly of Peruvian talent from the Universitario club, and Billy Jordan scored for the home team as they held the “Combinado del Pacifico” to a respectable 1-1 draw. Six months later (with their shield campaign not yet complete), Bohs travelled to Amsterdam to take part in an Easter tournament alongside three of the best teams from the low countries (including A.F.C. Ajax). Although beaten 6-2 by Go Ahead F.C. in a semi-final, the Free State League champions defeated Belgian side Cercle Bruges 4-1 in their next game to secure a third-place finish.

Bohemians draw 1-1 with a Peruvian / Chilean XI in October 1933

A dispute between the league authorities and Shelbourne F.C. led to some of the most significant events of this football season. Shels objected to the scheduling of an Irish international match for the same day as one of their league matches, but when both fixtures went ahead as planned, the club resigned their place in the league during the shield competition (a subsequent application for membership of the I.F.A. was refused). Cork Bohemians, meanwhile, having experienced great financial hardship during the year, would also be also absent for the beginning of the next league season (they were actually suspended and re-instated, before resigning in the middle of the shield), the two new vacancies being filled by Sligo Rovers and a returning Waterford.

Free State League 1933-34

PWDLFAPts
Bohemians181152382327
Cork181143472626
Shamrock Rovers18945282322
Dundalk18936332521
Dolphin18738232117
Shelbourne18657222517
Drumcondra18648272816
St. James’s Gate185310263213
Bray Unknowns186111264413
Cork Bohemians18241218418

League top scorers : Alf Rigby St. James’s Gate, 13 Ray Rogers Bohemians, 12 Billy Merry Drumcondra, 11 Tim O’Keeffe Cork, 11