INSIDE:THE GLASS CEILING

RODDY’S NOT OUR REP!

OSCAR TRAYNOR: MORE THAN TWO HALVES

volume 3 / issue 02 // april 2016

P.21

Editor:Kevin Galvin

Designer:Kevin Galvin

Social Media:David DowneyThomas Aaron Cawley

Photography:fai.iewestbromwichalbionhistory.co.ukbarrymasterson.com

Contributors /David KentMícheál Ó hUanacháinDave GalvinJames HendicottColm Cuddihy Thomas Sargent

Cover Page /The death of a genius:Johan Cruyff’s death was mourned by the world of football in March, and proved an inspiration for footballers in Ireland and around the world.

Source: Barry Masterson The use or redistribution of any part of this magazine is strictly prohibited unless explicitly authorised by LOI Monthly

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MORE THAN TWO HALVESMícheál Ó hUanacháin looks at a man who had two careers in football, and two others in war and politics

THE ‘AIR’ HEADER:AN OBITUARYThomas Sergent lements one of the worse facets of the modern game, the dying out of the ‘air header’ from the warm-up.

THE GLASS CEILINGJames Hendicott looks at the potential candidates to shake up the League of Ireland First Division from the Intermediate, Junior, and Northern ranks!

ALL A BIT ODD!Dave Galvin recounts more bizarre stories from the League of Ireland, including a very special donation by John Giles to Finn Harps.

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LOI ABROAD:KEVIN DOYLE 19Colm Cuddihy reminds us of the path of one of the most successful League of Ireland emigrants ever.

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kjga

lvin

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Welcome to our second edition of this year’s LOI Monthly, Volume 3 Issue 2!

Last month saw 2000 of you check out our magazine which is a fatastic number, and only further solidifies how far we’ve come, and what a bright season lays in store for the magazine.

Some of you were also generous enough to donate, and every single one is greatly appreciated here. Your donations in the first issue alone have helped covering the cost of our .com domain name, and every single donation made will go directly back into maintaining and developing the mag, so thank you!

More and more of you are also interacting with our facebook and Twitter, and both David and Aaron are doing brilliant work with the respective accounts.

April is the month where things begin to settle down a bit around the league; the fanfare of the opening weekend has come and gone, and now fans begin to see what way their season will lie; either fighting up the top, or in some cases scrapping at the bottom.

As a Cork City fan it seems thankfully our season will again be the former, and having beaten Dundalk twice already this season, expectations are growing on Leeside.

The city’s been given a further boost this month with the news that only the third ever senior international will take place on the banks of the Lee, when Ireland host Belarus at Turner’s Cross on Tuesday May 31st.

Hopefully the recent decision made by the Aviva Stadium board will open the door to more internationals being played in venues all-around the country.

There’s no reason why the likes of Thomond Park or Terryland couldn’t do the same, and a once-a-year international to be played outside of Dublin would do absolute wonders for the re-engagement of soccer as a national sport.

In worse news the recent Roddy Collins debacle, while not surprising, again demonstrates the near-impossible conditions clubs and individuals within the game are trying to operate under an FAI run league.

The association in my mind is trampling all over the values of the League of Ireland with a clearly paranoid reaction to some fair criticism whch Collins levelled in a recent newspaper column.

Whenever you run anything you open yourself up to criticism; some of it constructive, some of it not so much. Collins was merely opening up the debate as to how fantastic individual effort is covering up for the inadequate way the league is currently being run.

Ask any supporter at a League of Ireland game and you’ll hear the exact same thing.

What’s really worrying however is that the Association that’s supposed to be bettering the league, consistantly censors those who are highlighting the issues that need to be dealt with.

Instead of actually listening to what people involved in the league have to say, the FAI’s insistance in a top-down view, with the emphasis on expensive un-necessary reports every five years or so is showing how little they really care about the League of Ireland.

Collins was given a six game ban and a 1500 euro fine for comments which ‘‘questioned the itegrity of the FAI’ under rule 95 of the association’s handbook, however by being so tyrannical in their handling of this case the association have lost what little integrity they were building up following the issuing of the Conroy Report.

Roddy’s example is just one in a long litany of an association that litigates to silence those who speak out about its evident shortcomings, and its handling of the league resembles more of an authoritarian dictatorship than what’s projected as some sort of democracy.

If the part of the association responsible for running the league were a little less paranoid, and more receptive to criticism, then I have absolutely no doubt that our league would dramatically improve; not through vast changes or 200+ page reports, but with simple, practical changes that clubs would benefit from on an everyday basis.

Remember if you have anything you want to share you can email us at loimonthly@gmail.com. Enjoy the read,

Editor,@kjgalvin93

Kevin Galvin

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Why are people choosing to listen to Roddy Collins now?

This is a man who has constantly torn apart the League of Ireland. A man who has said that no player from the FAI Cup final in 2014 would get into a side in League Two - what a shame for Chris Forrester who stood out that day - and who hasn’t finished a senior season since 2003.

A man that went hand to hand with Tom Coughlan and briefly claimed to be the manager of Cork City. The man is poison, he’s the Eamon Dunphy of the Irish domestic game. He’ll say whatever he thinks will get him into the paper. Take away his quotes about the FAI (which, fine, he was right)

and try and find a positive quote from Collins about the Irish league.

RODDY’S NOT OUR REP!The editor of this magazine wrote an article for the league website which hits the nail on the head about Collins’ comments - but while the comments are correct, the man saying them has no leg to stand on. You can bet that if Roddy has to say something to get him a pay check, he’ll say it. No morals = no respectable opinion.

The structure of Irish football does need change, we all know that. The Conroy Report is and will be about as useful as a megaphone for John Caulfield, or a lawnmower for Oriel Park.

Roddy Collins does not have the answer to the problems, not matter how much he thinks he does. The real solutions lie at the club management. The likes of Cork City, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians have too much name power and star power to be on the losing

side if they chose to enter negotiations.

We have 8 months until the end of the season. Things are

going to have to change. But then knight in

shining armour is not a Dub that’s managed for four different clubs

which have immediatley gone into financial difficulty. Oh how we long for the days of Dublin City

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THE ‘AIR’ HEADERLamenting the loss of one of the greatest

warm-up routines known to man

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The ‘air-header’ is disappearing from the modern game, replaced by embarrassing efforts like this SOURCE: reddit.com

Modern football has seen us lose many things in the wake of mixture of new additions to the game; new technology, new rules and new techniques but the thing I miss the most, and which is increasingly disappearing from view, is the air header.

Yes, the air header. The ten yard sprint and jump at an imaginary ball usually coming straight at you

(I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone do an imaginary flicked air header but now I’ve thought about it I’d very much like to see it).

At a wild guess, anyone older than 20 will have memories of this forming part of the jog around the pitch warm up as the polar opposite to touching the floor (another essential technique required for playing football).

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If you didn’t play football or go to training sessions you will have seen an air header at a football ground somewhere. Provided you were paying attention - and most people pre-smartphone era were - you will have been treated to, arguably, the best bit of the pre-match entertainment when the players run out of the tunnel for kick-off.

Now, this was a regular appearance prior to the introduction of the much maligned fair play handshake. Eager players at all levels of the game would tear of the tunnel in all manner of directions and sprint for 5, 10, 15 and

sometimes even 20

yards and then jump toweringly to meet an imaginary long ball that had presumably just been chucked in from the stand opposite.

Once this odd ritual was complete the usual thing to do is simply take up your position on the field. What baffles me about the air header is its total pointlessness. The key point in heading the ball well is timing. You have to practice with a ball to be able to judge its’ speed and

trajectory in order to improve at it.

If you are going to “get up and head it”, as the cry used to go in warm-ups, you might as well throw in a couple of air kicks like an opening England batsman does with his

bat having seen yet another Australian fast bowlers ball fly

past his off-stump.

Despite its total ridiculousness, it does have a few lingering stalwarts.

These can be found in that brief yet fruitful window between the fair play handshake and kick-off.

The main culprits are usually defenders. They do after all have the furthest to travel from

the fair play

shenanigans and are often prone to brightening up such a tedious journey with a quick run and jump.

A good air header can be enhanced with a quick shimmy or side step after landing but total enthusiasm is normally the only requirement. You can’t exactly do a half-hearted air header can you? That would be ridiculous….

Thomas Sargent

The ‘air-header’ is disappearing from the modern game, replaced by embarrassing efforts like this SOURCE: reddit.com

Right in the Head: Former Cork City captain Dan Murray was fond of a header at both ends of the pitch

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With just eight clubs, the League of Ireland First Division is a struggling institution. If you need a practical illustration of that, perhaps new boys Cabinteely getting the second highest average attendance in the division last year is a good one. Maybe it’s the consistent failure of Division One sides to cause upsets in our cup competitions, or their tendency to have difficulties putting away non-league opposition. Limerick - who floundered in the Premier League last season - assuming a position of early dominance in Division One offers up its own story, too.

Cabinteely are the only new club to

stick in recent years, with a series of unsuccessful experiments with Mervue United, Salthill Devon, Sporting Fingal and a Shamrock Rovers B team all failing to stand the test of time. The jury is very much still out on Cabinteely, while Wexford Youths progress to the Premier Division this season and Cobh Ramblers modest progress mark club recruitment’s only notable success of the last decade.

So with non-league football offering an increasingly popular option for players - it allows more comfortably for a career, something even the League of Ireland Premier isn’t really generally in a position to pay for. There are some

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THE GLASS CEILINGJAMES HENDICOTT takes a look at the teams

who could shake up a tiring First Division

SOURCE: fai.ie

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strong clubs hovering around the third level of the pyramid, but opting out on the fees and more professional pressures of the step up. Here are a few who - in theory, at least - we think would have something to offer.

CRUMLIN UNITED

If history is any measure of a football club (and it’s a poor one, frankly), Crumlin United’s fifty-odd year record is impressive enough, but recent progress has made the west Dublin side arguably the city’s non-league powerhouse. Having won the Leinster Senior League in six of the last eight years, and taken home an FAI intermediate cup along the way, the former home of Robbie Keane (whose sale also funded the production of a far above-average non league stadium, all weather Pearse Park) play some gorgeous football, too. Martin Loughran’s side might prove

unpopular simply because they’re another Dublin addition to a capital-heavy league, but they unquestionably

come from a more credible position in the non-league echelons than the most

recent addition Cabinteely.

CASTLEBAR CELTIC

A perennial Mayo success story, Castlebar Celtic might not be going through the best period of their history,

but they’re a well-backed and historically

dominant club in the west-coast county, and fill

a much needed footballing void. Used to the summer league schedule that’s already played in the Mayo

Super League, both the hoops and their regular rivals Westport United are options, though Celtic win out on both facilities and through representing the county town in a corner of the country with an impressive penchant for the non-league game.

TRALEE DYNAMOS

Having applied for League of Ireland status in 2012 following a stint in the now-defunct A Championship, Tralee were denied and pushed back to

Kerry District level - where

they’re consistent winners. Cobh Ramblers - the other side to apply that year - were admitted. Infrastructure

Cork City boss John Caulfield won several intermediate cups with Avondale before taking over on Leeside

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was widely cited as the reason for Dynamos rejection at the time, while the extensive travel that would be involved in entry also has to be a factor in making an entry financially realistic. With Kerry increasingly passionate about soccer, by all accounts, it’s hard to make sense of the void of national-level representation that exists in the south west, and Dynamos are a logical starting point.

AVONDALE UNITED

The dominant force in the Cork-focused Munster Senior League, Avondale United are also the former home of Damien Delaney, and (for what

it’s worth) Ireland rugby international Simon Zebo. Also a dominant force in the FAI intermediate cup (which they won four times in a row between 2011 and 2014, and hold a record seven total wins), the Carrigaline club’s case is strengthened substantially by the love being thrown Cork City’s way locally at the moment: there’s clearly room for another local club beyond Cobh Ramblers, and this would be the one.

ST MOCHTA’S

Ok, so the west Dublin club would be a particularly leftfield choice to make the leap up to League of Ireland status - there are plenty who have significantly

Junior teams, too, have had their moments in the sun against League of Ireland teams, but the facilities simply aren’t up to National League standards. SOURCE: fai.ie

more substantial claims on paper, not least local clubs Sheriff YC, Killester, Bluebell United and Firhouse Clover. What impresses about St Mochta’s, though, is their recent run through the divisions. Clearly in the winning habit, given a couple more seasons and a proper pyramid system you’d back the club to get to Division 1 on merit after their recent promotion to the top tier of Leinster football. That’s the kind of thing that deserves reward. Mark Kennedy, Glen Crowe and Steven Foley are former players.

COCKHILL CELTIC:

The Ulster League’s winners over the last two seasons might be competing in an area traditionally seen as one of Irish football’s weaker contests, but the Buncrana club are looking increasingly impressive against rivals from elsewhere in the country in cup competition.

They also face regular near-League of Ireland level competition in Derry City reserves, who compete in their division, and they’d add a nice strength in depth alongside City and Finn Harps.

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THE ENTIRE NORTHERN IRISH LEAGUE:

Sure, we know the idea of our local League of Ireland club facing off against the likes of Linfield on a regular basis stick in a few craws, and we wouldn’t be quite harsh enough to confine the entirety of Northern Irish club football to the second tier, but the All Ireland league concept is regularly aired for one very simple reason: strength in depth. While we can say with moderate confidence that clubs this side of the border look the stronger these days, for true strength

in depth in an Irish league bringing in Linfield, Cliftonville, Glentoran and Crusaders is the kind of quick-step solution that is surely worth at least some consideration. With a top division influx, an 18-20 team top division and regional second tiers would offer ample opportunity for development.

So there you have it, the League of Ireland First Division is in clear need of some new life breathed into it, and while we don’t know if any applications will be accepted in the near future, it mightn’t be too long before we see Avondale v Crumlin in a League of Ireland fixture!

Junior teams, too, have had their moments in the sun against League of Ireland teams, but the facilities simply aren’t up to National League standards. SOURCE: fai.ie

Sure, we know the idea of our local League of Ireland club facing off against the likes of Linfield on a regular basis stick in a few craws, and we wouldn’t be quite harsh enough to confine the entirety of Northern Irish club football to the second tier

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DAVE GALVIN again takes us on a history tour through a league that’s seen it’s fair

share of wacky stories over the years

Getting crowds in the game is the League of Ireland’s major problem Source: Comeragh Photo

ALL A BIT ODD!

SOURCE: @derrycityfc

SOURCE: @johngosullivan

Getting into Gear

On 28th July 1975, a West Bromwich Albion side managed by John Giles visited Finn Park in Ballybofey for a pre-season joust with Finn Harps, a game which ended in a 1-0 victory for the home side. After the game, conscious no doubt of the ever-present financial constraints of his hosts, Giles donated the gear worn by his charges to the Donegal club. In his fine history ‘ The Finn Harps Story’ author Bartley Ramsey recounts how for the next two seasons, Harps lined out in the League of Ireland resplendent in

West Bromwich Albion’s blue and white striped jerseys and sporting the WBA crest on their chests!

Keeping it Local

Towards the end of the 1933/34 season, founder members of the League of Ireland, Shelbourne, were heavily fined

in a dispute over the alleged ‘poaching’ of players from other clubs. Shelbourne refused to pay the fine, withdrew from the League of Ireland Shield competition, and informed the FAI that the club had applied for membership to the Irish League, having originally plied

their trade as an Irish League outfit and under Belfast jurisdiction from 1904 to 1921. Clearly under whelmed by the threat, and aware that the chances of Shelbourne gaining acceptance to the Irish League, given the poor state of relations between both Irish associations, were negligible, the FAI duly expelled the club, excluded their officials from involvement

with any other club, and replaced them with Waterford. Meanwhile, junior outfit Reds United, who also hailed from the Ringsend area of Dublin, proceeded to sign up the bulk of Shelbourne’s players, joined the Leinster Senior League, and within 12 months had successfully applied for LOI membership themselves. Basing themselves at Glenmalure Park,

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One of John Giles’ lesser known cotributions to Irish soccer was the donation ofgear to FInn Harps in 1975 SOURCE: westbromwichalbionhistory.co.uk

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the home of neighbour’s Shamrock Rovers, United enjoyed a successful LOI debut, finishing a creditable fourth in the league table. After just a solitary season of senior football however, Reds United promptly resigned from the League of Ireland, to be immediately replaced by………yes, Shelbourne, whose tenure has remained uninterrupted in he intervening 80 years!

Early Finishers

A decade earlier, at the beginning of the 1922/23 campaign, the aforementioned Shelbourne were somewhat confusingly joined in the senior ranks by another Ringsend outfit, Shelbourne United. Despite such similar names and a shared geographical heartland, these clubs were in fact completely separate entities. Having joined from the Leinster Senior League, Shelbourne United were included as one of six new LOI teams in September 1922, and over the course of the next two seasons acquitted themselves well, if never really aspiring to win a major trophy. Perhaps the most striking feature of Shelbourne United’s brief League of Ireland tenure however, was the nature of their resignation. While changing name during the course

of a LOI campaign has not been that uncommon, especially in the case of Cork clubs (Cork City FC to Cork United in 1939, just one example), nevertheless, replacing one outfit with a completely different one, with the season already underway, is rather more unusual. Shelbourne United began the 1924/25 season as a LOI side, but on 7th September, just one day on from having failed to fulfil their opening league fixture with Athlone Town, the club resigned to be hastily replaced by Fordsons of Cork, non-league FAI Cup finalists the previous March.

A Fitting Gesture

Donal (Donie) Leahy, who sadly passed away on New Year’s Eve 2015, is fondly remembered, particularly on Leeside, as having been one of the League of Ireland’s greatest ever marksmen. Sadly, Leahy’s long career was never embellished with a league or FAI Cup winner’s medal and to many people’s dismay, LOI politics of the day dictated that Donie’s achievements were never marked with the award of an international cap. He did line out twice in FAI Cup deciders in 1964 and 1969, but lost out on both occasions to the

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Shelbourne, despite successes in the early 00s, have had their fair share of difficulties off the pitch

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great six in-a-row Shamrock Rovers cup side of the 1960s which included Johnny Fullam, who won a record eight winner’s medals in total, and pre- deceased Leahy by just six months. Fullam and Leahy had formed a strong friendship while representing the League of Ireland. In the Official Book of the FAI Cup, author Sean Ryan tells of a lovely gesture made to a pure gentleman, when soon after the 1969 final, Donie Leahy opened his post one morning to find himself the proud recipient of one of Fullam’s aforementioned FAI Cup winner’s medals!

Post Script

Speaking of FAI Cup medals and the postal service, one of the greatest player coups in the history of the League of Ireland is surely the signing by Sligo Rovers of the legendary England centre-forward, William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Deans form Notts County, just in time for the 1939 FAI Cup campaign. As well as enjoying a successful goal scoring run in the latter stages of the league, Deans also led Rovers to their first ever FAI Cup decider. Having scored in the initial drawn game with Shelbourne however, Deans was forced to settle for a runners-up medal as Rovers lost the replay by just a single goal. Unfortunately, on the night of the replay, ‘Dixie’ Deans’ medal was stolen from the team’s Dublin hotel. Seven years later, by then retired and landlord of the Dublin Packet hostelry in Chester, Deans opened a parcel sent anonymously from Ireland to find his aforementioned medal returned to its rightful owner!

A Blessing in Disguise

It may have been one of the very first books dedicated to a League of Ireland

club nevertheless, Eamonn Sweeney’s ‘There’s only one Red Army’ detailing a lifelong addiction to his beloved Sligo Rovers, surely remains as one of the very best observations penned on the domestic game. Among many good tales, Sweeney humorously relates that of Gabriel Ojo from Nigeria.

‘Legend has it that Ojo was discovered by a missionary from Sligo who was busily spreading the word of God in the bush when he found a bunch of young lads playing football. So entranced was he by the skills of Ojo that he arranged for the young man to travel to Sligo and sign for Rovers. In the event Ojo may only have lined out once at the Showgrounds but the impression he made on the collective physic consciousness of the home fans proved to be a lasting one. What has earned Ojo a unique place in Rovers history is something which all who saw him play agree on. He was the worst player ever to line out for Sligo Rovers. By the end of his debut, the ground rang with shouts of “give it to Blessed Martin”, Blessed Martin De Porres being a dusky saint of the time much prised for his ability to make miraculous intercessions’

Sources: The Cork Examiner, ‘There’s Only One Red Army’ Eamonn Sweeney, ‘The Official Book of the FAI Cup’ Sean Ryan, ‘The Finn Harps Story’ Bartley Ramsey

Dave Galvin was programme editor of Cork City’s ‘City Edition’, winning the programme of the year title five seasons in a row alongside co-editor Gerry Desmond.

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COLM CUDDIHY reccounts the story of one of the League of Ireland’s most exciting exports, currently playing in the MLS.

Kevin Doyle is fondly remembered on Leeside; while many predicted that current Limerick striker, John O’Flynn would have been the more successful of the two, it was indeed the Wexford native that made his name abroad.

Doyle began his professional career with a side closer to his county of birth, signing for St. Pats U19 side before following Pat Dolan to the Rebel County. There he created a solid partnership with the afore mentioned O’Flynn, where he scored 25 goals during his stint with the club, including the winner against Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in the Intertoto Cup.

In July of 2005, the year that Cork City

beat Derry to the league title, they had to do it without their influential striker for half the season, as he earned a move the then Championship side Reading as well along with Southampton front man Shane Long. He was intentionally signed as a backup striker but due to injury Doyle was used more than he may have expected in his first season, scoring 19 goals as The Royals were promoted to the Premier League.

In his second season with the Berkshire side, he was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year but was beaten by Spanish midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas. Despite scoring 13 goals for Reading that season, they ended up being relegated back down to the

LOI ABROAD:KEVIN DOYLE

SOURCE: INPHO/rte.ie

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Championship, despite being hotly tipped to stay in the Premier League elsewhere, Doyle decided he’d stay and fight and try and regain Readings top flight status.

Despite his 18 goals that season, Reading were unable to get promoted, finishing fourth in the Championship, they lost on in the Play-Off semi-final to Burnley.

In 2009, and amidst much speculation, Doyle joined newly promoted side Wolverhampton Wanderers, for a reported club record fee of £6.5million. In his first season, Wolves finished 15th in the Premier League and won the club’s ‘Player’s’ Player of the Year

award, as well as being Wolves’ top scorer, scoring nine goals.

Kevin Doyle’s career was very much up and down while he was at Wolves, from being the club’s top scorer in the Premier League, to back to back relegations, The Wexford man certainly had a roller-coaster ride with Wanderers during his six-year career with the side. Despite having loan spells at both Crystal Palace and QPR, The Irish International could never really hold down a regular spot in the Wolves starting eleven.

During the club’s time in League One, Wolves very much wanted to get rid of the former Cork City and St Pat’s striker due to the fact he was still on Premier League wages, and the club clearly not earning Premier League revenue. In 2015, Doyle was 32 and couldn’t attracted any clubs in England, so he decided move continent to join MLS side Colorado Rapids. At the time of writing, the Wexford native has made 20 appearances for The Rapids, scoring

five goals.

As well as having scored some important goals at

club level, Doyle has equally chipped in with crucial goals

in a green shirt too. He has made 61

appearances for Ireland, scoring

14 times. His last goal in

competitive action was a very important last minute winner against Kazakhstan in a 2014 World Cup qualifier, for Ireland to beat the 142nd ranked side in the world 2-1.

In recent interviews, Doyle has hinted he may return to the League of Ireland be it with Cork City or his hometown team, Wexford Youths. Without doubt, despite the way his Wolves career ended, he is one of the best exports this county has produced, and his stint across the water is something that recent emigrants Richie Towell and Chris Forrester can hope to live up to.

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One of the few soccer matches down for decision in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916 was between Shelbourne and the Junior Metropolitan League. Games featuring these “representative” sides were quite frequent at the time, and it was a matter of great prestige when your club had a member selected for the League side.

The Irish Intermediate League hosted the Glasgow Junior League in October 1915, for example, and the Lanarkshire League the following year, with the former fixture later becoming an annual one, home and away in alternate years.

But in domestic terms, following the spread of the game nationwide, the many informal league versus league fixtures were eventually combined into a proper competition, and that competition has been named after one of the few 1916 men who had a serious football career behind him.

Oscar Traynor was a 30-year-old Dubliner, a Lieutenant in the Volunteers, who came out

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin looks at a man who had two careers in football, and two others in war and politics

with most of the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade, despite the growing confusion from Saturday night on as to whether the “manoeuvres” (which were to start the rising, though not everyone knew that) were happening or not.

His own recollection of the atmosphere on the Monday was that “the general impression created was that the Volunteers were divided in their decisions as to the action to be taken, and that some were out and some were not taking any action at all.”

Some of the Battalion were sent to the Phoenix Park, to destroy the Magazine Fort and so deny the expected British troops ammunition. It wasn’t a very successful raid, as the fuses for the explosives they set burned out.

The rest stayed in Fairview, where they took positions to cover routes into the city, but late on the Tuesday they were ordered to Sackville Street (which some people were already calling O’Connell Street, although the City Council’s formal decision to rename it wouldn’t take

The 1912 CelTiCs: Traynor is The only one wearing hoops

MORE THAN TWO HALVES

place until 1924).

From the GPO, Traynor and a small party of men were sent to the Metropole Hotel, where Penneys is now, to occupy it and fortify the corner of Abbey Street. They held the building until it was ablaze, and were one of the last groups to quit the GPO itself.

Resuming his active membership of the Volunteers after his time in Knutsford Prison

and Frongoch Camp, he was promoted Captain, and then arrested during a training exercise. He was appointed Commandant of the Dublin Brigade following Bloody Sunday, and eventually, faced with the question of the Treaty, parted company with many of his comrades and sided with the anti-Treaty forces.

Curiously, this was the third time Traynor had encountered that peculiarly Irish phenomenon, the Split.

He had had to decide where he stood on the issue of enlistment back in Autumn 1914, very soon after he joined the Volunteer movement,

The ireland/poland maTCh in 1938 - Traynor explains The game To presidenT douglas hyde, who was expelled by The gaa for aTTending. de Valera on The lefT

when the majority of the men decided to go and fight in the Great War, and return to address Ireland’s problems afterwards. His decision was apparently an easy one, as he doesn’t even mention it in his memoir, done for the Bureau of Military History in 1950.

And his first experience of a split affected his then career as a footballer. In the early Spring of 1912, the Belfast-based Irish Football Association was faced with a major problem,

when most of the football family broke away and founded a separate organisation, which they called the “New Irish Football Association”.

The separatists, if that’s what they should be called, included seven of the then eight participating clubs, and they immediately set about organising their own competitions, including what was called the New Irish Cup.

The dispute being about money, it was resolved at the end of the season, and the New Irish Cup vanished, at least in that form. But Belfast Celtic had won the inaugural competition,

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beating Glentoran 2-0 in Grosvenor Park - and their goalkeeper was Oscar Traynor.

The New IFA had invited Shelbourne, from Dublin, to make up eight teams for the competition, but Traynor hadn’t had to face his home town club. Celtic made their way to the Final with victories (and clean sheets) over Belfast Blues and Distillery.

The Blues sound a bit like a split within a split: Linfield, even then known as the Blues, hadn’t broken away from the IFA. But some of them may have missed the football.

Meanwhile, Belfast Celtic were not having a vintage season, though their haul for the year also included the Belfast Charities Cup, in the Final of which they beat Distillery (though some sources say it was Cliftonville).

The Board, however, treated them to what is often described as a “European Tour” after the season ended. They travelled to Prague, where they played six games, winning five and drawing the sixth, and by all accounts a good time was had by all, including Traynor and his fellow-Dubliner, forward Louis Crowe.

Various reports say Traynor, who had previously played for Frankfort and Strandville in his home-town, was with Celtic from 1910 until 1912, but there is scant evidence of his later footballing career. According to his own account, he was probably involved up to the end of the 1913/14 season, but where we do not know.

His Belfast experience, which coincided with the ferment over the third Home Rule Bill being introduced in Westminster, would have exposed him to some of the extreme views of the Loyalists, so different to his own father’s Fenian leanings. But he says simply that he joined the Volunteers “on 27th July 1914, the Monday following the Howth gun-running. I was connected with football up to that and I broke with football when I saw that there was

something serious pending.”

After the Civil War (in which he was deeply involved), Traynor moved to politics, and was elected to the Dáil in a bye-election in 1925 and again in the first General Election of 1927, but as an abstentionist Sinn Féiner didn’t take his seat until he won again, this time as a Fianna Fáil candidate, in 1932.

He was a Parliamentary Secretary, as Junior Ministers were called then, for just five months in 1936 before being appointed to the Cabinet, and served as a Minister in every Fianna Fáil government from then until 1961 when he stood down, aged 75.

But he maintained his interest in the beautiful game, and in 1948 he was appointed President of the FAI – an honorary post, and one which then indicated the high regard the Association had for the appointees.

That admiration in Traynor’s case was more than usually warm, and resulted in the inter-league competition being named in his honour.

This year’s Oscar Traynor Cup is in its final stages, with the Semi-Finals due this month: holders Inishowen League will face the Leinster Senior League, while Clare League host Donegal League in the other.

The competition is played on the basis of six regionalised Groups, with Group winners and two runners-up going into knockout Quarter-Finals. Athletic Union League were the previous holders, winning in 2013 and retaining their title the following year.

Incidentally, after Belfast Celtic’s victory, the New Irish Cup returned two seasons later under the old IFA, and renamed the Gold Cup. Shelbourne were runners-up in its first season and won it in 1914/15, by which stage Traynor had hung up his boots and picked up a rifle. The rest, as they say, is history.

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