Cork has persistently produced its fair share of hugely gifted footballers, even if circumstances have invariably dictated that more often then not their talents were exported away from their place of birth. Is it really possible to pick a best eleven from among those many illustrious exiles? Dave Galvin sticks his neck out!
Going back some weeks, the Rochestown Park Hotel hosted an interesting and innovative football occasion, as the Evening Echo’s ‘Greatest Ever Cork Team’ was unveiled. The end result of canvassing opinion from across a wide spectrum of Leeside’s soccer community, including the humble musings of City Edition co-editors, not surprisingly, the final selection engendered considerable debate as to the merits or otherwise of the chosen few. With all those nominated required to have spent the bulk of their football careers on the home front, the final selection included, along with the eleven named, Dave Baccuzzi in the role of manager as well as referee, Derry Barrett. Mind you, given Barrett’s prowess as a League of Ireland netminder with Evergreen United in the 1950s the man who went on to a successful refereeing career at the top level might well have featured as a player. For the record then, the eleven chosen, lining up in a 4:4:2 formation, were as follows:
Evening Echo’s Greatest Ever Cork Team
Goalkeeper
Alex Ludzik
Defenders
Declan Daly, Noel O’Mahony, Jackie Morley and Dave Noonan
Midfielders
Donie Wallace, Dave Barry, Carl Humphries and John Lawson
Forwards
Donie Leahy and Sean McCarthy
A pretty impressive line-up, I think you’ll agree, even if from my own perspective, knowledge of the outstanding talents of Davie Noonan, Seanie McCarthy and to a lesser extent, Donie Leahy, is informed by reputation only. Of course in many respects, any attempt at formulating ‘ A Greatest Ever Team’, in any code, often proves to be of greater interest relative to those omitted rather than the players that are actually included. Football, as the cliché has it, is all about opinions and just for the heck of it, here is a considered opinion as to an alternative Cork Team (though maybe not the Greatest one) that would surely have presented the above selection with a pretty formidable challenge! Lining up in a 4:3:3 formation and confining the choice to players as actually witnessed in the flesh:
DG’s Alternative Cork Eleven
Goalkeeper
Phil Harrington
Defenders
Richie Brooks, John Coughlan, Keith Edwards, John Herrick
Midfielders
Sonny Sweeney, Gerry Finnegan and Frank McCarthy
Forwards
Dave Wigginton, Pat Morley and Austin Noonan
Managed by the irrepressible Paul O’Donovan and inclusive of the likes of Kevin Blount, Paul Bannon, Pat O’Mahony, Liam Murphy, Frank O’Neill and Gerry McCabe on the substitute bench, this lot teaming up in their respective primes would surely prove to be an irresistible combination. But sure listen, we could well be here all day arguing the toss, and we probably would be too! The truth of it is that what the ‘Greatest Ever Cork Team’ really set me thinking about was not so much an alternative home selection but rather one constructed from those Corkonians who, for whatever reason, ended up largely plying their trade elsewhere. A sort of ‘Greatest Ever Cork Exiles Team’ if you like.
Numbering those for whom Cork provided little more than simply an accident of birthplace, alongside performers who graced the underage ranks before being snapped up to the English game and, of course, those who graced the League of Ireland scene before departure, and occasionally on returning, any attempt at a selection invariably includes names that are numbered among the greats of Irish Football. At the same time others like Jackie O’Driscoll and Jack O’Reilly might well have been considered but for the fact that their spell in exile was a relatively short one. Of necessity, the following ‘Exiles’ eleven encompasses the entire post war era. Many names are hugely familiar, a couple less so perhaps, but all were or are full internationals in their own right and all were born in the city or county of Cork.
The Greatest Ever Cork Exiles Team
(Note: clubs capped with/ total caps won, in brackets)
Goalkeeper
Tommy Scannell (Southend United/1)
Defenders
Billy Hayes (Huddersfield Town/2)
Noel Cantwell (West Ham United, Manchester United/36)
Frank O’Farrell (West Ham United, Preston NE/9)
Denis Irwin ( Manchester United/56)
Midfielders
Charlie Hurley (Millwall, Sunderland, Bolton Wanderers/40)
Tommy Moroney (West Ham United, Evergreen United/12)
Roy Keane ( Nottingham Forest, Manchester United/65)
Kieran O’Regan ( Brighton & HA/4)
Forwards
Miah Dennehy ( Cork Hibernians, Nottingham Forest, Walsall/11)
Peter Desmond (Middlesbrough/4)
Honourable Mention
Don Donovan (Everton/5), Brian Carey (Manchester United/3), Pat Saward (Millwall, Aston Villa, Huddersfield Town/18) and Liam Miller (Celtic Manchester United/9)
Given that no fewer than three Cork born goalkeepers, Cobh’s Billy Harrington, Jim ‘Fox’ Foley and Mick McCarthy stood between the posts for Ireland in the pre-war era, it’s perhaps something of a surprise that only one other Corkonian has been similarly honoured in the six decades since international football resumed following the end of the Second World War. And you might expect the player in question to be the great Ned Courtney who kept goal against Portugal in Lisbon in 1946, however; Cork United’s legendary netminder was by birth a Dublin ‘Jackeen’! Tommy Scannell, who left his native Youghal for England at a tender age and played out his entire Football League career with a single club, Southend United, is actually the player in question. The East Cork man is included having made a senior appearance for Ireland, when aged 29, in an experimental line-up that defeated Luxembourg by a solitary goal in a World Cup qualifier in 1954. The father of actor Tony Scannell, who became familiar to many through his role in the television series, The Bill, Scannell senior died in 1994.
The great Charlie Hurley, captain of Sunderland and Ireland, left his native Cork at just 10 years of age, moving to Rainham in Essex and later joining Millwall from local side Rainham Town. From there Hurley moved on to Sunderland where a glittering career for club and country was forged. As with Noel Cantwell, Hurley was a football colossus of his generation and it is difficult for us at this remove to really appreciate the reverence with which both were held, and still are in many quarters, and not.
just in Cork. Charlie’s younger brother Chris, also born here, followed a similar path from Rainham Town to the Lions’ Den, also appearing in the Football League. As to Hurley’s actual birthplace, I once worked with a chap from Kinsale who swore blindly that the great man was born but a stone’s throw away from St. Multose Church in the town. Can anyone out there confirm or deny this fact?
Billy Hayes was another to leave Cork at a young age and was unusual in that the war brought him back to his native city with Cork United before he returned once again to Huddersfield Town and later on Burnley FC. Hayes, who was brought up in Sheffield, actually represented England Schoolboys! He is one of a very select band of players capped by both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. He died in 1987.
Noel Cantwell, from the Mardyke area of the city, had graduated to League of Ireland football with Cork Athletic before moving to West Ham United and later again Manchester United, where he captained the Red Devils to FA Cup success in 1963. Earlier he had led the Hammers to the Second Division title. Equally accomplished at both centre forward and centre half for club and country, Noel later went into football management, enjoying a long association with Peterborough United as well as stint in the United States. Cantwell, whose brother Frank also played with Cork Athletic, was another talented, all-round sportsman, who also represented Ireland at cricket.
Among those who made an impact on the local scene, though not at League of Ireland level, before being snapped up by English clubs are Denis Irwin and Kieran O’Regan. The first Irishman to be capped at every age level for his country Irwin began his Football League career with Leeds United, then moved on to Oldham Athletic, before a £700,000 transfer to Manchester United in 1990 precipitated an honour-laden career. Kieran O’Regan, meanwhile, won two Intermediate Cup winner’s medals with Tramore Athletic before moving on to a career in England starting with Brighton and Hove Albion. Recognised for his abilities as both a midfielder and a full back, Kieran later lined out with Swindon Town, Huddersfield Town and Halifax Town and was at one point strongly linked with a move back home to Cork City.
Another Intermediate Cup winner was Peter Desmond from Evergreen Street who was on the Richmond Celtic side that captured the Blue Riband of Senior League football in 1946. Desmond, who played with Middlesbrough, Southport, York City and Hartlepool United in the Football league, had earlier lined out with Waterford and Shelbourne in the League of Ireland. He is one of two players from the above selection who lined out in Ireland’s 2-0 victory against England at Goodison Park, Liverpool, in September 1949, the other being Tommy Moroney. That wonderful achievement by an under-strength Ireland eleven, signalled the first ever occasion in which England had lost to ‘foreign’ opposition on home soil. Peter Desmond died in 1990.
Tommy Moroney, meanwhile, also graced the League of Ireland scene with that all-conquering Cork United team of the 1940s and later with Evergreen United on his return to Leeside. A brilliant all-round sportsman, Tommy played rugby for Cork Constitution and Munster and may well have represented his country at the oval ball game, but for the collapse of the international championship during the war years.
Others to line out at the highest level of the domestic game before heading to greater things across the water were Roy Keane (Cobh Ramblers), Frank O’Farrell (Cork United) and Miah Dennehy (Cork Hibernians). Frank O’Farrell was another Leesider to take a familiar route into the English game, joining West Ham United in January 1948. A brilliant wing half, O’Farrell finished his playing career with Preston NE before moving on to club management with Weymouth, Torquay United and Leicester City. The unexpected announcement that the former Scoil Chríost Rí pupil had succeeded Wilf McGuinness as manager of Manchester United in 1971 was understandably greeted with universal jubilation on Leeside. This was not a memorable era for the Red Devils, however, and O’Farrell’s reign unfortunately proved an all too brief one. He was subsequently replaced by Tommy Docherty in what might well be argued was hardly a move for the better where Manchester United were concerned! Following stints at Cardiff City and with the Iranian national side he returned to Torquay United.
Before being snapped up by manager Dave Mackay at Nottingham Forest, a scenario repeated two decades later with Brian Clough and Roy Keane, Miah Dennehy was already a League of Ireland superstar. Having picked up a championship medal with Cork Hibernians in 1971, Dennehy made history the following year by scoring a first ever hat trick in an FAI Cup decider as Hibs outclassed newly crowned champions Waterford. As a youngster I remember standing in a half-empty Flower Lodge in the pouring rain, sometime in the very early 1970s (it wasn’t always packed. you know!), as Miah rattled in five goals in an 8-1 FAI Cup annihilation of tonight’s visitors Drogheda United (or just plain old Drogheda, as they were then). Ah…yes, brilliant stuff! Following spells at Walsall and Bristol Rovers, Miah returned to the League of Ireland scene lining out for a succession of clubs including Thurles Town and Galway United.
Which leaves us with……….. Why, Roy the Boy of course! What can you say? The greatest of them all, perhaps? No, thank you, I’ve no intention of getting involved in that one! What an impressive list, though, a monument to a wonderful footballing tradition on Leeside. And yet, it represents an array of talent that in many respects supporters here down the decades have largely been denied the pleasure of seeing at their best, at least in the flesh. A list of football exiles, then, just a few of the ones that played away from home.
