First Time Round

[Gunnerhibby]

Following on from Damien Richardson's article, another member of the Cork City programme squad, Dave Galvin, produced an article detailing Hibs first visit to Cork in 1938 ...

By the mid 1930's soccer in both Cork and Munster was in a healthy and vibrant state and looking to the future with a growing confidence. A decade and a half on from the resumption of football in the province, following the interuptions of the Great War and the War of Independence, the Munster Football Association presided over an ever-expanding membership. With League of Ireland representation in the shape of Cork and Waterford, along with Munster senior, junior and minor leagues anchored on Leeside, and other decentralised groupings such as the North Munster League further afield, the MFA had much to celebrate.

Of course the very nature of circumstance is that things change and even as the MFA basked in their success, hosting high profile games at the end of the 1936/37 and 1937/38 campaigns, storm clouds were already gathering on the horizon. Not only was the world set for a second great conflict in the first half of the 20th century and all the attendant dificulties that this brought for organised football, closer to home trouble was also brewing. By february 1938 Cork FC had acrimoniously departed the League of Ireland scene to be replaced by the original Cork City whose tenure was both brief and fraught with difficulty. Elsewhere, as the 1930's came to a close, club numbers dropped dramatically within the MFA ranks as many famous Munster names, among them Cork Bohemians, Southern Rovers, Barrackton and Cahir Park, had already or were on the verge of departing the scene.

Back in april 1937 however, as a representative selection comprising Munster Senior and Junior League performers(Cork and Waterford were both involved in Dublin City Cup action on the League of Ireland scene) narrowly lost out by the odd goal in five to Scottish First Division outfit Motherwell at the Mardyke, such difficulties were in the future. With the success of the Motherwell venture the MFA decided to repeat the experiment and some twelve months later in april 1938 another Scottish First Division side, Hibernian FC, a club with strong Irish roots, was invited to Cork to once again face a Munster selection.

Despite repeated Cork Examiner references to Hibernian being a crack Scottish League club in the lead up to the game, this was in truth somewhat overstating the status of the visitors. That same season, 1937/38 had seen Hibs cut adrift of the top three finishers in the Scottish League, berthed well behind champions Celtic and runners-up, Heart of Midlothian, their great Edinburgh rivals. In fact Hibernian had secured their one and only championship way back in 1903 and it would be post war againbefore that feat would be repeated. Beaten in successive Scottish cup finals in the mid 1920's, first by Airdrieonians, and then Celtic, again Hibernian had not won the Blue Riband of Scottish Football since 1902 and today, more than a century later the club's supporters still await a repeat performance.

For Leeside fans in April 1938, one of the crucial questions to be answered leading up to this encounter was whether Hibs would include their Irich International inside forward, Paddy Farrell who had been capped against Switzerland and France in the previous campaign. A native of Athlone, the interesting circumstances surrounding Farrell's move to Easter Road from Bohemians FC three years previously are recounted by Sean Ryan and Terry O'Rourke in their excellent publication "The Gillette Book of the FAI Cup".

A member of the Bohemians FC side that defeated Dundalk 4:3 in the 1935 FAL Cup Final, the hioghest aggregate ever scored in a Blue Riband decider, the authors had this to say; "The Final also proved a turning point in the life of Bohemian's Paddy Farrell, an Athlone man who had joined Bohs from Home Farm. Earlier in the season he had beein the reserve team but coach, Billy Lacey, the former Liverpool star, spotted him a fault in his running action and corrected it in sessions on the cinder track, which lay behind the Tramway goal in Dalymount Park. Promoted to the first team , he scored in the 5-2 second-round defeat of Waterford and then scored the winner in the semi-final replay against league champions Dolphin. That brought him to the attention of Scottish club Hibernian who wanted to sign him straight away. His mother, a widow was against it, but withdrew her objection when he promised to attend Edinburgh University and prepare for a career after football. His contract with Hibernian was unique, as apart from a signing on fee of £800, Hibs also undertook to pay his university fees as he studied Dentistry and arranged his training so that didn't interfere with his lectures. He spent five years at Hibs, was capped three times and qualified as a dentist. After serving in the RAF during the war he set up a private practice in Hull"
In the event, Farrell did line out at the 'Dyke and indeed he scored as well.


As for the home side's preparations, a meeeting of the selection committee on the tuesday prior to the game rather surprisingly discussed, given the lateness of the hour, the inclusion of a number of guest performers. Wednesdays Cork Examiner referred to the wish list as including Kevin O'Flanagan and Paddy O'Kane of Bohemians FC, both full internationals, Harry Litherland of Drumnacondra and previously an ace marksman with Everton, Sheffield United and Sligo Rovers amongst others. Included also were Joe Reilly of St Jame's Gate, another seasoned international and Hughie O'Donnell of League runners-up Waterford, who had notched eighteen goals in the season just ended. Incidently, ahead of O'Donnell on Waterfords scoring charts was Cork man Timothy Jim O'Keefe who also joined Hibernian later on in 1938, only to return once again to Suirside within two seasons.

In the event only O'Donnell of the above quintet actually lined out for Munster that afternoon, along with six Cork FC regulars, among them legendary goalkeeper Billy Harrington, Frank Mullen and William Miller. Also lining out were Miah Lynch(Cork Bohemians), Reardon(Glasheen), Shanahan(Waterford Celtic) and Barry from Cove Wanderers who had played and scored against Motherwell the previous year. In terms of a large home support on this occasion, however, that relatively inexperienced side of twelve months earlier proved much tougher opponents for their Scottish visitors than the one that clashed with Hibernian. In truth, the Edinburgh side were dominant almost from the first whistle, outclassing the Munster men. Under the heading "Hibernian Give A Faultless Display" the Evening Echoof Monday 23 April detailed the hosts' discomfort.

"At the Mardyke yesterday, Hibernian(Scottish First Division team) defeated a Munster select by six goals to one, and treated a large attendance to a brilliant exhibition of football. The visiting side was at full league strength, but the homesters showed weakness in several departments. J. Lynch(Cork Bohs) played a dissappointing game at right full and O'Dempsey and O'Donnell in the attack were also below form. M. Shanahan and M. Murphy were the best of the forwards, while the pick of the bunch of the Munster halves were McGowan and Miller.

The Scottish team gave a faultless display, especially their forwards, all of whom had the honour of scoring. Milne, who led the line, was extremely clever, while the wingers, Natley and McIntyre, were very speedy and accurate. Rice at left half played a star match for the winners, and the fulls, Logan and Dunsmore were also outstanding.

Hibernians opening play was brilliant, and, following several spectacular movements involving the forwards, Finnigan scored in the 15th minute. Shortly afterwards Harrington saved a splendid shot from Miller and at the opposite end Barry narrowly missed for the homesters. In the 20th minute, however, Farrell netted a great goal for Hibernians, but two minutes later O'Donnell broke away for Munster and reduced the arrears with a close range drive.Towards the end of the first half the Scotchmen played copybook football, and before the interval further goals were scored by McIntyre and Miller.

Munster attacked from the start of the second half, and a great shot from O'Dempsey crashed off the upright with Gourlay well out of position. After five minutes, a free kick taken by Birse put the forwards in action, and, following a melee in front of the Munster goal, Notley beat Harrington with a low ball. Hibernians increased their lead during the closing stages of the game when Miller headed through a good goal to complete the scoring.

Teams:

Hibernian - Gourlay, Logan, Dunsmore, Wilson, Birse, Rice, McIntyre, Finnigan, Milne, Farrell, Natley.

Munster Select - Harrington(Cork), J Lynch(Cork Bohs), Mullan(Cork), McGowan(Cork), Reardon(Glasheen), Millar(Cork), M Shanahan(Waterford Celtic), R Barry(Cove Wanderers), O'Donnell(Waterford), M Murphy(Cork), O'Dempsey(Cork)"

After the game the Munster Football Association hosted the Hibernian team and officials at a dinner in the Savoy Cinema restauraunt. Mr R Barber, vice chairman of the MFA, announced that Hibernian had invited a Munster team to visit Edinburgh the following year, and he was hopeful that the MFA would be in a position to accept the offer. Unfortunately, events would dictate that the invitation was not availed of, and it would in fact be 34 years before Hibernian once again met Leeside opposition when returning to Cork to lock horns with namesakes, Cork Hibernian.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Cork City Football Club
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[1875]

Great stuff, the Cork City Club really had a feeling for Hibernian, I salute them.

[Bukta]

Colin, that makes for some great reading mate & a great insight into the depth of feeling & belonging that Hibernian have at the heart of Cork City. Vintage stuff mate.
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[Gunnerhibby]

Originally Posted by James Riordan

Colin, that makes for some great reading mate & a great insight into the depth of feeling & belonging that Hibernian have at the heart of Cork City. Vintage stuff mate.
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Aye, some of the Cork guys capture the real feeling of writing about Hibs, especially the manager gadgey
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[Baldy]

I thought the writing in the cork programme was far better than the efforts of our own programme
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