Ireland, Ireland!

The Irish Football Association was formed in 1880 and, though focused on Belfast, was responsible for the administration of the game throughout the island. 
Although there were cultural and sectarian divisions, Ireland was a single country up until the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The area now known as Northern ireland opted out of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (founded in 1919). The south was known as the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1937, when it became the Republic of Ireland.

The situation regarding football now became complex. There was growing discontent in the south regarding what was percieved as northern bias on the part of the Irish Football Association. The IFA defended their position; the north, they argued, was the heartland of football in Ireland.
In September 1921 the Football Association of the Irish Free State (later known as the Football Association of Ireland) was formed by southern clubs and Leinster FA, which had seceded from The Irish Football Association.
Initially both the IFA and the FAI claimed to represent the whole of Ireland. Therefore during the period with which we are concerned, there existed a situation in which there were 2 bodies selecting 'all Ireland' sides. The Football Association of Ireland side was not not considered to represent only the Irish Free State.
In 1923 the Football Association of the Irish Free State joined FIFA and in 1924 the  Olympic Council of Ireland  selected a team to represent The Irish Free State at the Olympics.
In 1936 the  FAI adopted a policy of selecting Northern players, a practice that persisted until 1946. Therefore, between the foundation of the the Football Association of the Irish Free State and the end of the era this blog covers (summer 1937), a number of players were selected to represent both The Irish Football Association and the the Football Association of the Irish Free State (Football Association of Ireland).

For their campaign at the 1924 Olympic Games the Olympic Council of Ireland selected just 1 player who had previously been capped by the Irish Football Association :

	Irish Football Association		Olympic Council of Ireland
	Dates	Games	Dates	Games
Dinny Hannon	1908-13	6	1924	2
Inside right. Bohemians, Athlone Town.

The following players were selected by the Football Association of the Irish Free State/ Football Association of Ireland having previously represented the Irish Football Association:

	Irish Football Association		Football Association of Ireland
	Dates	Games	Dates	Games
Billy Lacey	1909- 24	23	1927-30	3
During his career he played in all 11 positions! Shelbourne, Everton, Liverpool, New Brighton, Cork Bohemians.
Jimmy Dunne	1928-32	7	1930-39	15
Forward.  Shamrock Rovers, New Brighton, Sheffield United, Arsenal, Southampton.
Jimmy Kelly	1931-36	11	1932-36	4
Outside right. Coleraine, Liverpool, Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, Ballymena United, Ballymoney United.
Tommy Breen	1935-39	9	1937-45	5
Goalkeeper.  Newry Town, Belfast Celtic, Manchester United, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers, Glentoran.
Mick O'Brien	1921-27	10	1927-32	4
Centre half/ forward. Blyth Spartans, Celtic,  Brentford, Norwich City,  South Shields,  Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City, Hull City, Brooklyn Wanderers,  Derby County, Walsall, Watford.
Jackie Brown	1935-39	10	1937	2
Outside right. Belfast Celtic, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City, Birmingham City, Barry Town, Ipswich Town.
Patsy Gallagher	1919-27	11	1931	1
Inside-forward. Celtic, Falkirk.
Tom Farquharson	1923-25	7	1929-31	4
Goalkeeper. Cardiff City.
Harry Chatton	1924-25	3	1931-34	3
Half back.  Dumbarton, Partick Thistle, Indiana Flooring, Heart of Midlothian, New York Nationals, Shelbourne, Cork.
Peter Kavanagh	1929	1	1931	1
Outside left. Bohemians, Celtic, Northampton Town, Hibernian, Stranraer, Babcock & Wilcox, Waterford United.
Frank Collins	1922	1	1927	1
Goalkeeper. Jacobs, Celtic.
Christy Martin	1925	1	1927	1
Outside right. Bo'ness, Falkirk, Brooklyn Wanderers.
Ed Brooks	1920	1	1924	1
Forward.  Shelbourne, Bohemians, Stockport County and Athlone Town.

Billy Lacey

Peter Kavanagh

Alex Stevenson



These players first represented the Football Association of Ireland before being selected by the Irish Football Association: 

	Football Association of Ireland		Irish Football Association
	Dates	Games	Dates	Games
Alex Stevenson	1932-48	7	1934-48	17
Inside left. Dolphin, Glasgow Rangers, Everton
Harry Duggan	1927-37	5	1929-35	8
Outside right. Richmond United, Leeds United, Newport County.
Patrick Moore	1931-36	9	1932	1
Forward. Shamrock Rovers, Merthyr Town, Cardiff City, Tranmere Rovers, Aberdeen, Shelbourne, Brideville.
Tom Davis	1936-38	4	1938	1
Centre forward. Torquay United, New Brighton, FC Metz, Oldham Athletic, Tranmere Rovers, Cork City.
Owen Madden	1936	1	1937	1
Forward. Cork, Norwich City, Birmingham, Cork United.

Scott

Belfast born Peerless Billy Scott played for Everton (1904-1912) and Leeds City (1912-14). He was an FA Cup winner in 1906. In first class English Football he kept 100 clean sheets in 315 games (289 for Everton)- 31.74%. He represented Ireland 25 times. Clean sheets: 5  W- 6, D- 3, L-16. He played for Liverpool during the 1914-18 war.

 Billy had a younger brother, 11 years his junior. Everton turned down Lish, who then went on to make 468 appearances for Liverpool in 2 spells (he returned to Ireland during the 1914-18 war) 137 clean sheets (29.27%). He won 2 league Championships with the Reds (1921/22, 1922/23)
For Ireland (1920-36)- 31 appearances . Cleansheets: 6. W-7, D-7, L- 17.
Scott won a number of honours in Ulster during the 1915-19 period and later managed Belfast Celtic with some success. 

Irish Football Association Challenge Cup

1881- Moyola Park
Moyola Park Association Football Club was formed during season 1879/1880 under the patronage of Lord Spencer Chichester, the landlord of the Moyola Park estate. Their  first recorded game was a friendly at home against Cliftonville FC, Belfast on 14 February 1880, in which the visitors recorded a 3-0 victory. Lord Spencer Chichester was the inaugural president of the fledgling Irish Football Association, which was formed in November 1880. On 9 April 1881 Moyola Park became the first winners of the Irish Football Association's Challenge Cup, defeating Cliftonville by 1-0 in the final, from an initial entry of seven clubs, the founder members of the Association. The gate receipts on that day were £8-00. 

1882- Queen's Island 
I can find out very little about the Belfast based Queen's Island side, other than that they fielded 10 Scotsmen in the final. Cliftonville were runners up again, Queen's Island winning 1-0 in front of a crowd of  2,000 at the Prospect ground. 

1883- Cliftonville 
Having been runners up in the first two finals Cliftonville finally got their name on the trophy with a comfortable 5-0 win over Ulster. 

1884- Distillery
Distillery won their first cup with a 5-0 win over Wellington Park. The distillery full backs were club captain Matt 'Daddy' Wilson and his son Bob Wilson. Distillery were founded in 1880 and were based at West Belfast's Distillery Street.

1885 - Distillery
Distillery defended their title with 9 of the previous year's winning side making a return to the final. This time round  Limavady were beaten 3-0. The finals were still attracting crowds of about 2,000 at this time. 

1886-  Distillery
3 in a row for Distillery. Limvady were beaten 1-0 and protested following a very rough final. The Irish FA apportioned equal blame for the violence of the match to both sides. The result stood but the cup and medals were withheld.

1887- Ulster 
A new name on the cup as Ulster overcame Cliftonville 3-1 at Belfast's Broadway with 4,000 in attendance. 

1888- Cliftonville
Bob Wilson won his 4th Irish Cup playing against his former club, Distillery,  as Cliftonville ran out 2-1 winners.

1889- Distillery
Outsiders Belfast YMCA excelled themselves and lost the final to the strongest team in Ireland by the odd goal in 9! Having taken the lead in the first minute YMCA camer back from 4-2 down but Distillery's 5th goal proved too much for them. 

1890-  Gordon Highlanders 
Gordon Highlanders was a Scottish regiment in the British Army. They took advantage of their Irish posting to win the cup, beating Cliftonville in the final. Unsurprisingly the Highlander's XI was entirely Scottish. 4 of the Cliftonville side had played for YMCA in the previous tear's final. 
The first match was drawn 2-2, the Highlander's winning the replay 3-0. Highlander's Bob Milne settled in Belfast and for many years played for Linfield . He also represented  Ireland at international level. 

1891- Linfield
Milne was back, winning the cup with Linfield. Linfield became the first club to win the 'double' in Ireland  In the final they beat Ulster 4-2 at Solitude. The attendance was 5,000. The Ulster team featured Jack Reynolds, who was capped by both Ireland and England. 

1892- Linfield
Linfield retained the trophy by thrashing army side  Black Watch 7-0 in the final. Black Watch fielded XI Scotsmen. Stangley Bob Hill, who scored 4 goals in the final was a Scotsman who had once served with the Black Watch! Linfield also featured William Arnott, brother of the Scottish international Walter Arnott. Some sources credit his cup win with Linfield to Walter. 

1893- Linfield
Linfield secured a hat trick of 'doubles' beating Cliftonville 5-1 in the cup final. 

1894- Distillery 3 Linfield 2
Distillery were the first Irish team to use a coach (Adam Wright). The final played on St Patrick's Day  ended in a 2-2 draw,Distillery playing the second half with 10 men after Davy Brown broke his leg.
In the replay one month later it was Linfield who were reduced to 10 early on, with stalwart Bob Milne being the injured party. Distillery won 3-2.

Bob Milne

1895- Linfield 
Linfield  smashed Dublin based Bohemians 10-1 in the final, this after Bohemians had taken the lead.   Joe McAllen and Bob Milne scored three goals each. Milne had now scored in the final for 3 seasons in a row and played in 8 final ties altogether (including replays).

1896- Distillery 
 Distillery beat  Glentoran 3-1 at Belfast's Solitude, the attendance was 6,000. 

1897- Cliftonville
For the third time an army team reached the final. This time it was the Sherwood Foresters,an English regiment based in Dublin's Curragh. The Foresters fielded an XI made up entirely of Englishmen. Cliftonville won 3-1. 

1898- Linfield
 A return to winning ways for Linfield, double winners again this season. In the cup final they beat  St. Columb's Hall Celtic (Derry) by 2- 0. Bob Milne was there, of course.

1899- Linfield
A crowd of 7,000 at Solitude saw 85 minutes of football before Glentoran walked off the pitch, incensed at the refusal of a penalty. Linfield were 1-0 up at the time, and the Irish FA decided that the score should stand. 
Bob Milne made his 10th appearance in the cup final (a further 2 would follow).

1900- Cliftonville 
A Belfast v Dublin final saw Cliftonville beat Bohemians 2-1.
Cliftonville had received a bye to the final when their opposition, The Kings Own Scottish Borderers  a regimental team, were called up for the Boer War in South Africa.