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Category Archives: Sports


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Birth of Dean Rock, Gaelic Footballer

Dean Rock, Gaelic footballer, is born on February 26, 1990, in Ballymadun, Garristown, County Dublin, into a family with a strong association with Gaelic football. He is a senior member of the Dublin county football team from 2013 to 2023. He represents Dublin at all grades, Minor, Junior, U21 and Senior. He is a noted free taker and scores the winning point from a free in the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Colm O’Rourke describes Rock as “statistically the best free taker that has been to Croke Park.”

Rock’s great-grandfather, grandfather and granduncle all work as groundsmen at Croke Park, while his father, Barney Rock, is an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medal winner with Dublin.

Rock attends the Catholic University School where he plays rugby union in the absence of a Gaelic football team. He simultaneously comes to prominence at juvenile and underage levels with the Ballymun Kickhams club before making his debut with the senior team in 2008. Since then he has won one Leinster medal and two county senior championship medals.

Rock makes his debut on the inter-county scene when he is selected for the Dublin minor team. After an unsuccessful tenure with the minor team, he later wins an All-Ireland medal as part of the Dublin under-21 team.

Rock represents Dublin at Junior level in the 2009 Leinster Junior Football Championship. Dublin is knocked out in the semi-final by Louth. He scores a total of 14 points for Dublin in his two appearances for Dublin Juniors.

Rock makes his senior debut during the 2012 league when he is introduced as a substitute against Donegal in March. He makes his championship debut the following year against Westmeath. Since then he wins six All-Ireland medals, beginning with his first title in 2013 and followed by five successive championships from 2015 to 2019. He also wins six Leinster Senior Football Championship medals and five National League medals. He is awarded two All Star awards for Dublin in 2017 and 2016, when he finishes the season as top scorer of the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Rock starts his first league match for Dublin in 2015, after which he participates in 63 consecutive league and championship games.

Rock is noted for his taking Dublin’s frees, while attaining hitherto unimaginable levels of accuracy. Having spent to years as a substitute in 2013 and 2014, he studies placed-ball kicking and works with kicking expert Dave Alred, as he reveals in 2017.

In the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final replay defeat of Mayo, Rock scores 0–9 (including seven frees). In the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final defeat of Mayo, he scores 0–7 (including three frees), including the late winner through Lee Keegan‘s thrown GPS pack. In the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final defeat of Tyrone, he also scores 0–7 (including four frees).

Rock’s fifth point of the drawn 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (which gives Dublin a lead of 1–7 to 0–6) is his 411th point for his county in league and championship in his 88th game. Combined with his 14 Dublin goals, he passes Bernard Brogan Jnr. to become the second highest scorer ever in Dublin football. Unusually, he does this mostly through points; he has the lowest goal-scoring record among the top ten (with only Charlie Redmond‘s 15 goals within reach) and achieves the feat while making fewer appearances than those around him in the all-time list.

Following the completion of the five-in-row in 2019, Rock spends a week in New York with Ciarán Kilkenny and Paddy Andrews.

Rock holds the record for the fastest goal scored in the history of All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals, after sending the ball past David Clarke directly from the throw-in of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, breaking Kerryman Garry McMahon‘s record which had stood since the 1962 final. He debuts the “Dean Rock Free Taking Project” in mid-2020.

On January 16, 2024, Rock announces his retirement from inter-county football. After retiring, he contributes to the GAAGO podcast.

In September 2025, it is announced that Rock is joining the backroom team of the recently appointed Dublin senior manager Ger Brennan.

Rock is married to Niamh McEvoy, the Dublin senior ladies’ footballer. They have a daughter named Sadie Rose Rock and live in McEvoy’s hometown, the affluent Dublin suburb Malahide.


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Birth of John “Johnny” Carey, Professional Footballer

John Joseph “Johnny” Carey, professional footballer, manager and one of Manchester United F.C.’s great captains, is born in Dublin on February 23, 1919.

As a schoolboy, Carey plays football for Home Farm F.C. As a youth, he also plays Gaelic football and is selected to represent Dublin GAA at minor level before he signs for St. James’s Gate F.C. at the start of the 1936–1937 season.

After just two months of League of Ireland football, he is spotted by Billy Behan, a Dublin-based Manchester United scout. In November 1936, United signs him for a then League of Ireland record fee of £250. He makes his debut as an inside left for United on September 23, 1937, against Southampton F.C. During his first season with United, Carey, together with Harry Baird, Jack Rowley, Tommy Bamford, Tommy Breen and Stan Pearson, help United gain promotion to the First Division.

As a player Carey spends most of his career with Manchester United, where he is team captain from 1946 until he retires as a player in 1953. He also plays as a guest for several other clubs including Cardiff City F.C., Manchester City F.C., Everton F.C., Liverpool F.C. and Middlesbrough F.C.

Carey is also a dual internationalist, playing for and captaining both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. In 1947 he also captains a Europe XI which plays a Great Britain XI at Hampden Park. In 1949 he is voted the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year and in the same year captains the FAI XI that defeats England 2–0 at Goodison Park, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home.

Carey is also the first non-UK player and the first Irishman to captain a winning team in both an FA Cup Final and the First Division. Like his contemporary Con Martin, he is an extremely versatile footballer and plays in nine different positions throughout his career. He even plays in goal for United on one occasion.

One of Carey’s earliest experiences as a coach comes when he is still an active player. He takes charge of the Republic of Ireland national team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Ireland loses 3–1 to the Netherlands in the opening round in a game played at Fratton Park. He retires as a player in 1953 and almost immediately accepts the position as manager of Blackburn Rovers. In 1958 he guides the Rovers into First Division. He then becomes manager at Everton but, despite leading them to fifth place in the 1960–61 season, their highest post-war position, he is sacked in the back of a taxi by director John Moores. As a result, the jibe, “Taxi for …!” has become a staple insult offered to any manager facing the threat of the sack. He next manages Leyton Orient and takes them into the First Division in 1962, their only season in the top division. However his greatest success as a manager comes with Nottingham Forest. In 1967, he guides them to the FA Cup semi-finals and to second place in the First Division behind his former club Manchester United. Between 1955 and 1967 Carey also serves as team manager of the Republic of Ireland national team. However he has very little power as the team itself is chosen by a selection committee. In October 1970, he returns to the manager’s role at Blackburn, after a spell as administrative manager. He is sacked on June 7, 1971.

By this time Carey has had enough of football management, and takes up a job in the treasurer’s office of Trafford Borough Council until his retirement in 1984. He continues to visit Old Trafford regularly, and during the 1970s acts as a scout for Manchester United.

Carey dies at Macclesfield District General Hospital in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, on August 22, 1995. He is survived by his wife Margaret.


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Birth of Neil Cusack, Winner of the 1974 Boston Marathon

Neil Cusack, a retired middle- and long-distance runner and the only Irish athlete to win the Boston Marathon, is born in Limerick, County Limerick, on December 30, 1951.

Cusack attends St. Munchin’s College in Limerick. He later moves to the United States to study at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), where he is recruited for the cross country team, initially as an afterthought. In 1972, he wins the NCAA Men’s Cross Country National Championship, marking him as a rising star in distance running.

Cusack wins the Peach Bowl Marathon in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 10, 1971, with a time of 2:16:18. He represents Ireland in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, competing in the 10,000 metres.

Cusack achieves his most famous victory on April 15, 1974, by winning the Boston Marathon, becoming the first and only Irishman to do so. His time of 2:13:39 is the third-fastest in Boston Marathon history at that point. His Boston win is a source of immense pride for the Irish community, especially in Boston. He recalls receiving $10 and $20 bills from Irish Americans in the mail with notes like “Have a beer on us, we’re proud of you!” His victory helps soothe the disappointment of local Irish fans who had seen fellow Irish runner Pat McMahon come close in previous years.

Cusack competes again for Ireland in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, placing 55th in the marathon. He wins the 1981 Dublin Marathon on October 26, 1981, with a time of 2:13:58.

In 2024, on the 50th anniversary of his Boston win, Cusack returns to serve as the official race starter for the professional men’s division of the Boston Marathon.

Now in his 70s, Cusack remains a celebrated figure in Irish athletics and marathon history.


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Birth of James McAlinden, Irish Footballer

James McAlinden, Irish footballer who plays as a forward for several clubs, most notably, Belfast Celtic, Portsmouth, Shamrock Rovers and Southend United, is born in Belfast on December 27, 1917. As an international, he also plays for both Ireland teams – the IFA XI and the FAI XI. After retiring as a player, he goes on to manage Glenavon, Lisburn Distillery and Drogheda United.

In 1934, aged 16, McAlinden is playing for Glentoran Reserves, when after a game against their reserves, he is offered a professional contract by Belfast Celtic. Together with Jackie Vernon, Tommy Breen, Billy McMillan and Charlie Tully, he subsequently becomes a prominent member of the Celtic team managed by Elisha Scott. This team dominates the Irish League in the era before and during World War II. Among his most notable contributions is scoring in the 2–1 win against Bangor in the 1938 Irish Cup final.

In December 1938, McAlinden signs for Portsmouth for a fee of £7.500. He makes his debut for the club against Chelsea and goes on to become a regular in the side. Within six months of his arrival at the club, he helps them win the 1939 FA Cup final, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1. After the outbreak of World War II, he plays three times for Portsmouth in wartime regional leagues, but his first spell with the club ends when he then returns to Belfast Celtic in 1939. He returns to Portsmouth for a second stint in 1946. In September 1947, he leaves Portsmouth once again and joins Stoke City for a fee of £7,000.

Following the end of his second stint with Belfast Celtic and before he rejoins Portsmouth, McAlinden signs for Shamrock Rovers in September 1945. He makes his debut against Shelbourne at Glenmalure Park on September 16. While playing for Rovers his teammates include Paddy Coad, Peter Farrell and Tommy Eglington. During his one season with Rovers, he helps the club reach the 1946 FAI Cup final. However Rovers lose 3–1 to Drumcondra.

McAlinden joins Stoke City in September 1947 for a then club record fee of £7,000. He becomes regular inside forward under manager Bob McGrory in 1947–48, playing in 33 matches scoring just twice against Aston Villa and Huddersfield Town. His lack of goals sees him fall out of favour at the Victoria Ground and he is sold to Third Division South side Southend United in October 1948.

In 1948, Southend United signs McAlinden from Stoke City for a fee of £8,000. He continues to play for United until 1954 and during his time with the club he serves as club captain. He also becomes something of a cult hero among the club’s fans and is remembered as being possibly the best player ever to play for the club. In 1950, he is caught up in controversy after it is alleged that he received illegal payments during his second spell with Portsmouth. As a result, he is suspended for the first two months of the 1950–51 season. In April 1954, he makes his last home appearance for United in a 4–1 win over Queens Park Rangers.

When McAlinden begins his international career in 1937 there are in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland–based Irish Football Association (IFA) and the Irish Free State–based Football Association of Ireland (FAI), claim jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and select players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including McAlinden play for both teams.

Between 1937 and 1948, McAlinden makes five appearances for the IFA XI, making his international debut in a 1–1 draw with Scotland at Pittodrie Stadium on November 10, 1937. His IFA XI appearances also include the 8–4 defeat against a Combined Services XI at Windsor Park on September 9, 1944. This team is basically a Great Britain XI and features, among others, Matt Busby, Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton and Stan Mortensen. He also plays against England in 7–2 defeat at Windsor Park on September 9, 1946. He makes his last appearance for the IFA XI on October 10, 1948, in a 6–2 defeat to England at Windsor Park. He makes his first three appearances for the IFA XI while with Belfast Celtic, his fourth while at Portsmouth and his fifth while at Southend United.

In 1946, while with Portsmouth, McAlinden also makes two appearances for the FAI XI. He is one of several players born in Northern Ireland who benefits from the FAI’s attempts to establish their all-Ireland influence. In June 1946, when the FAI organises an Iberian tour, he, together with Jackie Vernon, Billy McMillan and Paddy Sloan, is one of four Northern Irish players called up. He subsequently plays in both the 3–1 defeat to Portugal on June 16 and then helps Ireland gain a surprise 1–0 victory against Spain on June 23, 1946.

In 1955, McAlinden becomes player/manager of Glenavon. He continues playing for an additional year before finally retiring as a player to concentrate on management. During a thirteen-year stint with Glenavon, he guides them two Irish League titles, three Irish Cup victories and one Gold Cup. After leaving Glenavon, works as a full-time scout for Coventry City before taking charge at Lisburn Distillery in 1969. He subsequently guides a Distillery team that includes a young Martin O’Neill to a win in the 1971 Irish Cup. Later in his first season with Drogheda United, he guides them to the 1976 FAI Cup final, only to lose 1–0 to Bohemian.

McAlinden dies at the age of 75 on November 15, 1993.


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Death of Oscar Traynor, Fianna Fáil Politician & Republican

Oscar Traynor, Fianna Fáil politician and republican, dies in Dublin on December 14, 1963. He serves as Minister for Justice from 1957 to 1961, Minister for Defence from 1939 to 1948 and 1951 to 1954, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1936 to 1939 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence from June 1936 to November 1936. He serves as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1925 to 1927 and 1932 to 1961. He is also involved with association football, being the President of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) from 1948 until 1963.

Traynor is born in Dublin on March 21, 1886, into a strongly nationalist family. He is educated by the Christian Brothers. In 1899, he is apprenticed to John Long, a famous woodcarver. As a young man he is a noted footballer and tours Europe as a goalkeeper with Belfast Celtic F.C. whom he plays with from 1910 to 1912. He rejects claims soccer is a foreign sport calling it “a Celtic game, pure and simple, having its roots in the Highlands of Scotland.”

Traynor joins the Irish Volunteers and takes part in the Easter Rising in 1916, being the leader of the Hotel Metropole garrison. Following this he is interned in Wales. During the Irish War of Independence, he is brigadier of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army and leads the disastrous attack on the Custom House in 1921 and an ambush on the West Kent Regiment at Claude Road, Drumcondra on June 16, 1921, when the Thompson submachine gun is fired for the first time in action.

When the Irish Civil War breaks out in June 1922, Traynor takes the Anti-Treaty IRA side. The Dublin Brigade is split, however, with many of its members following Michael Collins in taking the pro-Treaty side. During the Battle of Dublin, he is in charge of the Barry’s Hotel garrison, before making their escape. He organises guerilla activity in south Dublin and County Wicklow, before being captured by Free State troops in September. He is then imprisoned for the remainder of the war.

On March 11, 1925, Traynor is elected to Dáil Éireann in a by-election as a Sinn Féin TD for the Dublin North constituency, though he does not take his seat due to the abstentionist policy of Sinn Féin. He is re-elected as one of eight members for Dublin North in the June 1927 Irish general election but just one of six Sinn Féin TDs. Once again, he does not take his seat. He does not contest the September 1927 Irish general election but declares his support for Fianna Fáil. He stands again in the 1932 Irish general election and is elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North.

In 1936, Traynor is first appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. In September 1939, he is appointed Minister for Defence and holds the portfolio to February 1948. In 1948, he becomes President of the Football Association of Ireland, a position he holds until his death. He serves as Minister for Defence in several Fianna Fáil governments and as Minister for Justice, where he is undermined by his junior minister, and later Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, before he retires in 1961.

Traynor dies in Dublin at the age of 77 on December 14, 1963. He has a road named in his memory, running from the Malahide Road through Coolock to Santry in Dublin’s northern suburbs.


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Birth of Billy Simpson, Northern Irish Footballer

William Joseph Simpson, a Northern Ireland international footballer, is born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on December 12, 1929. During his fifteen year playing career he plays for Linfield, Rangers, Stirling Albion, Partick Thistle and Oxford United.

Simpson signs for Rangers from Linfield for a sum of £11,500 in 1950. He spends nine years (1950–59) at Rangers making 239 appearances and scoring 163 goals. He wins three championship medals and a Scottish Cup winners medal with Rangers to add to the two Northern Ireland Football League and two Irish Cups he wins with Linfield. He leaves Ibrox Stadium in 1959 and spends the last couple of years of his career with Stirling Albion, Partick Thistle and (then non-league) Oxford United.

As an illustration of his popularity, in the fictional song “A Trip to Ibrox,” Simpson is credited with scoring twice in a “Ne’erday” Old Firm Derby at Ibrox. Whereby Rangers are 1-0 down at halftime, and Simpson inspires his team to a second half comeback after Willie Waddell has scored an equaliser.

In recognition of his service to that club, Simpson is made a member of the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame.

Simpson makes his debut for Northern Ireland in 1951 against Wales, scoring in the process. He represents his country twelve times in total between 1951 and 1958, scoring five goals. He is selected in Northern Ireland’s squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden but a late injury ensures he does not play at all during the finals.

In April 2015, the feature-length documentary Spirit of ’58 is screened as part of the Belfast Film Festival. It features Simpson prominently alongside the other surviving players (Billy Bingham, Peter McParland, Jimmy McIlroy and Harry Gregg) as it tells the story of Northern Ireland’s journey throughout the 1950s under the managership of Peter Doherty, culminating in the 1958 World Cup.

Simpson dies in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 27, 2017.


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Death of Danny Blanchflower, Northern Ireland Footballer

Robert Dennis “Danny” Blanchflower, former Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager, dies of pneumonia in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, England, on December 9, 1993.

Blanchflower is born on February 10, 1926, in the Bloomfield district of Belfast, the first of five children born to John and Selina Blanchflower. He is educated at Ravenscroft public elementary school and is awarded a scholarship to Belfast College of Technology. He leaves school early to become an apprentice electrician at Gallaher’s cigarette factory in Belfast. He also joins the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) and, in 1943, joins the Royal Air Force after lying about his age. By 1946, after a trainee navigator course at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and further training in Canada, he is back at Gallaher’s in Belfast and building a reputation as an outstanding footballer.

Blanchflower signs with Glentoran F.C. in 1946 before crossing the Irish Sea and signing with Barnsley F.C. for £6000 in 1949 at the age of 23. He transfers from Barnsley to Aston Villa F.C. for a fee of £15,000 and makes his First Division debut in March 1951. He makes 155 senior appearances for Villa before being bought by Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in 1954 for a fee of £30,000. During his ten years playing at White Hart Lane he makes 337 League appearances and 382 total appearances.

The highlight of Blanchflower’s time with the Spurs comes in the 1960–61 season, while serving as captain, the Spurs win their first 11 games and eventually win the league by 8 points. They beat Leicester City F.C. in the final of the FA Cup, becoming the first team in the 20th century to win the League and Cup double and a feat not achieved since Aston Villa in 1897.

In 1962, Blanchflower again captains the Spurs team to victory in the FA Cup in 1962, narrowly missing out on a second double when they finish a close third in the league behind Ipswich Town F.C. and Burnley F.C. In 1963, he captains the team to victory over Atlético Madrid in the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, making Spurs the first English team to win a European trophy.

Between 1949 and 1963, Blanchflower earns 56 caps for Northern Ireland, often playing alongside his brother Jackie until the younger Blanchflower’s playing career is cut short as a result of injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster of February 1958. In 1958, he captains his country when they reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup.

On December 4, 1957, Blanchflower captains the Northern Ireland team against Italy in Belfast in a bad tempered game that comes to be known as the “Battle of Belfast.” He attempts to keep the peace as the game turns nasty.

Blanchflower announces his retirement as a player on April 5, 1964, having played nearly 400 games in all competitions for the Spurs and captains them to four major trophies.

Following his retirement as a player, Blanchflower coachs for the Spurs for a number of years. Manager Bill Nicholson intends for Blanchflower to be his successor but, when Nicholson resigns in 1974, Blanchflower is passed over in favour of Terry Neill. He leaves the Spurs and becomes manager of Northern Ireland for a brief spell in 1978 before being appointed boss of Chelsea F.C. The team wins only three of fifteen games under his charge and he leaves the team in September 1979.

On May 1, 1990, Tottenham holds a testimonial match for Blanchflower at White Hart Lane, but at this point he is in the early stages of what is later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. He is eventually placed in a nursing home in Staines-upon-Thames where he dies as a result of pneumonia on December 9, 1993, at the age of 67.

Blanchflower’s hometown of Belfast has honoured him with an Ulster History Circle plaque, located at his childhood home at 49 Grace Avenue, recognising the late sportsman as one of the greatest players in the history of Tottenham Hotspur FC.


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Birth of Sportswriter Con Houlihan

Con Houlihan, Irish sportswriter, is born on December 6, 1925, in Castleisland, County Kerry. Despite only progressing to national journalism at the age of 46, he becomes “the greatest and the best-loved Irish sports journalist of all.”

Over a lengthy career, Houlihan covers many Irish and international sporting events, from Gaelic football and hurling finals, to soccer and rugby World Cups, the Olympic Games and numberless race meetings inside and outside Ireland.

Houlihan is a journalist with the Irish Press group writing for The Irish Press, Evening Press and sometimes The Sunday Press, until the group’s demise in 1995. He writes the “Tributaries” column and Evening Press back sports page “Con Houlihan” column.

Houlihan dies on the morning of August 4, 2012, in St. James’s Hospital in Dublin. Often considered one of Ireland’s finest writers, he leaves behind a legacy of immense sports journalism that spans over 60 years. A minute’s silence is observed in his memory ahead of Kerry GAA‘s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat to Donegal GAA at Croke Park the following day. His last column, in which he wishes Irish Olympic boxer Katie Taylor well, is published the day after his death. His funeral takes place on August 8, 2012.

Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, leads the tributes to Houlihan, describing him as a “most original writer, with a unique style based on his extensive knowledge of literature, politics, life and sport.” He adds, “He had that special quality and ability to identify with the passion, pain and celebration of Irish community life.”

A bronze bust of Houlihan is unveiled in his hometown of Castleisland in 2004. In 2011, another sculpture is erected outside The Palace bar in Dublin.


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Birth of John McAlery, Association Football Pioneer

John McCredy McAlery, an Irish association football pioneer, is born in Rathfriland, County Down, on November 29, 1848. His accomplishments include organizing the first ever properly organized football match in the history of Irish football in 1878, founding the first Irish football club in 1879, helping found the Irish Football Association in 1880, and wearing the captain‘s armband in Ireland‘s first ever international match in 1882. He is known as the “father of Irish association football.”

McAlery moves to Belfast to learn the drapery business and soon becomes very successful, opening the Irish Tweed House gentleman’s outfitters on Royal Avenue. A talented cricketer in his youth, his first involvement in the Belfast sport scene is helping in the formation of the Cliftonville Cricket Club in 1870, later serving as club treasurer. In 1878, during his honeymoon in Scotland, he witnesses his first ever association football match, and enjoys it so much he decides to introduce the sport back home.

The first match of organized association football on Irish soil is played on October 24, 1878, between Caledonian and Queen’s Park. McAlery invites the Scottish sides to play in the exhibition match at the Ulster Cricket Ground in an attempt to showcase the game to the Belfast crowd. Queen’s Park achieves a 3–2 victory, and more importantly, the demonstration is well received by the locals.

On September 20, 1879, less than a year later, McAlery places an advertisement in both the News Letter and the Northern Whig soliciting for individuals interested in becoming members of the Cliftonville Association Football Club.

The newly formed Cliftonville F.C. side plays their first match just nine days later, losing 2–1 to a team of rugby players called Quidnunces. They achieve their first victory on November 1 with a 2–0 defeat of Knock F.C., a team of former lacrosse players.

On November 18, 1880, McAlery organizes a meeting at the Queen’s Hotel in Belfast between the seven Irish football clubs that have been established at the time: Alexander, Avoniel, Cliftonville, Lisburn Distillery, Knock, Moyola Park and Oldpark. These teams become the founding members of the Irish Football Association (IFA), with Lord Spencer Chichester serving as its president and McAlery as secretary. In an appendix to the minutes of the meeting, McAlery writes: “If the spirit which pervaded from those present be acted upon the result will be a strong Association for promoting the game which we have espoused.”

The meeting also provides for Ireland’s first official football competition, the Irish FA Cup. In the first Cup final of the inaugural competition, played on April 9, 1881, Cliftonville is defeated by Moyola Park. They suffer the same fate the following year, losing to Queen’s Island in the final of the 1881–82 edition. McAlery, who captains Cliftonville while playing at fullback, wins his first trophy on his third try, as his club defeats Ulster to win the 1882–83 Irish Cup.

McAlery does not play much after this, deciding to focus on his administrative role in Irish football. He referees international matches until 1887, and remains the Irish FA secretary until 1888.

McAlery captains Ireland’s first ever international match on February 18, 1882, playing at right back. On a “bittery cold” Belfast night with occasional rain and hail, Ireland loses to the far more experienced England team by a score of 13–0. A week later, he makes his second and final international appearance, captaining his team again as they lose 7–1 to Wales in Wrexham.

McAlery retires to Whitehead, County Antrim, where he dies on December 3, 1925.

In 2013, a blue plaque erected by the Ulster History Circle is unveiled at Solitude, Cliftonville’s home ground, to commemorate McAlery’s efforts.


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Birth of Willie Mullins, Racehorse Trainer & Former Jockey

William Peter Mullins, Irish racehorse trainer and former jockey, is born on September 15, 1956, in Goresbridge, County Kilkenny. He is a nineteen-time Irish National Hunt Champion trainer and is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, having saddled 113 winners as of 2025. He is the trainer of the 2024 Grand National winner “I Am Maximus” and 2025 Grand National winner “Nick Rockett.”

Mullins is born and raised around horses. His father, Paddy Mullins, is a horse trainer, and his mother, Maureen, is a successful breeder.

Although born in Goresbridge, Mullins is based at Closutton, Bagenalstown, County Carlow. He is educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea, an all-boys Catholic boarding school in County Offaly.

Mullins commences racehorse training in 1988, having previously worked as an assistant to his father and Jim Bolger. He is a former six-time amateur champion jockey in Ireland, winning the 1983 Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase on “Atha Cliath” at the Aintree Racecourse and the 1996 Champion Bumper on “Wither Or Which” at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Mullins is the trainer of the 2005 Grand National winner “Hedgehunter” and the 2011 and 2013 Champion Hurdle winner “Hurricane Fly.” He also trains “Vautour” in the 2016 Ryanair Chase. He is also trainer of the six-time David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle champion, “Quevega.” In the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, he trains eight winners, a joint record at the Cheltenham Festival which Gordon Elliott equals in 2018. He is the leading-most winning trainer at the Cheltenham Festival, becoming the first trainer to saddle 100 winners when “Jasmin De Vaux” wins the 2024 Champion Bumper. In 2022, he trains a new record of ten winners at the festival.

Mullins’ longlasting relationship with Gigginstown House Stud comes to an end on September 28, 2016. Despite this he is the Irish Champion trainer in the 2016/17 season.

Mullins wins both the 2005 Grand National with “Hedgehunter” and the 2019 Irish Grand National with “Burrows Saint,” each of which is ridden by Ruby Walsh. In the 2022/23 season he becomes Irish National Hunt Champion trainer for the 17th time.

Mullins wins the British jump racing Champion Trainer title in the 2023–24 season, becoming the first trainer based in Ireland to win the championship since Vincent O’Brien in 1954. He successfully defends his title in 2024-25, beating long-time leader Dan Skelton on the last afternoon of the National Hunt season.

Mullins son, Patrick, is an amateur jockey riding mainly in Ireland for his father and acting as assistant trainer to him. Patrick rides “Nick Rockett” to the 2025 Grand National title. Mullins’ wife, Jackie, is a successful amateur rider. With his wife, he is invited to ride in the King’s procession at Royal Ascot 2023.