In days gone by, League of Ireland often threw together some great local derbies, Shelbourne and Rovers would be a big one. In our young days in Whelan House (the first flats in Ringsend) we were divided as to who we followed, Shels or Rovers? We would always make our way to Milltown or Shelbourne Park (the present greyhound stadium) for these local derbies.
This brings me to the game that took place recently, the final of the Leinster Senior Cup. It brought together St. Pat’s CY and Shamrock Rovers. St. Pat’s are from the heart of Ringsend and Rovers, although now based in Tallaght, will always be a Ringsend Team. This game was as local as it gets.
St. Pat’s CY over the years have had some great success as a junior team but in this cup, on their way they eliminated two Airtricity teams Bray Wanderers and UCD to get to the final, a great achievement.
When living and growing up in Whelan House two families living there at the time were the Floods and Fulhams. The fathers were part of a famous Rovers team that had four forwards playing for them whose surnames started with the letter F – Flood, Fulham, Fagan and Farrell.
Another great name who played for Rovers was Jimmy Dunne. Jimmy made his debut for Rovers around 1923 and played on Rovers reserves. Rovers had a great centre forward, Billy Farrell from Bray who kept Jimmy out of the first team. Soon after, Jimmy was snapped up by English third division side New Brighton. Here Jimmy was an instant success, scoring goals in league and cup and he soon moved to Sheffield United, playing in the reserves until he made his mark by scoring 36 goals in 39 games in the first division of the English football league.
Most of us from Whelan House were Shelbourne supporters and nowadays I still follow League of Ireland football, now known as the Airtricity League. My favourite ground is Bray Wanderers and meeting up with some Bray fans; the two Annes, Sean, his daughter, and Dave his brother. One of the Annes is Noel Walsh’s wife. Noel is also a great Bray skiff club man whose health is holding him back at this time, so I wish Noel a speedy recovery.
St. Pat’s CY played a tight game with Rovers, who clinched the win with a goal from Greene. Congrats to Shamrock Rovers for winning the Leinster Senior Cup for the first time since 1997.
A statuette of Bob Fullam, pictured left, saying ‘Give it to Bob’ was presented to him back in the day. If there was a penalty, the crowd would shout ‘Give it to Bob’. If the statuette is still in Ringsend please let us know.
By Jimmy Purdy
