Ringsend based Cambridge Boys Football Club held a 30 year reunion for members of the 1981-82 cup double winning side.
Coming together as eight year olds the group played together for almost a decade. They won three school boy leagues and topped that achievement with the historic double of the SFAI Barry Cup and the under-16 Dick Neville Cup. A feat unrivalled by any Cambridge Boys team to this day.
Over a five year period the team won the 12C and 13B divisions and then went unbeaten in the 15A league. The best was to come in two cup finals against illustrious opponents Belvedere Boys and Home Farm.
On the run in to the All-Ireland SFAI Barry Cup Final, Cambridge Boys overcame five teams scoring 16 goals and conceding two. In the final they edged a narrow affair against Belvedere. A report from the Evening Herald in 1982 states that, ‘with just two minutes remaining Pat Kelch took a hand in proceedings……..sending the neatest of passes to the ever alert David Kealy who slotted the ball past the Belvedere keeper.’
The Dick Neville Cup final played at the CIE grounds at Inchicore saw Cambridge Boys beat Home Farm who ‘looked to be coasting to a deserved win.’ Only for Declan Gannon to take the contest into extra time before Paul Hughes struck the ‘decisive blow’ for the Ringsend outfit.
Pat Kelch was signed by Manchester United, he stayed for four years. Injury brought him back to Ireland where he won the league with St Pats. David ‘Dak’ Kealy went on to enjoy success with Bray Wanderers.
In the years after, then aged 18, some players signed for League of Ireland Clubs, others went on to Junior Football and some emigrated, thus ended a quite remarkable chapter in the history of Cambridge Boys Football Club.
The reunion took place at the Landsdowne Bar on the 2nd November.
By Rupert Heather
