31st January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

30th January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

29th January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

28th January – Today In Our Footballing History

28/01/1911 Belfast Wales 1-2 Billy Halligan

Billy Scott, Sam Burnison, Paddy Thunder, Val Harris, Jimmy Connor, Harry Hampton, William Renneville, Billy Lacey, Billy Halligan, James Macauley, Frank Thompson

When Wales won in Belfast against Ireland (2:1) on 28th January 1911, full-back Thomas John Hewitt (26.4.1889-12.12.1980) made his full international debut on the Welsh side. He played at first for Sandycroft -, where he also studied (engineering) -, Connahs Quay United and Saltney, then joined Wrexham AFC in 1910. Just one year later he went to England, but in London he was less lucky. During his time at Chelsea FC (1911-1913) he seriously injured himself many times and in the 1913/14 season broke his arm while playing for South Liverpool. Later he played for Swansea Town till 1920. He had played eight full “A” internationals for Wales till 1914.

Source: iffhs.de

Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats

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27th January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

26th January – Today In Our Footballing History

26/01/1884 Belfast Scotland 0-5

Bob Hunter, Matt Wilson, Billy Crone, John Hastings, Thomas Molyneux, Alex Dill, Edward Spiller, Johnny Gibb, William Morrow, Jack Davison, Arthur Gaussen

26 January 1884 – Great Scots

On 26 January 1884, Ireland hosted the very first British Home Championship match, losing 0-5 to eventual winners Scotland.

The previous year, the football associations of the four British Home Nations–England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales–agreed to formalize their regular internationals in an annual tournament. They decided that each of the four members would play single matches against the other three, earning two points for a win and one point for a draw, with the champions being the team with the most points at the end.

The format for the new tournament called for Ireland to play their three matches first, so they welcomed Scotland to Ballynafeigh Park in Belfast for the inaugural match. It wasn’t much of a contest, as the Scots rolled to victory with a goal from John Goudie and two each from James Gossland and William Harrower (despite the performance, it was Gossland’s only cap for Scotland).

Ireland followed the match with further losses to Wales (6-0) and England (1-8), while Scotland proceeded to win both of their remaining matches (1-0 over England and 4-1 over Wales) to claim the first BHC title. It was the first of four consecutive titles for Scotland, who won the British Home Championship a total of 41 times before the competition came to an end in 1984.

Author: Brian Seal

Source: tdifh.blogspot.co.uk

The Glasgow Herald Match Report

Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats

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25th January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

24th January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

23rd January – Today In Our Footballing History

NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE YET TO PLAY A MATCH ON THIS DATE

22nd January – Today In Our Footballing History

22/01/1997 Palermo Italy 0-2

Tommy Wright, Danny Griffin, Nigel Worthington, Gerry Taggart, Barry Hunter, Steve Morrow, Jon McCarthy (Robbie Dennison), Steve Lomas, Kevin Horlock, Michael Hughes (Keith Rowland), James Quinn (George O’Boyle)

Zola scored in the eighth minute, dribbling around goalkeeper Tommy Wright and scoring from an extreme angle. Del Piero, who came in for Zola in the 63rd minute, scored with two minutes to go off a free kick.

It’s the catch 22 situation. Do we play defensive on a damage limitation exercise following Tommy Wright’s 9th minute blooper and try and hit them on the break or go on an all out attack and get stuffed 6-0? I’d favour the first one and try and catch them on the break as Quinn almost did. We were too defensive and when we did go forward, especially later in the first half when we had possession a plenty we had no-one in front of the ball. I was shouting as much as Bryan Hamilton was but against Italy this was understandable.

It was a pity Del Piero scored at the death as 1-0 would have been a very respectable score for the way we played. Quinn on his own and Worthington and Griffin trying to snuff out Zola. We did have the ball in the net but Hughes was at least five yards off side. When Quinn almost scored in the second half, Peruzzi pulled off a wonder save, I was going mental.

Defensively a good performance, we didn’t really do a lot else really and credit to big Gerry Taggart for mixing it with the Italians. Next time if we’ve got a chance to open the opposition, do it, rather than looking backwards.

Author: Shaun (with an h) Schofield

Source: ourweecountry.co.uk

Del Piero seals Italian victory

Source: http://nifootball.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/452-22-january-1997.html

Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats

footballdatabase.eu