Waterford's best ever team (& one of the country's also)

kilkennycat2004

With the cup final weekend ahead & the Blue striving to recaapture past glories here's a litle piece on The end of a footballing era . THe side had won 6 league of ireland's in 8 seasons. However the cup was always the holy grail. Just 2 wins in 1937 & 1980. I have always found that even those not to bothered about football rememberred this team with affection.
Hopefully a third cup win this weekend.


A LEAGUE of Ireland championship twenty-eight years ago in 1973 signalled the end of a golden era in Waterford soccer. We couldn’t have known it at the time, but eight years of unparalleled success were about to draw to a close.

Those years had given Waterford a reputation that extended the length and breadth of the country and into Europe, and when the season ended we took it for granted there was more of the same ahead. Alas, it wasn’t to be.


Little did we know that as far as League titles at the top level were concerned, the next twenty-five would be barren years, and the achievements from 1966 onwards would become a dim and distant memory.


It was all so alive then, a vibrant throbbing scene that carried through from one season to another, taking with it success on a scale we never dared to imagine.


The events of 1973 represented a magnificent achievement, the climax of eight stunning years at the top. But strangely enough, that last victory of all fails to stir the imagination in the manner of earlier triumphs.


Not so the other years. 1966 is readily recalled as the fist title of all. 1968 will forever be the year of Manchester United in Lansdowne Road and Old Trafford. 1970 represented historic three titles in a row. 1972 gave us the Flower Lodge epic that clinched the championship at the expense of Cork Hibernians.


While it is not as easy to remember as some of the others, it still pinpointed a landmark achievement in the annals of Waterford football. In many ways it was one of the most exciting campaigns of all.


NECK AND NECK


Over the greater part of the course, Waterford went neck and neck with Finn Harps, brash newcomers to the League of Ireland. When it was all over, Harps in second place had acquired 41 points, a figure that in another season would have left them celebrating the championship.


That could not have been foreseen when the News Year opened in 1973. Waterford, who had never been out of the top three, had taken the lead in November, and while they were destined never to relinquish it, there was no way they could ever rest easy. Over much of the course Harps remained just a single point behind, and those were the days you got two points for a win and one for a draw.


The very first week of the New Near saw Waterford win 3-2 in Richmond Park against St. Patrick’s Athletic, with goals from Phil Buck, Dave Kirby and Gordon Parr, the cultured central defender who had replaced Jackie Morley at the heart of the Blues defence. On the same day, harps lost 2-0 in Flower Lodge against Cork Hibs, a result that inspired their legendary manager Patsy McGowen to fine his players £6 apiece “for not trying.” Johnny Matthews scored a vital goal in a 1-0 home win the same month over Athlone Town, and had his name taken the same day for talking back to John Carpenter, the noted referee whose name will always be associated with this era.


It was still Waterford first, Harps second, when Pietr Suski was welcomed to Waterford in February. The Polish player, who was pictured in the News & Star on his arrival together with the club’s manager, Shay Brennan and Michael O’Sullivan, a director, filled in for the injured Tommy McConville in the back row.


FAMILIAR CUP STORY


In February, Miah Dennehy was transferred from Cork Hibs to Notts Forest for a staggering £20,000, a huge figure at the time. Many years later, Cobh were to get only £5,000 more for the signature of Roy Keane.


Round about then the Cup provided a diversion, but after beating Wembley Rovers 3-1 in Kilcohan Park, a familiar story unfolded. Waterford went to Flower Lodge to meet Hibernians in the second round, and earned a highly creditable scoreless draw before an attendance that paid just under £3,000.


That represented an attendance in the region of 20,000, signalling once more the intense rivalry that existed between the two clubs. Almost inevitably, Waterford lost the replay 2-0 in Kilcohan. Nothing changed, so far as the Cup was concerned. For all their glorious achievements in the League, Waterford still hadn’t won a Cup since 1937.


But that is by the way, and while Waterford went to a waterlogged Turner’s Cross to beat Cork Celtic on the last day of February, the month of March opened on a vastly different note.


On the following week they crashed 3-0 to Shamrock Rovers in Kilcohan Park to suffer their heaviest home defeat in three years.


It could have been a disaster, were it not for the fact that on the same day, Cork Celtic surprisingly took a point from Finn Harps in Ballyboofey, while lowly Sligo Rovers created a sensation by defeating Cork Hibs 3-2 in Flower Lodge.


Five games remained, and Waterford won 1-0 in Tolka Park with a golden goal from Alfie Hale with just two minutes to spare.


“A SNUB TO PLAYERS”


On the following week Dundalk came to Kilcohan Park to be whacked 5-1 with Afie Hale recording a hat-trick and John O’Neill getting two more. That game was notable too for the fact that it was played before an attendance that paid a miserable £418.


Remember that the Waterford public was looking at a team chasing a League title that day, and by and large, they stayed at home. The Waterford News & Star called it “A direct snob to Waterford’s play-ers and their directors,” and went on to wonder whether Waterford’s greatest need just then was a couple of seasons in the wilderness.” “Just to whet our appetites, and to make us more appreciative of history in the making.” Had the writer but known it, the Blues were destined to spend many more than a couple of years in the wilderness.


There games remained, and Alfie Hale, so often the Waterford hero, rattled in both goals in a 2-0 home win over Limerick (receipts £402), to bring his total to six in three games at the most critical stage of the season.


Now there were two, and the fates had conspired to make this the hardest test of all, for Waterford were away to Finn Harps and home to Cork Hibernians. They had managed to draw three points clear, but that lead was all but wiped away in a mix of rain, hail, snow, sleet and sunshine in Ballyboofey, accompanied by a bitingly cold wind that could have come straight from the North Pole.


Alfie hale scored yet again, and Tommy McConville had another, but it was to no avail as Harps scored three to set the stage for a nail-biting climax on the last day of the season.


Finn Harps were now a single point behind, and on that Sunday they trvelled, 1,000 supporters with them to the Market Fields in Limerick, where they won 2-1.


While this was going on, Waterford was facing a Cork Hibernians side they had failed to beat in four previous meetings that season. This time the Waterford public responded, paying £1,540 to see a classic first half in which the Blues turned on some of their best football all season.


John O’Neill and Alfie Hale combined after 16 minutes for Johnny Matthews to send over a cross from the left wing that was finished in a crowded goal by Tony Macken. A minute from half-time, Hale was upended in the area by Noel O’Mahony, and just as he had done on an unforgettable day in Flower Lodge twelve months previously, Matthews stroked home the penalty.


It was enough to give Waterford a 2-0 win, and a sixth league championship.


Waterford scored more goals that season than any other team and conceded less. They used just seventeen players through their 26-game campaign, a striking contrast to some recent seasons, when Waterford United have called on twice that number. For what it’s worth, Waterford won the League with 14 players in 1968.


They had reason to be grateful again in 1973 for a superb season from Peter Thomas on goal. His likes have not been seen since in Irish football, and Waterford also enjoyed the consistency of two talented full-backs in Peter Bryan and Paul Morrissey.


Only two players took part in all 26 games, Bryan and Johnny Matthews. Peter Thomas missed one, as did Paddy Shortt and Gordon Parr. McConville missed two, while Tony Macken, Alfie Hale and John O’Neill were absent on three occasions. Paul Morrissey and Phil Buck missed four games.


As a natural result, all eleven players named here were all but ever present right through the season, giving the Waterford team a balance and a consistency in personnel that remains unrivalled since then.


The other players, with the number of games played were Dave Kirby (11), Pietr Suski (7), Tony Dunphy (4), Shay Brennan (3), Jimmy House (3) and Derek Chestnutt, who deputised once on goal for Peter Thomas, in a 4-1 away win over Drogheda.


Alfie Hale was Waterford’s leading scorer with 20 goals. Next in line came Johnny Matthews with 14. Phil Buck shot 10, and after him came Tommy McConville (7), John O’Neill (5), Dave Kirby (4), Tony Macken (3), Paddy Shortt (3), Gordon Parr (1) and one


o.g.


TRIBUTE


Let’s leave the last word to Dan Morrissey, Chairman, and John Crowley, Hon. Secretary of Finn Harps. After the final league game in Kilcohan Park they said, “Waterford have contributed more to the game in recent seasons than any other Irish club. They well deserved to win today and to take the title for the sixth time.”


(Most of this article taken from News & Star Monday, December 24, 2001 )

p.pete

from fai.ie

Both games are at Lansdowne Road this Sunday24th October.

Kick offs: Women’s Senior Cup Final UCD v Dundalk 1.45

FAI Carlsberg Cup Final Longford Town v Waterford United 4.45.

Good luck to Waterford

gimmick

4.45 KO? Thats a strange time to kick off a cup final.

Have Wafor sold many tickets? I know Longford will sell 8000-9000 like they did last year.

eirebhoy

I'd say Waterford will get a fair few travelling. Anyone know if the match is on Sky Sports this year? It was last year. G'wan the Waterford!

Big Ears

eirebhoy wrote:

I'd say Waterford will get a fair few travelling. Anyone know if the match is on Sky Sports this year? It was last year. G'wan the Waterford!

and the year before I beleive .(although I could be thinking of a different year)

p.pete

Wouldn't mind trying to get to the game - tickets aren't online at this stage and I won't be in the country til Saturday evening - so does anyone know if they'll be onsale outside?

Probably yes but if anyone hears they definitely won't be, please let me know.

Cheers

KevIRL

p.pete wrote:

Wouldn't mind trying to get to the game - tickets aren't online at this stage and I won't be in the country til Saturday evening - so does anyone know if they'll be onsale outside?

Probably yes but if anyone hears they definitely won't be, please let me know.

Cheers

The FAI will not take money at the gate on Sunday, however there *may* be a caravan outside selling tickets

kilkennycat2004

gimmick wrote:

4.45 KO? Thats a strange time to kick off a cup final.

Have Wafor sold many tickets? I know Longford will sell 8000-9000 like they did last year.

Ridiculous kick off time for 2 country teams.
Its at that time to allow RTE to also cover the International rules match at Croker.
If I wasn't staunch GAA I may well be asking why both games are not being played together .

p.pete

They should really have the match after 6pm to allow people watch the Premiership