Bernard Michael "Benny" Gaughran (29 September 1915 – 20 September 1977) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

soccer player during the 1930s. Gaughran won the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

title with

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

in 1935–36. Gaughran later went on to play professionally for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Sunderland,

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Playing career

Early career

When Gaughran was young, he played Gaelic football for St. Laurence O'Tooles and subsequently took up

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

with O'Connell Schools,''Glasgow Celtic Grab Gaughran'', Irish Press, 16 November 1936 where he had great possibilities as a full back.''Gaughran Gone to Glasgow: Celtic Club'', Irish Independent, 16 November 1936 Gaughran's main sport was

until he was 18, when he played his first game of

Association Football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. While with O'Connell Schools, he played for Leinster against Connacht in a schools' junior interprovincial. He later joined Clontarf, where he played a few games for them. Before his time with the Bohemians, he played six matches for a junior team in the Phoenix Park, scoring 36 goals for them. Charlie Harris, the Bohemians' trainer succeeded in inducing him to take up Association Football. Gaughran believed that his rugby training gave him a good grounding for soccer and that "if one could kick an oval ball accurately there should be no great difficulty in learning how to control a round one." After a few games with Bohemians' Leinster League team, he made his debut for their Free State team against Waterford at Kilcohan Park and very soon attracted the attention of a number of cross-channel clubs. His Bohemian teammates included

Harry Cannon Henry James Cannon (11 July 1897 – 16 March 1944) was an Irish football player during the 1920s and 1930s. Bohemians Cannon was a goalkeeper during this era in the League of Ireland and spent most of his career with Bohemians. He captained ...

Plev Ellis Plevna Ellis was an Irish association footballer who played as a forward during the 1930s. Ellis was a part of the Bohemians amateur team of the 1930s. He won seven full international caps for Ireland, making his debut against Switzerland in M ...

Fred Horlacher Fred Horlacher (March 1910 – 17 March 1943) was an Irish footballer who played for Bohemians in the League of Ireland during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. As an international, Horlacher represented both Ireland teams. He played as a senior for ...

and

Billy Jordan Billy Jordan was an Irish association football player during the 1930s. Club career Jordan began his footballing life at St Francis who played in the St Dominic's Boys Sodality League. He joined Bohs from Villa Rangers in 1928/29. Jordan was a ...

that season, and Gaughran was the top scorer with 15 goals in 21 league games. In his 39 appearances that season in all competitions, he netted 32 times. In 1936, Gaughran was part of the team who broke a record by winning the fifth league title of the free State League Championship by defeating Cork 4–1. Gaughran scored the third and fourth goals of the game.''Bohemians In Sight of F.S. League Honours'', Irish, Independent, 10 April 1936 Arsenal were very keen to sign him towards the close of the 1935–36 season, and sent their chief scout to sign him, but were unsuccessful.

Interest from UK clubs

At the start of the 1936–37 season, there was interest in Gaughran from several UK football clubs, including Arsenal,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

,''Four Clubs Want Him: Gaughran Should Await Biggest Offer'', Irish Independent, 11 November 1936

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and Manchester United. Scouts from Manchester United arrived to vet Gaughran, and were satisfied enough to make arrangements to sign him. Louis Rocca, United's Chief Scout, travelled to Bray in November 1936 to complete the deal. Rocca was disappointed to arrive in Dublin only to discover that Glasgow Celtic's representative, Johnny Paton, had stepped in and topped United's offer, bringing Benny Gaughran to Glasgow after tentative terms were agreed.''United Fight for Dear Life: Celtic Grab Gaughran - but Manchester Grab Carey'', Evening Herald, 18 June 1968 In fact, Celtic were watching Gaughran's progress for 13 months and when news began to filter through of other clubs' interest, Celtic acted promptly.''Celtic’s Dash To Sign Irish Star: After Wait of 13 Months'', The Daily Mail, 26 November 1936

Career after Bohemians

Gaughran joined

in November 1936 as a centre-forward at 20 years of age.''Celts Had to Jump to It'', Weekly News, 21 November 1936 In June 1937, he moved to England to join

, where he stayed for five months before joining Sunderland in November. After six months with Sunderland, he moved on to join

and then returned to Ireland in 1939 to join

. At Southampton, Gaughran had seven league appearances and four goals, giving him an average strike rate of one goal every 1.75 games

Personal life

Education and work outside of sports

When he started his football career, he was a salesman. Later on in life, in the 1960s and 1970s, he worked as a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

Family

Bernard Gaughran was married with three children, two boys and a girl—Benny, Ken, and Laraine. His father, Bernard Gaughran, was a well known hurler for Meath. His brother Charlie played Gaelic football for Dublin and his brother John had a career in Gaelic football, rugby and soccer. His son, Benny Gaughran, was a Gaelic footballer and won an All-Ireland Club medal with UCD (Dublin), three Dublin Championship club medals (one with UCD and two with Civil Service), an inter-county National League medal (with Louth), an inter-Provincial Railway Cup medal (Leinster) and a Sigerson’s medal (as captain).

Honours

Bohemians *

champions: 1935–36

References

External links

Sunderland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaughran, Benny 1915 births Association footballers from County Dublin 1977 deaths League of Ireland players Bohemian F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Men's association football forwards Republic of Ireland men's association footballers