Billy McAvoy was a Northern Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played in the Irish League as an inside-right with

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

in the 1960s and 1970s. McAvoy won one international cap for the Northern Ireland under-23 team. He also played for the Northern Ireland amateur team and earned one cap for the Irish League representative side. With Ards, McAvoy won two

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

s (1968–69 and 1973–74), as well as the

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

, Gold Cup,

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

and

Blaxnit Cup The Blaxnit Cup, is a defunct club football competition which featured teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland, in a similar format to the later Setanta Cup. It was inaugurated in 1967 as a cross-border competition between c ...

. In 1968–69 he was named

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

. For almost 50 years, McAvoy had been the last player to achieve the feat of scoring a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

in an Irish Cup final, having done so in Ards' 4–2 win over

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

in the 1969 final replay. This feat was not emulated until 2017, when

Andrew Waterworth Andrew Waterworth (born 11 April 1986) is a former footballer from Northern Ireland who is the interim manager of the Northern Ireland women's national team. Club career Hamilton Academical Waterworth joined Hamilton from Lisburn Distillery in ...

scored three against

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

in the 2017 Irish Cup final.

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
Association footballers from County Down Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players Ulster Footballers of the Year Ards F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Living people Men's association football inside forwards Year of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Newtownards {{NorthernIreland-footy-bio-stub