Cork City Football Club was an Irish association football club based in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. After replacing

Cork F.C. Cork Football Club was an Irish association football club based in Cork. They were founded as Fords F.C. and later became known as Fordsons F.C.. They played in the League of Ireland between 1924–25 and 1937–38. Like several fellow early L ...

, they played in the League of Ireland between

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

and

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

. The club folded in 1940 and were in turn replaced in the League of Ireland by a new club, Cork United.

History

Foundation

Shortly after

folded, an emergency meeting was held to form a new club. Two potential names were proposed – Cork Celtic and Cork City. During the 1920s both of these names had been used by teams playing in the Munster Senior League. A team named Cork City also finished as Munster Senior Cup runners up in 1924–25. Initially, however, the Cork F.C. name was retained as the new club were given permission to complete Cork F.C.'s fixtures from the

1937–38 League of Ireland The 1937–38 League of Ireland was the seventeenth season of the League of Ireland. Sligo Rovers were the defending champions. Shamrock Rovers won their fifth title. Overview Dolphin resigned from the League voluntarily, while Limerick were ele ...

season. They eventually finished second last in the league. New colours were also adopted – a strange combination of red, yellow and black hooped shirts.

1938–39

By 1938–39 the new club had settled on the Cork City F.C. name. The club also managed to recruit some professional players including Hugh Connolly, Willie Ross, Jim Foley, Jimmy Turnbull and Tom Davis. The club also enjoyed some moderate success. They reached the final of the

Dublin City Cup The Dublin City Cup is a defunct Irish football tournament which was played for by all League of Ireland sides (and not just those from Dublin city as the name suggests). It ran from 1933 and ran uninterrupted until 1973. In the 1975–76 se ...

. In the semi-final on 31 August 1938 they defeated

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

7–0, a result which remains Rovers' biggest ever defeat. However, in the final Cork City lost 6–0 to

St James's Gate St. James's Gate, located off the south quays of Dublin, on James's Street, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrimage from Dublin to Santiag ...

. They also won the 1938–39 Munster Senior Cup, defeating

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

4–0 in the final at The Mardyke with Turnbull scoring a hat-trick in the final.

1939–40

For the 1939–40 season Cork City managed to recruit two former

players, Owen Madden and Billy Millar, as well as two emerging players,

Jackie O'Driscoll John Francis O'Driscoll (20 September 1921 – 11 March 1988), commonly referred to as Jackie O'Driscoll, is a former Irish association football, footballer who played as a winger for several teams in the League of Ireland. He also played for ...

and Billy O'Neill. However it later emerged that Billy Millar had signed for Cork City while he was still technically contracted to Shelbourne and the club were subsequently fined by the Football Association of Ireland. Like

a few seasons earlier, Cork City began to struggle to raise travel costs for away games in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and the fine received over Millar did not help. Then on 21 January, Cork City played Shelbourne and were unable to pay the visitors their 20% share of the gate money. On Sunday, 28 January 1940 at The Mardyke, Cork City played what transpired to be the last match in its short history. City defeated

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 ...

2–1 with O’Neill scoring both goals. Under threat of suspension from the league, Cork City were dissolved on 13 February 1940. However history repeated itself and a new club, Cork United, was immediately formed and they were given permission to complete Cork City's league fixtures.

Notable former players

Dual Ireland internationals

* Tom Davis * Owen Madden *

Ireland (FAI) internationals

Ireland (IFA) internationals

* Billy Millar Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
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Goalscorers

* Billy O'Neill (8) – 1938–39 * Jimmy Turnbull (8) – 1938–39; scored hat-trick in Munster Senior Cup final.

Honours

* Munster Senior Cup **''Winners'': 1938–39 *

**''Runners-up'': 1938–39

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cork City F.C. (1938-1940) Association football clubs in County Cork Defunct League of Ireland clubs Association football clubs disestablished in 1940 1940 disestablishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1938 1938 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs in Cork (city)