David Joseph Walsh (28 April 1923 – 14 March 2016), commonly referred to as Davy Walsh or Dave Walsh, was an 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 ...

who played as a centre forward for, among others, Linfield,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and Aston Villa. Walsh was a dual international and played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. In 1949, he was a member of the FAI XI that defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

2–0 at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

, becoming the first team to beat England at home. Walsh was a player with an eye for goal. Nimble and decisive in front of goal, he had the knack for being in the right place at the right time. After retiring as a player Walsh owned a sports shop / general store in

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The ...

and later ran holiday homes in

Thurlestone Thurlestone is a village west of Kingsbridge in the South Hams district in south Devon, England. There is an electoral ward in the same name. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,886. The village takes its name ...

and

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

in Devon. In June 2003, Walsh and such other notable

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

footballers as Paddy Coad,

Alfie Hale Alfred "Alfie" Hale (born 28 August 1939 in Waterford, Republic of Ireland) is a former Irish footballer and manager who played for several clubs in both the League of Ireland and the English League, most notably, Waterford, Aston Villa, Doncas ...

, Peter Thomas,

Jim Beglin James Martin Beglin (born 29 July 1963) is an Irish former professional footballer and current co-commentator for RTÉ, CBS Sports, BT Sport, and Premier League Productions. Playing career Shamrock Rovers Beglin played schoolboy football ...

and

John O'Shea John Francis O'Shea (; born 30 April 1981) is an Irish professional football coach and former player. He was known for his versatility in playing several positions on either side of the pitch or the centre. Born in Waterford, O'Shea joined Man ...

, was honoured by the city council and presented with

Waterford Crystal Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or "crystal", especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the ...

vase. He died in 2016.

Playing career

Irish Leagues

Walsh began his career playing youth football in

before joining

Limerick United Limerick Football Club ( ga, Club Peile Luimnigh) was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick ...

in 1942 making his debut on 4 October scoring twice against St James's Gate F.C. in the

League of Ireland Shield The League of Ireland Shield ( ga, Sciath Sraithe na hÉireann) is a defunct Irish football tournament which was introduced when the League of Ireland started in 1921 and ran uninterrupted until 1972. It was played before the league season began ...

. Despite Limerick finishing second from bottom in the competition Walsh scored 6 goals. At the end of a very successful goalscoring 1942–43 League of Ireland season he was loaned to Shelbourne for their Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup ties. In 1943 he moved north of the border and joined Irish League side Linfield. Walsh scored 122 goals in Ireland, including 73 during the 1945–46 season for Linfield. While at Linfield he helped them win the

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 ...

in 1945 and a Northern Regional League /

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in 1946.''Who's Who Of Aston Villa'' (2004): Tony Matthews
/ref> His teammates at Linfield included, among others Tommy Breen,

Sammy McCrory Samuel McKee McCrory (11 October 1924 – 4 May 2011) was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, most notably spending five years with Southend United and scoring the first goal at their Roots Hall stadium. Club career McCrory was bo ...

and guest player

Billy Liddell William Beveridge Liddell (10 January 1922 – 3 July 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 ap ...

. On 8 June 1947, together with Jackie Vernon, Walsh returned to Ireland to play as a guest for Shamrock Rovers in a friendly against Everton.

English League

In May 1946, Walsh joined

for a fee of £3,500 and subsequently made a terrific start to his English League career by scoring in each of his first six games. He continued to score regularly for WBA and, together with Reg Ryan and Jackie Vernon, he was a key figure when they gained promotion in 1949. He went on to score 100 goals for WBA before moving to Aston Villa for a fee of £25,000 in December 1950. He made 114 appearances and scored 40 goals for Villa, averaging a goal every three games, before moving onto

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

in July 1955. After one season there he joined

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

where he retired as a player in May 1957.

Irish international

When Walsh began his international career in 1946 there were, in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland-based

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

-based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including Walsh, played for both teams.

IFA XI

Between 1946 and 1950, Walsh made 11 appearances and scored seven goals for the IFA XI. These include two

Victory international The term Victory International or Victory Internationals refers to two series of international football matches played by the national football teams of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at the end of both the First and Second World Wars. The ...

s played in early 1946. On 2 February, at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual renta ...

he made his debut for the IFA XI in a 3–2 defeat to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, scoring both of his team's goals. Then, on 4 May, he helped the IFA XI defeat

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

1–0 at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...

. On 27 November 1946, he played for the IFA XI a 0–0 draw with Scotland. Together with

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953 ...

Con Martin Cornelius Joseph Martin (20 March 1923 – 24 February 2013) was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among oth ...

, Bill Gorman,

Tommy Eglington Thomas Joseph Eglington (15 January 1923 – 18 February 2004) was an Irish footballer who played as an outside-left for, among others, Shamrock Rovers, Everton and Tranmere Rovers. Eglington was also a dual internationalist and played for bo ...

, Alex Stevenson and Peter Farrell, he was one of seven players born in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

to play for the IFA XI that day. The draw helped the team finish as runners-up in the

1947 British Home Championship It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. Walsh also helped the IFA XI gain some further respectable results, including a 2–0 win against

on 4 October 1947 and a 2–2 draw with

on 5 November 1947. It was at Goodison that Walsh scored his third goal for the IFA XI, in a game he was later to describe as the highlight of his footballing career. Walsh also scored both goals for the IFA XI on 9 October 1948 in a 6–2 defeat to England at

. He then scored twice in the first five minutes at Hampden Park against Scotland on 17 November 1948. However Walsh's goals could not prevent Scotland eventually winning 3–2. Despite both games ending in defeat, these four goals saw Walsh finish as top goalscorer during the

1949 British Home Championship Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Lu ...

. Walsh made his last appearance for the IFA XI in a 0–0 draw with Wales on 8 March 1950. As well as being part of the

1950 British Home Championship Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe cond ...

, the game also doubled up as a qualifier for the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. Walsh, together with

, Reg Ryan and

Tom Aherne Thomas Aherne (26 January 1919 – 30 December 1999), also referred to as Bud Aherne, was an Irish footballer and hurler. He played football for Belfast Celtic and Luton Town and was a dual internationalist, playing for both Ireland teams � ...

, was one of four players from the Republic, included in the IFA XI that day and as a result he played for two different associations in the same

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

tournament. This situation eventually led to intervention by FIFA and as a result Walsh became one of the last four Republic-born players to play for the IFA XI.''The Boys In Green – The FAI International Story'' (1997): Sean Ryan
/ref>

FAI XI

Between 1946 and 1953, Walsh made 20 appearances and scored five goals for the FAI XI, making his debut for the team in a 3–1 defeat to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

on 16 June 1946. On 2 March 1947, Walsh scored twice against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, helping the FAI XI to 3–2 win. Both of his goals that day were set up by a fellow

footballer, Paddy Coad. On 2 June 1949, he scored his third goal in a 3–1 defeat to Sweden, during a qualifier for the

. Then, on 21 September 1949, together with

and Peter Farrell, he was a member of the FAI XI that defeated

2–0 at

, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home. He scored his fourth goal on 26 November 1950 against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in a 2–2 draw. He scored his last goal for the FAI XI against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on 4 October 1953 and made his last appearance on 25 November 1953 in a 1–0 defeat against the same team. Both of these games were qualifiers for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

. Ireland (FAI) stats
/ref>

Honours

Linfield *

**''Winners'' 1945, 1946 2 **''Runners-up'' 1944: 1 * Northern Regional League **''Winners'' 1944–45, 1945–46: 2 West Bromwich Albion *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

**''Runners-up'' 1948–49: 1 Ireland * British Home Championship **''Runners-up'' 1946–47: 1

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Davy Sportspeople from Waterford (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers Dual Irish international footballers Pre-1950 IFA international footballers Limerick F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Linfield F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players Shamrock Rovers F.C. guest players 2016 deaths 1923 births Association footballers from County Waterford Irish League representative players Association football forwards Ireland (IFA) wartime international footballers