Donal Leahy (31 August 1938 – 31 December 2015) was an Irish footballer. Leahy started his career as a wing-half playing with his home town club

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

and on 15 September 1956 scored on his debut in a 3–1

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 ...

defeat to Shamrock Rovers at

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developers ...

. He came to Evergreen's notice after starring for Munster Youths against West Germany Youths at The Mardyke in May 1956. Leahy turned down Aston Villa and Blackburn in 1957 to remain in Cork. Manager

Tommy Moroney Tommy Moroney (10 November 1923 – 2 May 1981) was an Irish soccer and rugby union player. Moroney played soccer for Cork United, West Ham United, Evergreen United and Ireland. In 1949 he was a member of the Ireland team that defeated Englan ...

switched him to a striking role which proved to be an inspired move as he was top scorer in the League of Ireland three seasons running from the 1956-57 League of Ireland season to the 1958-59 League of Ireland season. Leahy scored on his Inter-League debut against the

Irish League XI The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 t ...

in March 1957. His prolific scoring rate in his debut season impressed the international selectors enough to place him on standby for the

1958 FIFA World Cup qualification A total of 55 teams entered the 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Sweden as the hosts and West Germany, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open ...

tie against

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

on 19 May 1957. Little did he know that the politics of the game dictated that he would never win that international honour. On 3 May 1959 Leahy scored the only goal of the game as Evergreen beat Shamrock Rovers in the

Top Four Cup The Top Four Cup was an association football super cup featuring the top four clubs in the League of Ireland. It was first held in 1955–56 and last played for in 1973–74. It was played at the end of the season. Shamrock Rovers were the in ...

Final at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

to earn his first senior medal. On 5 October 1960 he scored the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

's only goal in a heavy defeat to the Scottish League, an overhead kick, in front of 23,000 fans at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. On 21 January 1962 he scored five goals in Cork Celtic's 8–2 win over St. Patrick's Athletic at

Richmond Park (football ground) Richmond Park is a football stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Situated in the Dublin suburb of Inchicore, it is the home ground of League of Ireland side St Patrick's Athletic F.C. (also known as St Pat's). The area where the ground now stands was ...

. In the 1964

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

Final Leahy scored the equaliser against Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park but Celtic lost the replay. After this season disc trouble made it difficult to maintain the sharpness needed for a striking role. He enjoyed the 1964-65 League of Ireland season in midfield but it didn't stop him becoming the first Cork player to score in European competition at

PFC Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground ...

in the

1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1964–65 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by West Ham United in a final at Wembley Stadium against 1860 Munich. West Ham's Bobby Moore captained a side that also included Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters ju ...

. In February 1967 Leahy requested a transfer saying he was anxious for a change of club He also played fullback in the 1967-68 League of Ireland season, the only one of his 14 seasons in which he failed to score in the League of Ireland. The following season, he took charge of Celtic's reserve team, gradually phasing himself out of first team football but he was first choice again by the time the Cup came around and helped the club reach the 1969

Final. However, he stayed on until December 1969 when he resigned to play non league with Tramore Athletic. Then Limerick persuaded him back into the LOI where he scored on his debut at the Markets Field He retired with back problems at the end of the 1969-70 League of Ireland season. During his time at his home town club he played in every position. Leahy came out of retirement to score the winner in Billy Lord's testimonial in May 1976 at Milltown. In March 1995 Donal Leahy was inducted into the National League Legends roll of honour at a function in Dublin. When Pat Morley broke his cork record of 162 League of Ireland goals in November 1999 Leahy was there to congratulate him. At the end of the

2013 League of Ireland The 2013 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 29th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. St. Patrick's Athletic were champions, winning their eighth top level League of Ireland title. Dundalk f ...

season Leahy is joint fifth in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 162 league goals

Statistics

Inter League goals

List of League goals

1956/57 – 15 for Evergreen (Joint top league goalscorer) , - 1957/58 – 16 for Evergreen (Top league goalscorer) , - 1958/59 – 22 for Evergreen (Top league goalscorer) , - 1959/60 – 20 for Cork Celtic , - 1960/61 – 21 for Cork Celtic , - 1961/62 – 18 for Cork Celtic , - 1962/63 – 7 for Cork Celtic , - 1963/64 – 16 for Cork Celtic , - 1964/65 – 5 for Cork Celtic , - 1965/66 – 8 for Cork Celtic , - 1966/67 – 5 for Cork Celtic , - 1967/68 – 0 for Cork Celtic , - 1968/69 – 5 for Cork Celtic , - 1969/70 – 4 for Limerick

Honours

Cork Celtic Cork Celtic F.C., originally Evergreen United F.C., was an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1951 and 1979 and played their home games at Turners Cross. In 1974, they were League of Ireland champion ...

– 1960–61 *

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 ...

– 1961–62 *

: 3 **

– 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60 * Munster Senior Cups: 3 **

– 1960, 1962, 1964

References

Sources

*''The Book of Irish Goalscorers'' by Seán Ryan & Stephen Burke 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leahy, Donal 2015 deaths 1938 births Association footballers from Cork (city) League of Ireland players Cork Celtic F.C. players Limerick F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Association football forwards Republic of Ireland association footballers