John Francis Doran MM (3 January 1896 – 7 January 1940) was a professional

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 three times for the Ireland national team. In club football, he scored 46 goals from 90 appearances in the Football League playing for Brighton & Hove Albion,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and Crewe Alexandra. He also played in the Southern League for Pontypridd,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, Norwich City, Brighton & Hove Albion (before their admission to the Football League) and Mid Rhondda United, in the Free State League for Shelbourne and Fordsons, and in the Midland League for Boston Town.

Life and career

Doran was born in Belfast in 1896. His family moved to England, and the young Doran was on the books of Southern League clubs New Brompton and Pontypridd and non-League club Newcastle Empire before signing for

in May 1914. He scored twice in his only appearance for that club in the Southern League before enlisting in the Army in September. Doran went on to serve in the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment – the so-called Footballers' Battalion – and was awarded the Military Medal. After the war, Doran had brief spells as a guest with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, before joining Southern League club Norwich City, under the management of his wartime commanding officer, Major Frank Buckley. By March 1920, he had scored 18 goals for Norwich, already enough to make him the club's top scorer for the season, when

Charlie Webb Charles Graham Webb (4 September 1886 – 13 June 1973) was an Irish association football player who represented his country once as an amateur and three times as a professional. He was employed by English club Brighton & Hove Albion for nearly ...

, manager of Buckley's former club Brighton & Hove Albion, persuaded him to move to the south coast. In the ten remaining games, Doran scored ten goals, a total that gave him the rare achievement of being the top scorer of two clubs in the same season. The following year, when Albion and the other Southern League teams were absorbed into the new Football League Third Division, Doran's goalscoring continued. He was the club's top scorer, with 22 goals, and he began the 1921–22 season with 16 of the first 17 goals scored by the team, including two hat-tricks and five goals in a 7–0 defeat of Northampton Town. Such goalscoring attracted attention from bigger clubs, and after finishing the season as Albion's top scorer for the third time, he signed for

of the First Division. Doran made only three appearances for Manchester City, scoring once, before the club attempted to convert him to centre half. He then moved back to the Third Division for a few months with Crewe Alexandra. Short spells followed with Mid Rhondda United in the Southern League. In 1924 he joined Free State League club Shelbourne. He scored the third goal as Shelbourne defeated

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

4–0 in the semifinal of the 1925 Free State Cup, and appeared on the losing side in the final. He also played for Fordsons in the Free State League before finishing his playing career with Boston Town in the Midland League. He then returned to Ireland where he coached Waterford United. After retiring from football, he became a publican in the north-east of England, and died in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

of the effects of tuberculosis, aged 44.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Jack 1896 births 1940 deaths Military personnel from Belfast Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football forwards Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Gillingham F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Mid Rhondda F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Cork F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players League of Ireland players Waterford F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Midland Football League players Middlesex Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Medal Brentford F.C. wartime guest players Newcastle United F.C. wartime guest players Boston Town F.C. (1920s) players Pontypridd F.C. players Men's association football wing halves Irish association football managers Tuberculosis deaths in England 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis