Jack O'Reilly (born 7 May 1914, date of death unknown) 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 le ...

. He was born in

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...

. He joined

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 ...

in 1935 as an outside right. The following year he was a runner up in the

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 to

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 ...

. However shortly afterwards he became embroiled in controversy when it emerged that, together with Owen Madden, he had signed for Norwich City before playing in the cup final on 19 April. When Cork F.C., who received no fee, protested over the moves, both O'Reilly and Madden were suspended by the FAI for three years. Although he scored twice on his Norwich debut he was never a regular and returned to Cork in 1939 where he went on to win six League of Ireland championships and 2

s. Played in a total of 5 Cup Finals scoring seven times. Scored twice in the 1941 FAI Cup final. www.irishtimes.com
/ref> He won his two senior caps for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the space of a week in 1946. He scored on his debut on 16 June in a 3-1 defeat to Portugal and seven days later won his only other cap in a 1-0 win over Spain in Madrid. After retiring from the game, O'Reilly emigrated to Canada.

Honours

* League of Ireland: 6 ** Cork United 1940/41, 1941/42, 1942/43, 1944/45, 1945/46 **

Cork Athletic Cork Athletic Football Club was a former Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1948 and 1957. They were the successor club of Cork United. When United quit the league in October 1948, Cork Athletic was ...

1949/50 *

: 2 ** Cork United 1941, 1947

References

Sources

Details of Spain v Ireland 23/6/1946Details of Portugal v Ireland 16/6/1946
* The Complete Who's Who of Irish International Football, 1945-96 (1996):Stephen McGarrigle * The Boys In Green - The FAI International Story (1997): Sean Ryan {{DEFAULTSORT:Oreilly, Jack 1914 births Year of death missing Association footballers from County Cork Republic of Ireland association footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers League of Ireland players Cobh Ramblers F.C. players Cork F.C. players Cork United F.C. (1940–1948) players Cork Athletic F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Association football forwards