Jimmy McKnight (2 May 1892 – 16 March 1920) 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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

McKnight was a prolific goalscorer for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

's Second XI, including scoring against the first team to seal victory in the

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

semi-final in March 1909 and would go on to score all three goals in the final against Cliftonville . As a more regular first team player in the 1909–10 season, McKnight scored 16 goals in 22 matches, the following season continuing to be part of the Glentoran side who won the League title as well as the

City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was contested ...

and the County Antrim Shield. After scoring 23 goals in 23 games by March 1912, McKnight moved to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

for a fee of £1,100, scoring his only two goals for the club in successive matches against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and Sheffield United . Following Preston's relegation, McKnight returned to Ireland in October 1912, helping Glentoran to win the title, before returning to England with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in May 1913. This spell was not a success, with McKnight failing to score in 9 appearances, although he did score in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

against

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

. McKnight again returned to Ireland, joining

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was a football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for polit ...

and helping his side to the league title and a runners up spot in 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 the 1914–15 season. A final honour came in 1916, whilst playing for

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

, with the 1916

Belfast Charity Cup The Belfast Charity Cup was a football competition which ran from 1883 to 1941, and was based on a similar tournament in Scotland, the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open ...

, with McKnight continuing to play for Distillery in the War-time League. In 1918 he joined Intermediate side Willowfield. Across both his spells at Glentoran, McKnight scored 72 goals in 99 games in all competitions.

International career

McKnight made two appearances for the

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 ...

national side, scoring in both his appearances against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the 1911–12 and 1912–13

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

Lifesaving Award

During his spell with Nottingham Forest, McKnight was awarded a certificate of lifesaving by the

Royal Humane Society The Royal Humane Society is a British charity which promotes lifesaving intervention. It was founded in England in 1774 as the ''Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned'', for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of near dro ...

Leeds Mercury, Wednesday, October 14, 1913 after saving a boy from drowning in Ardlass Harbour whilst on holiday.

Death

McKnight died at the age of 27 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, James Irish association footballers (before 1923) NIFL Premiership players Men's association football forwards Northern Ireland men's amateur international footballers Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers 1892 births 1920 deaths Nottingham Forest F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Deaths from pneumonia in the United Kingdom Glentoran F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Belfast Celtic F.C. players Willowfield F.C. players