James Quinn (8 July 1878 – 21 November 1945) was a Scottish footballer who played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

for 15 years, becoming one of the club's leading goalscorers of all time. He also represented Scotland.

Career

Club

A native of the village of Croy, North Lanarkshire and signed for Celtic aged 22 by Willie Maley from junior club Smithston Albion in 1900, Quinn took several seasons to make his mark, playing at outside-left then inside-left before being moved to centre. Like so many players of the time and since, he was a coal miner. A man who was strong and powerful in stature but shy and unassuming in character, the foundations of Quinn's enduring fame were laid with a hat-trick in the 1902

British League Cup The British League Cup was a football competition that was set up in April 1902 to raise money for the disaster at Ibrox Stadium, in which 25 people were killed and 517 injured at an international match between Scotland and England at the start of ...

final against Old Firm rivals

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, and cemented in the

1904 Scottish Cup Final The 1903–04 Scottish Cup was the 31st season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The cup was won by Celtic when they beat holders Rangers 3–2 in the final at the newly built Hampden Park to claim the trophy for a fo ...

against the same opposition. At half-time Rangers led by two goals to nil. In the second half, however, Celtic came back to win 3–2, Quinn scoring all the goals. This was the second hat-trick in a Scottish Cup Final; it was 68 years before the feat was repeated by Dixie Deans in Celtic's 6–1 defeat of Hibs in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. That cup final hat-trick was the first a Celtic player scored against Rangers in a major competition, and Quinn also scored the second, in a 3–0 league victory on

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1912. He was the only player from either side to have twice scored a hat-trick in an Old Firm match until Ally McCoist emulated him in the 1980s. Celtic team 1908

Quinn won six successive championship and five Scottish Cup medals with Celtic as the focal point of a forward line which became well known across the country:

Bennett Bennett may refer to: People *Bennett (name), including a list of people with the surname and given name Places Canada * Bennett, Alberta *Bennett, British Columbia * Bennett Lake, in the British Columbia and Yukon Territory **Bennett Range **Benn ...

, McMenemy, Quinn, Somers and Hamilton. He scored 218 goals in 331 appearances in the two major competitions – 188 in the League (273 appearances including a playoff in 1905) and 30 in the Scottish Cup from 58 appearances, eight of them in finals (1904, 1908, 1909, and 1911), plus dozens more in various minor tournaments. His strike rate of 0.65 – almost two goals every three games – is surpassed among Celtic goalscorers only by Jimmy McGrory,

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...

and

Sandy McMahon Alexander McMahon (16 October 1870 – 25 January 1916) was a Scottish footballer who spent most of his career with Celtic. Career Born in Selkirk, McMahon started his career with Woodburn F.C. then Darlington St Augustine's before relocating ...

. As a scorer of league goals, his total of 187 is behind McGrory alone. Quinn was the first Celtic player to score 200 goals for the club, and only four others have done so—McGrory, Bobby Lennox (273), Larsson (242), and

Stevie Chalmers Thomas Stephen Chalmers (26 December 1935 – 29 April 2019) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward and spent the majority of his career with Celtic. He is the club's fifth-highest goalscorer with 236 goals and is consid ...

(228). Ninety years after his retirement, he remains the club's fifth highest goalscorer. He received a benefit match in 1926, in which Celtic played against a Scottish League team, ending in a 3–3 draw. His grandson of the same name also played for Celtic.

International

Quinn scored seven goals in 11 appearances for Scotland including four out of five goals against Ireland in 1908, and eight in as many games for the Scottish League XI.

Honours

* Scottish League (6):

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1909–10 * Scottish Cup: (5)

1903–04 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 1907–08, 1910–11, 1911–12 **Finalist: 1908–09 *

: 1901–02 * Glasgow Cup: 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1909–10

Notes

References

;Sources *''Factfile - Celtic'' ed Chris Mason, pub Parragon 1998 *David Potter, ''The Mighty Quinn: Jimmy Quinn, Celtic's First Goal Scoring Hero'' (Tempus, 2005)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Jimmy 1878 births 1945 deaths Scottish footballers Footballers from North Lanarkshire Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish Junior Football Association players Association football forwards Celtic F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish miners Scottish league football top scorers People from Croy