Matt O'Mahoney (19 January 1913 – 1992) 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 for, among others,

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. O'Mahoney was a dual international and played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI.

Club career

Early years

Before establishing himself at

, O'Mahoney was something of an under achieving journeyman player. He had initially been on the books of several teams in the

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

area and had spent uninspiring spells at both

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 New Brighton before eventually making something of a breakthrough at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, where he made 12 league appearances. He then joined

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

but failed to make it into the first team. After a brief spell with Newport County, where he made 8 league appearances, he signed for

in May 1936.

Bristol Rovers

Between 1936 and 1939 O'Mahoney went onto make 101 English League appearances, scoring 6 goals, for

. He also made a further 4 appearances for Rovers 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 ...

. O'Mahoney also won all 7 of his international caps while playing for Rovers. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he returned to Rovers as a guest player and made 24 South West League appearances and scored 4 goals in the 1939–40 season. He also scored 1 Wartime cup goal for Rovers.

Ipswich Town

In July 1939 O'Mahoney signed for

. However within a few months the

broke out and Town did not enter any of the wartime regional leagues. After playing just 3 league games for the club he returned to

as a guest. During the 1940–41 season he also played 4 games for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in the Southern Regional Division and between 1942 and 1944 he guested regularly for Aberaman Athletic in the Football League West. O'Mahoney returned to Ipswich Town when they resumed playing in the 1945–46 season, making 36 league appearances and scoring 3 goals. During three more seasons with Town he made a further 58 appearances and scored 5 goals in the English League. He made his last appearance for Town on 16 October 1948 in a

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

game against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Irish international

When O'Mahoney began his international career in 1938 there were, in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland – based

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

and the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

– based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including O'Mahoney, played for both teams.

FAI XI

Between 1938 and 1939 O'Mahoney played 6 times for the FAI XI. He made his first two appearances for the FAI XI in May 1938 during a European tour. On 18 May he played in a 2–2 draw with

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and then on 22 May he played in a 6–0 defeat against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. The highlight of his international career came during his third game against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 18 September 1938. O'Mahoney earned the unusual distinction of becoming the first FAI XI international to fly in for a home game. He arrived from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

only an hour before kick-off, but proceeded to play superbly, helping the FAI XI to a 4–0 win. On 13 November 1938 he played in a winning FAI XI for the second time when he helped them beat

3–2 in another home game. O'Mahoney made his final two appearances for the FAI XI in May 1939 during another European tour, helping them to 2–2 and 1–1 draws with

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

respectively. These were the last two internationals that the FAI XI played before the start of the

IFA XI

O'Mahoney made his 1 and only appearance for the IFA XI on 8 November 1938 in a 2–0 defeat 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 ...

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

. He had earned an IFA XI call up after his impressive performance for the FAI XI against

the previous month. He was the only debutant on the day and his teammates included fellow dual internationalists Tommy Breen,

Jackie Brown ''Jackie Brown'' is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel ''Rum Punch.'' It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who is caught smuggling money. Samuel L. Ja ...

Jimmy McAlinden James McAlinden (27 December 1917 – 15 November 1993) was an Irish footballer who played as a forward for several clubs, most notably, Belfast Celtic, Portsmouth, Shamrock Rovers and Southend United. As an international, McAlinden also play ...

and

Alex Stevenson Alexander Ernest Stevenson (9 August 1912 – 2 September 1985) was an Irish footballer who played for Rangers and Everton, amongst other teams. As an international, Stevenson also played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. ...

Sources

*''The Boys in Green – The FAI International Story'' (1997): Sean Rya

*''Soccer at War – 1939 – 45'' (2005): Jack Rolli

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing GreatsIreland (FAI) stats Ipswich Town fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omahoney, Matt 1913 births 1992 deaths English Football League players Liverpool F.C. players New Brighton A.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. wartime guest players Ipswich Town F.C. players Bristol City F.C. wartime guest players Tranmere Rovers F.C. wartime guest players Rochdale A.F.C. wartime guest players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Wales Republic of Ireland association footballers Ireland (FAI) men's international footballers Dual Irish men's international footballers Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Association footballers from County Kilkenny Aberdare Town F.C. players Men's association football defenders People from Mullinavat