Thomas Fergus Godwin (20 August 1927 – 21 August 1996), commonly referred to as Tommy Godwin, 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

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 ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. On 21 September 1949, together with

Con Martin Cornelius Joseph Martin (20 March 1923 – 24 February 2013) was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among oth ...

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953 ...

and Peter Farrell, he was also a member of the Irish Football Team formed in

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 ...

that defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1949 at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

, becoming the first non - Uk team to beat England at home.

Playing career

Shamrock Rovers

After playing as a youth with both Reds United and Home Farm, Godwin joined

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 ...

while he continued to work as a carpenter. He made his Rovers debut in a friendly against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and saved a penalty. It was one of many penalties Tommy saved while at Milltown. He played in the semi-final of the 1948

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 ...

, but missed the final after breaking a leg. While playing for Rovers, his teammates included, among others Frank Glennon and

Paddy Coad Paddy Coad (14 April 1920 – 8 March 1992) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a forward for Waterford, Glenavon, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland. Although known, primarily, as a maker of goals, Coad scored 126 goals in the ...

. He also represented the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

and made his international debut for

. In all he earned 5 caps while in the green and white.

Leicester City

In September 1949, after his impressive performances while playing for

, Godwin transferred to

. He made his English League debut for City on 26 November 1949 at home to Swansea Town. While with Leicester he faced competition for the goalkeepers position from

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 ...

international

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

. As a result, he made just 45 league appearances and 1

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 ...

appearances in four seasons.''The Complete Who's Who of Irish International Football, 1945–96'' (1996):Stephen McGarrigl

/ref>

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic

In June 1952 Godwin signed for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and remained with the club for ten years making 357 league appearances in the Football League Third Division South, Third Division South and Third Division. In 1957 Godwin was a member of the Bournemouth team that reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup. In the first three rounds, they knocked out

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

and

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

, scoring 11 goals in the process and conceding none. However it was the next three games that saw the team attract national attention. In round four they beat a

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 ...

team featuring Billy Wright 1–0 in front of a Molineux crowd of 42,000. Wolves were, at the time, placed third in the First Division. In the last 16 they faced second placed

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

with a team that included Danny Blanchflower,

Terry Medwin Terence Cameron Medwin (born 25 September 1932 in Swansea, Glamorgan) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a winger. Club career Medwin made his debut for his 'home town' team Swansea Town in 1951–52 and went on to make ...

and

Ted Ditchburn Edwin George Ditchburn (24 October 1921 – 26 December 2005) was an English professional football goalkeeper who played for Northfleet United, Tottenham Hotspur, Romford, Brentwood Town and represented England on six occasions at international ...

. At their home ground of

Dean Court Dean Court, currently known as the Vitality Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England and the home ground of AFC Bournemouth. History In 1910, Boscombe F.C. was gi ...

in front of 25,892, Bournemouth won 3–1. In the quarter finals they face

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

, the league leaders and cup holders. In front of 28,799 at Dean Court they took a shock lead after just 10 minutes. However they eventually lost 2–1 to the

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United F.C. chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of ...

Ireland international

Between 1949 and 1958 Godwin made 13 appearances for

. He made his international debut on 22 May 1949 in a 1–0 win against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

. This would be the first of four clean sheets he kept during his international career. Godwin quickly established himself as a regular in the team and played in all four of the 1950 World Cup qualifiers against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The highlight of his international career came on 21 September 1949 when he was a member of the Ireland team that defeated

2–0 at

, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home. He put in an outstanding performance, keeping the third clean sheet of his international career. The game proved to be the turning point in his career and within days he was signed by

. Godwin later lost his place in the Ireland team to Fred Kiernan, but in 1956 after a six-year absence, he earned a recall and subsequently played in two qualifiers for the 1958 World Cup, one against

and one against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. He made his last appearance for Ireland on 11 May 1958 in a 2–2 away draw in a friendly 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 ...

. On 9 May 1955 at

, Godwin also played for an All-Ireland XI against an England XI in an unofficial international organised as part of the An Tóstal festival. His teammates included, among others,

Robin Lawler Joseph "Robin" Lawler (20 August 1925 – 17 April 1998) was an Irish professional footballer. From Dublin, he began his career with Home Farm. He later played with Distillery F.C., Drumcondra and Transport F.C., as well as for Drums in the ...

, Peter Doherty and

Peter McParland Peter James McParland MBE (born 25 April 1934) is a former professional footballer. Club career Dundalk McParland was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. He was spotted playing for Dundalk in the League of Ireland by Aston Villa ma ...

. The English XI won 6–5 . Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
/ref>

Later years

After retiring in 1962, Godwin settled in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and worked for the local council as a parks supervisor.

Honours

Shamrock Rovers *

Dublin City Cup The Dublin City Cup is a defunct Irish football tournament which was played for by all League of Ireland sides (and not just those from Dublin city as the name suggests). It ran from 1933 and ran uninterrupted until 1973. In the 1975–76 se ...

** 1947–48: 1 * Dublin and Belfast Intercity Cup ** 1948–49: 1 *

LFA President's Cup The LFA President's Cup was an association football cup competition featuring League of Ireland clubs affiliated to the Leinster Football Association. It was played for between 1930 and 2002. It was a ''de facto'' national super cup and on t ...

** 1948–49: 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Tommy 1927 births 1996 deaths Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers Home Farm F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Association football goalkeepers Leicester City F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players League of Ireland players Association footballers from Dublin (city) League of Ireland XI players