Michael Joseph Fairclough (born 22 October 1952, in

Annagassan Annagassan ()"Annagassan" A Dictionary of British Place-Names. A. D. Mills. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Solihull Libraries. 16 April 2008 is a village in the townland of Ballynagassan, County ...

) was an Irish former professional

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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. Mick started his football career with Drogheda Youths and won an

FAI Youth Cup The FAI Youth Cup, also known as the FAI Umbro Youth Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organised by the FAI for youth association football clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Greenmount Rangers. The competi ...

medal in 1970 scoring in the replay of the final. At age 18 he played in the 1971 FAI Cup Final with Drogheda who lost to Limerick after a replay. This qualified Drogheda for the

Blaxnit Cup The Blaxnit Cup, is a defunct club football competition which featured teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland, in a similar format to the later Setanta Cup. It was inaugurated in 1967 as a cross-border competition between c ...

where Drogheda lost on penalties to eventual winners Linfield. Mick was bought by Huddersfield Town (who were then in the English Premier Division) in August 1971 and made his first team debut against Wolves in October 1971. He made 20 appearances in the 1971/72 season including games against Arsenal
Chelsea - (see Match Programme)
Crystal Palace, Everton, Spurs & Wolves. He also represented Ireland in the International match against the West German Olympic team, and scored the third goal in a 3-0 win. Mick received a serious leg injury against Walsall on 17 September 1973 and this ultimately ended his career prematurely in 1974. He was out of football for 6 years and then made a comeback in the League of Ireland with Dundalk F.C. after receiving treatment from Bobby McGregor the renowned Northern Ireland Physio. His first League of Ireland game in nearly a decade came at

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developers b ...

on 2 March 1980 when he came off the bench and scored the equaliser for the Lilywhites. This goal helped secure second place in the 1979–80 League of Ireland season which meant qualification for the

1980–81 UEFA Cup The 1980–81 UEFA Cup was won by Ipswich Town on aggregate over AZ Alkmaar. According to the 1979 UEFA decision, Fairs Cup entry criteria were finally abolished, and UEFA ranking In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics ...

. Fairclough made his European debut against F.C. Porto in the

Estádio das Antas The Estádio das Antas (officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6km (1 ...

on 17 September 1980. That season he scored the winner in the semi-final of the FAI Cup and scored in the Final against Sligo Rovers. - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTCoVa2b98 Mick played for Dundalk for a further 4 years where he was top scorer for 3 consecutive seasons during which time he won FAI Cup and League medals. He also scored 2 goals in the

1981–82 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1981–82 European Cup Winners' Cup was the 22nd season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a club football competition organised by UEFA for the national cup winners from each of its member associations. Spanish club Barcelona won the title for a se ...

against

Fram Reykjavik Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a se ...

. He then scored the equalising goal against the great

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

team in the dramatic 1-1 draw in

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey F ...

in the next round of the 1981 European Cup Winners Cup. He won two full International caps for Ireland in 1982 after his successful comeback from injury. In 1984, he left

to return to Drogheda United where he started his career and finished playing there in 1986. See History from Dundalk Museu
Dundalk F.C. History Museum

Honours

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

** Dundalk F.C. 1981–82 * FAI Cup ** Dundalk F.C. 1981 *

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

** Dundalk F.C. 1980–81 *President's Cup: 2 ** Dundalk F.C. 1980–81, 1981–82

References

Sources

The Complete Who's Who of Irish International Football, 1945–96 (1996):Stephen McGarrigle Gods v Mortals (2010):Paul Keane {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairclough, Mick 1952 births Living people Association footballers from Drogheda Men's association football midfielders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-23 international footballers Drogheda United F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Newry City F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Transport F.C. players