Turlough O'Connor

Born in Athlone in July 1946, Turlough O’Connor began playing junior football for local side Gentex at the age of just 15. Although lining out at outside-left, O’Connor’s goalscoring instincts were soon obvious, and his performances saw him secure two F.A.I. Youth caps, which in turn led to a move to League of Ireland side Limerick. Despite scoring on his debut in a 1-0 shield win over Sligo Rovers, the young forward never fully settled at the Munster club, and soon returned to Co. Westmeath to play for Athlone Town in the League of Ireland ‘B’ league.

Having previously been beaten to his signature by Limerick boss Ewan Fenton, Bohemians manager Sean Thomas finally succeeded in bringing O’Connor to Dalymount Park in February 1965. Another debut goal in a 1-0 win over Cork Hibernians precipitated seven more league strikes that season (enough to install him as the club’s top scorer), and O’Connor’s goals helped propel the Gypsies to third place in the table, their best finish for 24 years. He was in the scoring groove again the following year by the time that Fulham scouts arrived to watch his teammate Jimmy Conway, and both players were soon on their way to the west London outfit.

Despite spending two seasons with the Cottagers, O’Connor was limited to just a single first team appearance for the club, and had to make do with being the top scorer for the Fulham reserve side. A debut international appearance for Ireland against Czechoslovakia in Prague (in which O’Connor scored a dramatic late diving header to deny the eastern Europeans a place at the 1968 European Championships) was the only real highlight of a dour tenure, and although two hernia operations had certainly not helped his cause, the centre-forward was put out of his misery with a £4,000 transfer to Dundalk in 1968. The move was an instant success, with O’Connor finishing as the Lilywhites’ top marksman in the 1968-69 campaign (second only to Mick Leech in the overall league standings), and he scored twice in the club’s Dublin City Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers (O’Connor also scored on his inter-league debut against the Irish League). Although severely restricted by a cartilage operation the following year, he did score four goals (two of them audacious efforts from inside his own half) for Dundalk in a 6-1 league victory over Waterford, in the season that the Blues completed a championship “three-in-a-row”.

O’Connor topped the club’s goalscoring charts in 1970-71 and 1971-72 (bagging another league hat-trick against champions Waterford in March 1972), and scored in Dundalk’s 5-0 shield final win over local rivals Drogheda, before financial problems at Dundalk forced them to offload O’Connor to Bohemians in time for the start of the 1972-73 season. As the club’s top scorer, he helped them to a third consecutive top four finish, before topping the overall League of Ireland goalscoring charts (along with teammate Terry Flanagan) in 1974 with 18 goals. Those strikes were not enough to prevent Cork Celtic from becoming champions, but despite O’Connor missing much of the following campaign through injury, the league title, and also the League Cup, came to Dalymount Park during the 1974-75 season.

Despite his contribution to that victory in Prague (which would actually come to represent Ireland’s only win over the course of a 24-match stretch) O’Connor had to wait four years for his next cap, when he lined out in an almost exclusively home-based team against Austria in Linz. Although the side was hammered 6-0 by their hosts, O’Connor himself was included in Liam Tuohy’s squad for the Brazilian Independence Cup (seen as a mini World Cup), and gaining caps against Iran, Chile (unfortunately being sent off in this game) and Portugal, he also scored a 40-yard winner in a 3-2 victory over Ecuador. Two further substitute appearances (as a Bohemians player) in a World Cup qualifier against France and a friendly against Poland brought the curtain down on O’Connor’s international career.

With the former Ireland striker as one of the side’s most influential members, Bohs (with Billy Young having taken over from Sean Thomas in 1973) continued to enjoy success as the 1970s progressed, taking the F.A.I. Cup in 1976, another league title in 1978 (O’Connor scoring a club record 24 goals to top the league’s scoring charts for a second time), and, with O’Connor scoring both in a 2-0 win over Shamrock Rovers, a second League Cup in 1979. At the end of the 1978-79 season, having installed himself as not only the top league goalscorer in Bohemians’ history (120 goals), but the top scorer in the history of the League of Ireland (he would later be overtaken by Brendan Bradley and Pat Morley), O’Connor returned to Co. Westmeath to become player-manager of Athlone Town.

With two of his brothers in the side as well (Padraig had also been a teammate of Turlough’s at Bohemians; both Padraig and Michael would manage Athlone later), the managerial reign of Turlough O’Connor began very satisfactorily, with the League Cup (the club’s biggest coup since the Free State Cup of 1924) and the Tyler Cup being captured in that first campaign. The club also finished third in the 1980 league table, but it was still a huge surprise when they managed to hold off Dundalk to take a very first league title the following season, and O’Connor was presented with the Irish Soccer Writers’ “Personality of the Year” award. Although a vast amount of goalscoring talent at the club (Eugene Davis, Frank Devlin, Larry Wyse, Michael O’Connor, Noel Larkin etc.) prevented him from making a real playing contribution, the team went from strength to strength in the seasons that followed, reaching three consecutive League Cup finals (winning two), and, with a 100% home record at St. Mel’s Park, taking a second League of Ireland title in 1983. Two further third-placed finishes brought the curtain down on O’Connor’s reign as Athlone Town manager (he also retired as a player at the end of 1984-85, having scored 178 League of Ireland goals), before he took the reigns at Dundalk in June 1985.

With the Lilywhites having grown accustomed to success under Jim McLaughlin, O’Connor responded well to the pressure of his new post, and by the 1986-87 season, had built a very formidable outfit. That season brought a League Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers (O’Connor’s men had lost the previous year’s decider to Galway United), but the Hoops prevented Dundalk from taking the year’s most coveted prizes, winning the F.A.I. Cup final 3-0, and finishing nine points clear at the top of the league to capture their third successive “double”. With Rovers handicapped by the Milltown saga the following season, however, the way was clear for O’Connor’s Dundalk to step into the breach, and a 1-0 win over Derry City in the cup final combined with their besting of St. Patrick's Athletic in the league title race meant that the Oriel Park club recorded a double of their own.

Edged out by Derry City in the league and the League Cup final the following year, O’Connor masterminded his fifth managerial League Cup win in 1990 when the Brandywell club were beaten on penalties. Better was to follow, however, with a Tom McNulty goal at Turner’s Cross ensuring another league championship success in 1991. An F.A.I. Cup final defeat to Shelbourne in 1993, however, would prove to be O’Connor’s last flirtation with honours at Dundalk, as he took over the vacant Bohemians hotseat later that year.

Despite spending five years at the Dalymount Park helm, an increasingly competitive championship meant that two league runners-up finishes (1996 and 1997) and four successive F.A.I. Cup semi-final defeats (three of them at the hands of Derry City) were as good as it got for O’Connor as Bohemians’ manager. He left the post in 1998, but his reputation as one of the League of Ireland’s most successful players, and managers, remained wholly intact.

Jim McLaughlin

Born in Derry in December 1940, Jim McLaughlin began his playing career with Derry City, before signing for Birmingham City in 1958. Although confined to the reserves during his time with the midlands club, he gained a reputation as a tricky and tenacious winger, and after enjoying more productive spells with Shrewsbury Town, Peterborough United and Swansea City, he eventually scored 126 goals in 456 English League appearances. He gained 12 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring an impressive tally of six goals, including two in a 4-3 defeat by England at Windsor Park in 1964 (having sustained a dislocated finger earlier in the match), and both in a 2-0 win over Greece in a World Cup qualifier in Belfast in 1961.

Having gained some coaching experience with Swansea, McLaughlin joined Dundalk as player-manager upon his return to Ireland in 1974. Many would have seen the job as a poisoned chalice, as the club had gone through six managers in as many seasons, and had been experiencing considerable financial difficulties for much of the early 1970s. A shock 1-0 defeat in the F.A.I. Cup against lowly Home Farm suggested that McLaughlin would have his work cut out at the Co. Louth club, but despite this setback, he managed (with essentially the same squad) to bring the club to fifth in the league table, eight places higher than the previous season.

Operating within a very tight budget, McLaughlin added a number of players during the summer (Irish international Tommy McConville was the only particularly costly acquisition), and after bringing in former league top scorer Terry Flanagan from Bohemians a few months later, a 21-match unbeaten run saw the Lilywhites stride to their fourth League of Ireland championship four points ahead of Finn Harps. McLaughlin (who himself played a key role as full-back) was hailed as a hero by the fans, and with success generating extra capital, former Irish international Mick Lawlor was added to the squad during the close season.

Having achieved a 1-1 European Cup draw with P.S.V. Eindhoven (featuring Dutch international superstars Rene and Willie van der Kerkhof) at Oriel Park, McLaughlin’s men surprisingly lost six of their first eight matches to all but surrender any chance of retaining the title, but a great run of form in the second half of the league (the club eventually finished fifth) was allied to a place in the final of the F.A.I. Cup, where a 2-0 win over Limerick gave McLaughlin another piece of highly-prized silverware. The Leinster Senior Cup was also garnered, and with Hajduk Split being beaten (McLaughlin himself was one of the best players on the night) in the first leg of a European Cup Winners’ Cup tie the following year (another former international, Paddy Dunning, had been added during the summer), the Derryman’s achievements were augmented by a League Cup final penalty shootout win over Cork Alberts, and a retention of the Leinster Senior trophy. Although the club slipped to eleventh in the league table (not helped by the sudden and unexpected death of squad member Brian McConville), the sale of three promising young players to Liverpool (including a new Irish international cap, Synan Braddish), gave McLaughlin the monies to launch a fresh assault on the transfer market.

With the uncompromising Home Farm defender Dermot Keely being drafted in, Cathal Muckian joined from local rivals Drogheda United (having scored a club record 21 league goals the previous season), and Finn Harps star Hilary Carlyle also joined the Oriel Park payroll. Despite strong challenges from Bohemians, Drogheda and Waterford, the title was wrapped up on the second last day of the season, and with Waterford (who had done a league double over Dundalk) being dispatched in the F.A.I. Cup decider, McLaughlin (in his last season as a player, and with three other players from the 1976 squad) had overseen the Co. Louth club’s first ever league and cup double. He was, therefore, an obvious choice for the Irish Soccer Writers’ “Personality of the Year” award for 1979.

It could scarcely have gotten any better for McLaughlin, but new heights were reached in the European Cup campaign of the following season, when victories over Linfield and Hibernians (of Malta) set up a second round tie with Glasgow Celtic, with a place in the quarter-finals of the world’s premier club competition being the reward for the winners. After achieving a remarkable 3-2 defeat at Parkhead in the first leg, 21,000 people were in Oriel Park to watch McLaughlin’s side almost achieve the 1-0 victory (despite endless pressure, they could not break the Celtic rearguard) that would have seen them progress on the away goals rule. Instead the club would have to be content with the league runners-up position (Eoin Hand’s Limerick United finished just one point ahead), and a new League of Ireland defensive record of just 13 goals conceded in 30 league games.

Another penalty shootout win in the final of the League Cup (this time against Galway Rovers) was the prelude to McLaughlin’s third F.A.I. Cup victory in 1981, with Sligo Rovers being beaten 2-0 at Dalymount Park. By the time McLaughlin oversaw a third league championship success with Dundalk the following season, the club had also remained unbeaten at Oriel Park over the course of eight European club ties. Although Liverpool would put a blemish on this record the following season, McLaughlin’s belief that his side should “forget reputations, go at them, but give nothing away at the back” had clearly produced results.

Seeking a new challenge, McLaughlin was appointed manager of Shamrock Rovers in the summer of 1983, and his impact at Glenmalure Park was immediate, with signings like Dermot Keely, Noel King (both of whom he had previously brought to Dundalk) and Pat Byrne ensuring the club won their first League of Ireland title since 1964. Over the course of the next two seasons, players like Noel Larkin, Mick Byrne, Liam O’Brien and Paul Doolin contributed to two successive league and F.A.I. Cup doubles, as McLaughlin’s position as the league’s most successful ever manager continued to be re-inforced.

Leaving to take the reigns of his hometown club Derry City in May 1986 (for the first season, he acted in a co-managerial capacity with Noel King), he secured promotion for the Candystripes at his first attempt, as the club won all nine of their away games on their way to the First Division championship. Derry were beaten in the following year’s F.A.I. Cup final by Dundalk, but in 1989, they swept all before them on their way to a remarkable domestic treble, incorporating league, F.A.I. Cup and League Cup honours. Denied the league title by St. Patrick’s Athletic the following season, and the League Cup by Dundalk on penalties, a victory over Limerick City in the 1991 League Cup final was McLaughlin’s last trophy as manager at the Brandywell.

Joining up with Pat Byrne at Shelbourne for the 1991-92 season, their partnership immediately delivered the club’s first League ofIreland title for 30 years, finishing five points ahead of McLaughlin’s most recent employers. The club’s first F.A.I. Cup for 30 years arrived the following season, before Byrne and McLaughlin were controversially relieved of their positions in late 1993. The Derryman took over as manager of Drogheda United soon afterwards, but was unable to prevent the Louth club from losing their Premier Division status. Although the club bounced straight back up the following year, McLaughlin’s good work could not be built on, as United experienced their seemingly inevitable relegation again in 1996. Persuaded to come out of managerial retirement by Dundalk in 1997, McLaughlin struggled to reverse the downward spiral the Lilywhites had been sucked into, and their relegation to the First Division for the first time in their history in 1999 was an unfortunate way for McLaughlin to end his managerial career.

Manager of the League of Ireland representative side on a number of occasions, McLaughlin also took charge of the Irish Olympic side (essentially another League of Ireland XI) for the 1988 qualifying tournament. In 2002, he was presented with the F.A.I.’s Special Merit Award, for his achievements within the domestic game. Incorporated into the Shamrock Rovers Hall of Fame later in the year, he became a Shamrock Rovers “Legend” in 2005. With wins in 1979, 1984 and 1989, McLaughlin is also the only person to win the S.W.A.I. “Personality of the Year” award on more than two occasions.

Although McLaughlin was often criticised during his time at Shamrock Rovers for being something of a “chequebook manager” (Rovers became infamous for offering large signing-on fees), it is hard to argue with his record of eight league titles, seven F.A.I. Cups and four League Cups. His time with Dundalk was probably the best illustration of his capabilities, with his man-management skills and tremendous understanding of the part-time football mindset being very much in evidence. Extremely modest in the midst of his success, McLaughlin was always quick to play down the role of a manager in a winning football team, at all times laying the credit for his achievements at the doors of his players.