ENGLAND 0 2 REP. of IRELAND

Goodison Park, September 21, 1949

THE GAME THAT NEVER HAPPENED?

“Mission Impossible” screamed the headline.  It continued, “fifty years ago, in an unknown country behind the Iron Curtain, a plan was hatched to create a team of football supermen who would destroy mighty England on their own turf.  And it worked.”

Despite playing on his home ground, few people gave Farrell and his fellow Irishmen any chance of defeating England.  Some things were set in stone in those days - the notion of an English side, laden with quality, being undone at home was not open for discussion.

However, it was to be a famous day for Irish soccer.  Johnny (Jackie) Carey, footballer of the year in 1949, was to shackle Preston’s Finney, ensuring there would be no repeat of the previous scoreline between the teams.  He was a towering, elegant player whose versatility made the game look easy, always finding time and space to find a team mate.  His leadership qualities would help shape the fortunes of Matt Busby’s Manchester United over the coming years and after he hung up his boots he went into management – most famously at Everton of all places, where he managed for three seasons, from 1958 to 1961 before then Everton chairman, Sir John Moores, famously sacked him in the back of a taxi after a meeting in London.

Ireland opened the scoring, just past the half hour, when Aston Villa’s centre half Con Martin scored from the penalty spot.  Martin had previously played in goal for Ireland against Spain!  Despite constant pressure throughout the entire second half, the Irish held firm and victory was secured with little more than five minutes remaining when Everton captain, Peter Farrell, skipped past his marker and coolly lofted the ball over advancing English keeper, Bert Williams, into an empty net.  The Gwladys Street terrace celebrated one of their own as Farrell settled matters.  History was made.  The unthinkable had happened.  England had been beaten on home soil by an overseas team for the first time.  A full time scoreline reading England 0 Republic of Ireland 2 was not envisaged but happen it did.

The Liverpool Echo match report indicated the nation’s frustration with England’s shock defeat – “to think that Eire, who had extreme difficulty in raising eleven men of sufficient calibre for such a match should be the first ‘outside’ country to beat us on home ground.  It shows plainly how far we have fallen from the all-conquering England of a few seasons ago.  They have fairly put the cat amongst the England selectors’ pigeons.”

Republic of Ireland team:  Goodison Park, Sept. 21^st 1949

Back row, left to right: Con Martin, Tom Aherne, Tommy Goodwin, Tommy Moroney, Willie Walsh
Front row: Peter Corr, Tommy O'Connor, Johnny Carey, Peter Desmond, Peter Farrell and Davy Walsh

This poem, from Peter Goulding at www.footballpoets.org captures the magic of that historic day for Irish football –

 Historic Day September 21st 1949

Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh………….
‘Twas on the autumn equinox in 1949,
That England fans were shaken from the Tamar to the Tyne.
At Goodison, the Irish team ran out to great applause.
It was as if the game was played on Ireland’s native shores.

But English fans were noisy too, so passionate and loyal.
No foreign team had ever won upon their native soil.
And no-one gave a hope to those poor cousins ‘cross the water,
The latest in a long, long line of meek lambs to the slaughter.

Fifty two thousand fans [well, give or take a few]
Assembled there at Everton to watch the mismatched brew,
And there was quite an element of shock within the ground,
As Ireland quickly settled down and knocked the ball around.

The Irish team in forty nine was Irish born and bred,
Though only two still stayed at home to earn their daily bread.
And with Carey and Con Martin, the defence was calm and strong,
And Farrell was unstoppable whene’er he was on song.

A half an hour upon the clock and Ireland went ahead,
Con Martin scored a penalty with Williams left for dead.
And Billy Wright, as ever, tried to galvanise his side,
But despite heroic efforts, he just could not stem the tide.

The second half saw England with the wind behind their backs.
They probed the Irish rearguard with constant, strong attacks.
And Portsmouth’s Peter Harris was convinced that he had scored,
But the ball rebounded off the bar, with parity not restored.

Jesse Pye went close as well, but Ireland battled hard,
Determined to become the first to win in their back yard.
And captain Jackie Carey was, as usual, immense,
Winning every dangerous ball and clearing from defence.

Then just before the finish, Tommy O’Connor got the ball,
The Shamrock Rovers winger with the talent to enthral.
He tantalised the English backs and drew them all out wide,
Then very calmly slotted in a perfect ball inside.

And so it was that Peter Farrell wonderingly found
Himself with a run-in on goal, upon his own home ground.
Bert Williams came out frantically, and as the two foes met,
Farrell lobbed it over him and in the English net.

England 0 Republic 2, the tricolour unfurled.
The news sent major shockwaves all around the football world.
English invincibility at last was laid to rest,
For versus lowly Ireland, they had come off second best.

Four years later, burst the great Hungarians on the scene,
Eclipsing with their brilliant skills the doughty boys in green.
But not even Hidgekuti could suppress the salient fact
That England’s proud home record by the Irish first was cracked.

For the record, the teams:

England

Bert Williams (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Bert Mozley (Derby County), John Aston (Manchester United), Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - captain, Cornelius Franklin (Stoke City), Jimmy Dickinson (Portsmouth), Peter Harris (Portsmouth), John Morris  (Derby County), Jesse Pye (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Wilf Mannion (Middlesbrough), Tom Finney (Preston North End).

Republic of Ireland

Tommy Godwin (Shamrock Rovers), Johnny (Jackie) Carey (Manchester United) - captain, Tom Aherne (Luton Town), Willie Walsh (Manchester City), Con Martin (Aston Villa), Tommy Moroney (West Ham), Peter Corr (Everton), Peter Farrell (Everton), Davy Walsh (West Brom), Peter Desmond (Middlesbrough), Tommy O'Connor (Shamrock Rovers)

To view footage of this historic game at Goodison Park, click here - Pathé