Lucky for Some

“Nothing like it has ever been seen before. It is unlikely it will ever happen again, so let us all bask in the aura of success that radiates from an eminently successful club. We are passing through an historic period in the game, and only later will we fully appreciate the glory that is ours now. There cannot be a team in the country that wouldn’t like to swap places with Waterford. There cannot be a supporter in the country who doesn’t wish success in like measure for his own favourite club, so that he could have for himself what Waterford followers are enjoying just now.”
(Leo Dunne, Waterford News and Star, 25/3/1966)

The unequivocal joy of Waterford being the greatest team in the land articulated by the legendary ‘LPD’ in a way that only he could. Sixty years ago today, an otherwise unspectacular ninety minutes changed football history in this country. The Blues set a still-unmatched winning record to put the club on the verge of its first ever league title, while a teenage newcomer began the journey to his own unsurpassed individual record. The setting was a thoroughly-ploughed Showgrounds in Sligo, where Waterford won their thirteenth league match in a row, and where young John Matthews scored the first of his 147 league goals for the club. 

 

 

Paddy Coad’s Waterford had improved after finishing bottom of the table a year earlier, but still weren’t too much of a threat to league leaders Shamrock Rovers by the time the Blues drew 3-3 with reigning champions Drumcondra at Kilcohan Park at the beginning of December. Another new signing was added, the big-money capture of Jimmy McGeough, who joined from Derry City for £3,000. Wins followed through December away to Dundalk, home to Sligo Rovers and up in Limerick. January saw Cork Celtic, Drogheda and St Patrick’s Athletic beaten in Kilcohan as well as Shelbourne and Bohemians on the road. Two more away wins in February – the crucial 1-0 in Milltown which saw the Blues overtaking Rovers at the top and a 3-2 victory at Drumcondra. The league record for consecutive wins (shared by Sligo and Shamrock Rovers) stood at eleven and Waterford matched that with a 3-0 defeat of Dundalk on the 13th of March. There was a second home game that week with Cork Hibernians smashed 5-1 on St Patrick’s Day to claim the winning record as Waterford’s alone. 

And so, to the northeast, for number thirteen. Unlucky for some, but not for Waterford. It was the day the World Cup trophy was stolen in London (later to be found by Pickles the dog), but our own football history was to be made in Sligo. This was seen as one of the trickiest obstacles in their final five matches and one where their title hopes could become stuck in the mud. And there was mud! The Munster Express claimed that “the surface looked as if The Virginian had been breaking horses there for the previous week non-stop.” Coad’s men certainly played nothing like their usual expansive style and had to fight every inch to win this battle. Dick Ryan made two clearances off the line in the first half – one with his boot in the opening minute and another later with a header. He also had an unfortunate collision with Mick Murray which resulted in the Sligo full back leaving the field on a stretcher with a suspected fractured leg. Though innocent in the encounter, Ryan was “abused and booed every time he touched the ball” from then on in an increasingly-volatile atmosphere. 

 

 

The most important moment came in the 17th minute when the visitors took the lead. Shamie Coad seized on a loose ball and passed to Mick Lynch, who switched the play out to Peter Fitzgerald on the right wing. The former Ireland, Leeds United and Sparta Rotterdam man struck a powerful shot which Finbarr Flood only punched out to the in-rushing Matthews to thump to the net. Johnny had only arrived in Ireland that week on a six-week loan from Coventry City, courtesy of Lynch’s friendship with Jimmy Hill. Just 19 at the time, Johnny, instead, stayed in Waterford for the rest of his life, fell in love and married Mary-Clare (daughter of a club director) and scored a club record 147 league goals. To his dying day, his advice to young wingers was always to anticipate when the other winger got the ball and make a run to the far post, and his first senior goal supported that as he was on hand to capitalise with one of the most significant goals in club history.

Returning to the lyrical Leo Dunne: “If we do win the League championship, this may be remembered as the nearest Waterford came to defeat and it will be a really happy memory for new boy John Matthews, who scored the only goal of the game and won himself a place in the heart of all the supporters at the game. This could have been a completely unnerving experience for a young player, getting his first taste of an away game under the worst possible conditions. But it didn’t seem to upset the Coventry youngster, who got stuck in right from the beginning and never stopped working throughout the full ninety minutes. Perhaps he made no great runs, but he did get the ball across with expedition and he did help back in defence, and, generally, gave a very promising display.”

 

 

The game, overall, was no classic. Al Casey went close to scoring, Tommy Taylor made a great double-save, but it was a niggly affair where Waterford “never settled into their normal fluent style”. Ryan’s name went in the referee’s book for upending Millington, while Lynch and Coad both joined him for kicking the ball away after free kicks were awarded. Sligo were strong in the final twenty minutes and Waterford had to batten down the hatches with Noel Griffin “the outstanding figure” in defence and Vinnie Maguire described as “a great piece of stuff”. Blues fans were elated when the final whistle was blown and carried their legs back to the southeast. 

A week later, the streak came to an end with a 1-1 draw with Limerick at Kilcohan Park, but Waterford secured title honours with a 3-1 win at the Lourdes Stadium in Drogheda on the 17th of April. It was the culmination of a dream turned into reality for all involved in Waterford football and the beginning on that sensational series of six league titles in eight seasons. That thirteen-game winning run still stands as the record sixty years later and Matthews’ goal tally may never be matched. Those great names will forever be etched into the minds of Blues fans for generations to come as the men who gave us our history. 

Sligo Rovers: Flood; Murray (Millington), Campbell; Quinn, Pugh, Dunne; McDonnell, Morrison, Burnside, Dowling, Turner.
Waterford: Taylor; Seamie Casey, Ryan; Maguire, Griffin, McGeough; Fitzgerald, Al Casey, Lynch, Coad, Matthews.