In July 1973 an All-Ireland team under the guise of a Shamrock Rovers XI played Brazil in a charity game at Lansdowne Road. In goal for the All-Ireland team that day was Pat Jennings.
Prior to 1950 Irish-born players could play for Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, so that game 52 years ago is the only occasion in the past 75 years that an All-Ireland team played together.

Jennings celebrated his 80th birthday on June 12th and recently I talked to Pat about his long career at club and international level.
Chapel Street in Newry has produced two FA Cup winners; Peter McParland scored both of Aston Villa’s goals as they beat Manchester United 2-1 in the 1957 final and Pat Jennings won FA Cup medals with Spurs in 1967 and with Arsenal in 1979.

Pat said: ‘‘Peter was one of my heroes growing up in Chapel Street. We all followed his career very closely and naturally we were all cheering for Villa back in 1957 when they beat United in the FA Cup final.’’
Pat’s father John worked as a horseman for a company called Haldanes in Newry and young Pat also did a bit of manual work in the forest above Newry, chopping branches off the trees which the horses then pulled down to the bottom of the mountain.

His mother Sadie Cunningham was from Whitecross in County Armagh. Her father Barney Cunningham played senior football for Armagh.

Pat said: ‘‘In Newry we had soccer street league and I played for a team called Shamrock Rovers. I was only 11 and playing in a league for under 19’s. We got to the final and I was very disappointed to be dropped for the final.

‘‘In the sixties the Down Gaelic football team made the big breakthrough and captain Kevin Mussen brought the Sam Maguire Cup across the border for the first time. I was only 15 but I was in Croke Park that September day in 1960 when Down beat Kerry to make history. The O’Neill brothers Seán and Kevin and Tony Hadden were all from Newry.’’

‘‘I played a lot of Gaelic football at school with The Abbey and later with St Joseph’s and didn’t return to soccer until I was around 16. My eldest brother Brian, who played for Coleraine and Newry United, got me involved. Midway through the 1961-62 season Newry’s regular keeper left the club and Brian talked me into attending a training session. I must have done okay as and I was named in the team the following Saturday. We went on and won the Irish Junior Cup.”

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own