And we gave them James McGrory and…Peter Shevlin

And we gave them James McGrory and…Peter Shevlin

It would be quite a challenge to take the place of legendary Celtic goalkeeper and captain Charlie Shaw, then to prevent a young genius by the name of John Thomson from stealing your spot in the team. That was exactly the challenge set before Peter Shevlin, but he had a real go at doing it with some style, whilst winning his fair share of medals along the way.

Peter Shevlin was born in the family home at 55 Duke Street, Hamilton, just before midnight on Tuesday, 18 November 1902.

His parents were Hugh, a coal miner born in Darngavil, Airdrie, on 19 June 1862, and Helen Shevlin, nee Robertson, a mill worker born in Muiravonside, near Linlithgow, on 9 February 1865. The Robertson family would later move to Rawyards on the outskirts of Airdrie and Hugh married Helen in St Margaret’s RC Church in the town on 5 October 1883.

Peter was their sixth son and tenth child and would be the second son to be named after his paternal grandfather. Hugh and Helen Shevlin had already lost three children by the time ‘the second Peter’ came along in November 1902. On 7 April 1889, baby Peter Shevlin lost his fight for life at 19 Motherwell Road, Airdrie, aged just eight months. He had been suffering from measles and pneumonia for one week.

The family were then dealt a devastating double blow within the space of a few weeks in the autumn of 1896. On 31 August, their 12-year-old daughter Mary – their first-born child – died from tubercular meningitis at Squair’s Court, Westmuir Street in Shettleston, having been ill for three weeks. And as that tragedy was unfolding, Mary’s infant sister Bridget contracted bronchopneumonia.

She would lose her own battle for life within 21 days, passing away on 23 September 1896 having lived just three months. Peter’s six surviving siblings in 1902 were John (16, also a coal miner), Elizabeth (12), Hugh (10), Thomas (9), Patrick (4) and Alice (2).

The six eldest Shevlin siblings had been born in Airdrie, then a seventh in Shettleston, before the family moved to Hamilton in 1896. An eleventh and final child for Hugh and Helen – a seventh son, who would be named Felix McKenna Shevlin – would be born there in 1907.

There was further heartbreak the following year, when Peter’s father Hugh died at 100 Muir Street, Hamilton on 3 February 1908, aged just 44. He had been suffering from chronic bronchitis for three months. Peter was just five years old at that time.

By the time of the 1911 Census, Peter’s mother Helen and her eight surviving children are living at 40 Church Street in Hamilton. The next decade would thankfully bring some happier family occasions despite the horrific, bloody war taking place across the English Channel, with no fewer than five of the Shevlin siblings walking down the aisle between 1911 and 1919.

In 1921, 18-year-old Peter is living with his mother and the two youngest Shevlin siblings, sister Alice (20) and brother Felix (15), at 100 Muir Street Hamilton, the address where his father had passed away 13 years earlier.

On Tuesday, 5 January 1926, Peter took the plunge himself, marrying Rose Hannah at her local Roman Catholic Church in Craigneuk. He is described as a 23-year-old professional footballer living at 105 Muir Street, Hamilton, whilst his bride is one year older and residing at 25 John Street in Craigneuk. Peter’s best man is his younger brother Felix.

That was a busy week to say the least. Just 24 hours earlier, Peter had kept a clean sheet as a Jimmy McGrory hat-trick saw off Partick Thistle at Celtic Park, a third match in four days for Shevlin and his teammates. And any honeymoon would have been brief, as he was in his usual place for the 1-0 win over Raith Rovers at the same venue just four days later!

So, what about that professional football career?

Continued on the next page…

Well, that began at Pollok Juniors in 1923, and by the following year Peter was plying his trade at St Roch’s in the Garngad, that prolific supplier of wonderful Celts. In January 1923, the most famous graduate of the Millburn Park academy – James Edward McGrory – had made his first-team debut in the Hoops at Cathkin Park and on 11 Oct 1924, Peter would follow in his footsteps by leaving The Candy for Celtic Park, allegedly for a fee of £120 through the personal intervention of Celtic chairman Tom White. The previous week, Celtic had lost 4-1 to Rangers in the final of the Glasgow Cup, a first defeat of the season for Willie Maley’s League leaders.

Peter would not have to wait long for his opportunity, The Glasgow Herald reporting ‘Celtic, who introduce Shevlin (St Roch’s) in goal for Shaw, oppose St Johnstone at Perth’ on Saturday, 18 October 1924. So, for Peter’s senior debut he replaced the legendary Celtic goalkeeper and captain Charlie Shaw and lined up alongside some of the greatest players ever to wear the Hoops. No pressure then, Peter! Here is that Celtic team in full.

Peter Shevlin, Willie McStay & Hugh Hilley; Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & John ‘Jean’ McFarlane; Paddy Connolly, Patsy Gallagher, Jimmy McGrory, Alec Thomson & Adam McLean.

The game, which finished goalless, was played at Perth’s Recreation Grounds, St Johnstone’s first home. It would in fact be one of the last matches to take place there, as Saints opened their new Muirton Park premises against Queen’s Park on Christmas Day 1924.

Peter clearly did enough to impress manager Willie Maley, as he was named in the team to face Rangers at Celtic Park seven days later. That match featured another Hoops debutant – former St Anthony’s inside-forward Ned Corrigan, who replaced the injured Adam McLean on Celtic’s left flank – and was settled by an Alan Morton goal seven minutes from time, but Peter again impressed. The Glasgow Herald reported that ‘Celtic also played their new goalkeeper, Shevlin, and his display was one of the outstanding features of the game.’

Peter would miss just one match in the remainder of that debut season, as Celtic lifted the Scottish Cup in spectacular style. Rangers had beaten their traditional city rivals three times during that campaign, but they were no match for Maley’s men in the semi-final, played at Hampden on Saturday, 21 March 1925 before 102,000 spectators, a record for a club match in Scotland at that time. Doubles from Jimmy McGrory and Adam McLean plus a solitary Alec Thomson strike saw Celts win 5-0.

Dundee had overcome Peter’s hometown club Hamilton Academical in the other last-four tie in an Easter Road replay and they led Celtic 1-0 in the final on Saturday, 11 April 1925 with 10 minutes remaining. Then came the stuff of folklore, as Patsy Gallacher ‘crowned a daring and devious bit of play by throwing himself bodily into the net and carrying the ball with him’ to equalise.

With two minutes left, Jimmy McGrory headed home the winning goal from a free-kick as Celtic overtook Queen’s Park as the record winners in the competition, following their eleventh success. And Peter Shevlin had his first winner’s medal as a senior footballer. As an aside, the ball used at Hampden that afternoon is still on display in the museum there and contains the names of the victorious Celtic team, which like Peter’s debut was as follows.

Peter Shevlin, Willie McStay & Hugh Hilley; Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & John ‘Jean’ McFarlane; Paddy Connolly, Patsy Gallagher, Jimmy McGrory, Alec Thomson & Adam McLean.

Celtic had finished fourth in the First Division that season behind Rangers, Airdrieonians and Hibernian, but the following campaign would see them win the League title for the first time since 1922, whilst appearing in the finals of the other three available competitions.

Second Division Clyde shocked the Hoops by winning the Glasgow Cup final 2-1 at Celtic Park on Saturday, 10 October 1925, whilst a strong St Mirren team dashed hopes of a second successive Scottish Cup triumph – and as it transpired a rare Double – by scoring twice in the first half of the Hampden final on Saturday, 10 April 1926 to win the trophy for the first time.

Four days later, a sparse Celtic Park crowd witnessed the 3-1 win over Morton which secured the League flag, and a second major honour for Peter. That match featured rare first-team opportunities for full-back Harry Callachan and winger Willie Malloy, the latter – early Celt Johnny Madden’s nephew – having the misfortune to break a bone in his ankle.

There would be a double of sorts in the Parkhead trophy room that summer, Celtic beating Queen’s Park 2-1 at Ibrox on Saturday, 15 May 1926 to win a 20th Glasgow Charity Cup. That great entertainer Tommy McInally scored directly from a corner before Jimmy McGrory made the victory secure, Peter thus adding a third winner’s medal to his collection after a campaign where he had been an ever-present between the posts. The Celtic side which ended the 1925/26 season on a winning note was as follows.

Peter Shevlin, Willie McStay & Harry Callachan; Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & John ‘Jean’ McFarlane; Paddy Connolly, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Tommy McInally & Adam McLean.

Peter would complete the full set of four domestic winner’s medals six months later, as Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 in the final of the Glasgow Cup at Hampden on Saturday, 11 October 1926. Over 50,000 spectators braved horrendous conditions as a gale blew across the Mount Florida arena. The only goal of the game came from the arch-predator Jimmy McGrory, first to react when Tommy McInally’s shot rebounded from an upright on 65 minutes. The Celtic team which delivered the trophy for the 15th time was as follows.

Peter Shevlin, Willie McStay & Hugh Hilley; Peter Wilson, John Donoghue & John ‘Jean’ McFarlane; Paddy Connolly, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Tommy McInally & Adam McLean.

Peter would remain an ever-present as Celtic continued to rack up wins to the end of the year, but the opening three games of 1927 saw him concede seven goals as Celts lost to Rangers then Queen’s Park before recovering to beat Morton 6-2 at Cappielow.

Continued on the next page…

His career would then take an unexpected twist in the opening week of February. On the second of that month Celtic unexpectedly lost 3-2 at home to Hibernian in a rescheduled League match and three days later Peter was in his usual place between the sticks against non-League Brechin City at Glebe Park in the second round of the Scottish Cup. Celts lined up as follows for what would be the final time Peter would play in a competitive match for Celtic.

Peter Shevlin, Willie McStay & Hugh Hilley; Peter Wilson, John Donoghue & Frank Doyle; Paddy Connolly, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Tommy McInally & Adam McLean.

Celts would ease through to the next round by six goals to three, despite going behind early on to a goal from home winger Walter Gentles. Four goals from the mercurial Jimmy McGrory plus strikes from Adam McLean and Tommy McInally had the Celts 6-1 up before Gentles completed an unlikely hat-trick to end the scoring at 6-3. With six goals conceded in two games, Willie Maley would turn to Peter’s deputy, the recently signed Fife teenager John Thomson, for the next match, against Dundee at Dens Park, and that would pretty much be that in terms of Peter’s time at the club.

It would be The Prince who would wear the Celtic goalkeeper’s jersey as they reached a third successive Scottish Cup final in April 1927, young John defying his local side to clinch his first medal as Celts beat Second Division East Fife 3-1. Peter had displaced a legend in Charlie Shaw in 1924, and now this gift from God had arrived at Celtic Park at a time when the defence was conceding more goals than normal. Sometimes in football, timing is everything.

Peter played 88 League games and 17 Scottish Cup ties for Celtic, 105 in total in the two major competitions, and won the full set of domestic honours in just three seasons at the club. Note that some statistical records incorrectly place Charlie Shaw in goals rather than Peter for two League games in 1925/26, so you may see that figure shown as 86.

In July 1927, Peter moved to English Second Division side South Shields – or South Shields Adelaide Athletic to give them their full title, just a few miles east of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Five months earlier, on Saturday, 19 February 1927 as Peter was watching the young John Thomson’s career kick off at Celtic Park, the record attendance of over 24,000 was set for the club’s home ground Horsley Hill for an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Swansea Town (later renamed City).

Swansea would progress to the quarter-final after a replay but it would be another Welsh team who would lift the trophy that season, Cardiff City becoming the only non-English side to date to win the FA Cup, thanks to a goal from former Motherwell striker Hugh Ferguson at Wembley against Arsenal at Wembley. In the fourth round, South Shields had beaten First Division outfit The Wednesday, who would go on to become English Champions in 1929 before changing their name to Sheffield Wednesday that summer.

South Shields had narrowly avoided relegation in 1926/27 but they would take the drop in Peter’s first season at the club, finishing bottom of a Division which included Manchester City, Leeds United and Chelsea. And FA Cup dreams were dashed by First Division Middlesbrough. This was the season that Dixie Dean created a scoring record which exists to this day, by scoring 60 League goals as Everton won the English title.

Peter and South Shields began the 1928/29 campaign in the Third Division (North), and they would finish mid-table, 10th in the 22-club Division, which was won by Bradford City. Again, their FA Cup hopes ended at the first hurdle, South Shields beaten 2-1 by Accrington Stanley, who finished eight places below them in the League table. In total, Peter would make 66 League appearance for the club before moving in the summer of 1929 to another team who had finished beneath them in that League campaign, Lancashire outfit Nelson FC.

Continued on the next page…

As a final word on South Shields, with falling gates and the threat of bankruptcy looming over it, the club would relocate to Redheugh Park in Gateshead at the end of the following season (1929/30) and adopt the name of their new hometown, thus becoming Gateshead AFC.

Nelson had finished 15th in the Third Division (North) in 1928/29 but had taken no part in the FA Cup, as their application was not submitted before the deadline! The record attendance for their Seedhill ground had also been set just a few months before Peter arrived at his new club, just under 15,000 for the visit of champions Bradford City on 27 April 1929. The Admirals are perhaps best known as the first English team to beat Real Madrid in Spain, which they did by 4-2 in the summer of 1923 ahead of their only season in the English Second Division.

Peter’s introduction to life at Nelson was unique, as he was one of four different goalkeepers to be used in the opening four matches of 1929/30, long-serving custodian Sam Warhurst, James Mangham and fellow new signing Lewis Botto being the others. It would be Peter who would prevail, with 38 appearances in total whilst the others combined managed just five. One of those 38 games was the home FA Cup tie with Crewe Alexandra, Nelson losing 3-0.

One of Peter’s new teammates would be familiar to him, inside-forward George McLaughlan, who had been part of the Clyde side which shocked Celtic in the final of the Glasgow Cup back in October 1925. In fact, George had signed for Celtic in April 1923, making a single League appearance against Partick Thistle at Parkhead on the opening day of September that year.

The following month he went on loan to Clydebank, where he would join up with another hopeful Celtic youngster learning his trade at Clydeholm Park, Jimmy McGrory. Both men would come back to bite the hand that fed them on Tuesday, 5 March 1924, outside-left McGrory on target and McLaughlan at inside-right as the Bankies won 2-1, a game which ensured that Jimmy would be back scoring for Celtic by the end of that season. As an aside, a third loan Celt featured for Clydebank in that victory, goalkeeper John Hughes.

Nelson secured 19th position in the 1929/30 Third Division (North) table, two places and five points clear of the requirement to seek re-election. But the following campaign, ironically Nelson’s Golden Jubilee year, they would finish bottom and fail in their attempts to be re-elected, losing out by a single vote after a recount to Chester (later renamed as Chester City).

Peter had shared the goalkeeping duties with Sam Warhurst that season, featuring in 16 League games and two FA Cup ties before being freed on 21 March 1931. In total, Peter played in 53 League games and three FA Cup ties for Nelson in his two seasons at Seedhill.

As Nelson lost their Football League status and returned to the Lancashire Combination, Peter headed to Ireland, signing for reigning champions Shelbourne on 26 June 1931. Peter’s former Celtic teammate Paddy Connolly had gone there on loan in November 1930, having become embroiled in a long-term contractual dispute at Parkhead.

He had scored six goals as Shels clinched their third Irish title in 1931 but he would be back in Scotland and out on loan again – this time to Morton – by November of that year. On 9 December 1931, six months into his stint in Dublin, Peter was appointed player-manager at Shelbourne Park. He would guide the club to sixth place in 1931/32 then to third spot the following season, behind champions Dundalk – a first-ever title for a non-Dublin club – and second-placed Shamrock Rovers.

Continued on the next page…

By this time, Peter and Rose were parents. They had been blessed by a son, named Hugh after his grandfather, born in Hamilton in 1927, followed by Patrick Hannah Shevlin the following year and Margaret in 1929. In March 1933, another child was expected, and the family headed back to Scotland, and a new home at Muirhouse, Shieldmuir, Netherton. Peter signed for hometown club Hamilton Academical and made his Accies debut in a First Division match against Falkirk at Brockville on Saturday, 25 March 1933. He would retain the gloves until the season’s end as his new club finished in a very respectable eighth place in the table.

Peter would again be first-choice goalkeeper at Hamilton as the new campaign got underway, the goalkeeper no doubt looking forward to facing his old club Celtic again after his years in England and Ireland. But the planned visit to Parkhead on Saturday, 16 September 1933 was, ironically, a victim of the Scotland v Ireland international, with Celtic Park selected as the host venue.

There was then tragedy for the family six days later as baby Peter Shevlin junior passed away in the County Hospital in Bellshill, just 10 hours after his birth on Friday, 22 September 1933. It is quite incredible to think of the courage involved as heartbroken father Peter turned out for the Accies in a 2-2 draw with Third Lanark at Douglas Park just 24 hours later.

Both Celtic’s League clashes with the Accies would thus take place later in the season. Below is an extract from my forthcoming book, Celtic in the 1930s, a decade of triumph of tragedy, which covers the first of those matches and Peter’s performance against his old teammates.

Frank O’Donnell had scored a hat-trick in midweek, the youngster thriving on the service provided by his teammates in a 3-0 win. O’Donnell was on target again in Celtic’s next match, a visit to Douglas Park on Saturday, 14 April 1934 to take on Hamilton Academical. Willie Maley brought back old hands Jimmy McStay and Alec Thomson, with Malcolm MacDonald and Frank Murphy the two players sitting this one out. There was another familiar face in the home goal, former Celt Peter Shevlin, back in Scotland following spells in England and Ireland, the latter as player/manager of Shelbourne.

Peter had lost his Celtic place to young John Thomson back in February 1927, but he was outstanding that afternoon in Hamilton, beaten only by Frank O’Donnell’s penalty on the half-hour in a 1-1 draw. Englishman David Wilson levelled late on for Accies on a day when his countrymen beat Scotland 3-0 at Wembley. The three points earned that week enabled Celtic to overtake both Falkirk and St Johnstone to move up to eighth spot in the table.

Peter would not feature in the clash at Celtic Park on Monday, 23 April 1934, Jimmy Morgan between the posts in a 5-1 defeat for the Accies. Instead, he was part of the reserve side which won the Scottish Second XI Cup with a 4-1 aggregate win over great rivals Motherwell, the two legs played on the Wednesdays either side of that Parkhead clash. Another medal for Peter to add to his collection.

But there would be one more victory for Peter that season, and indeed a surprising final appearance for his beloved Celtic. It’s back to my forthcoming book to pick up that story.

The final action of the 1933/34 campaign saw Celtic play a match in north-eastern France on Sunday, 27 May 1934, the opposition consisting of the best professional players in the northern part of the country – Entente Professionelle du Nord.

Continued on the next page…

Pat Woods, the eminent Celtic historian, retrieved information on this game during a visit to the National Library in Paris. The select team comprised of players from three local clubs, Racing Club de Roubaix, Excelsior AC and SC Fives, the latter’s recently renovated home stadium of Stade Virnot in the eastern suburbs of Lille being the venue for the prestige match.

The opposition was strong. SC Fives had just finished runners-up in the French Championship, whilst fifth-placed Excelsior had beaten neighbours RC Roubaix to win the Coupe de France 12 months earlier, that match taking place at the Stade Olympique in Colombes. Excelsior had an ex-Celt on their books at that time, defender John Donoghue, who had moved there two years earlier. [Note that John Donoghue had played alongside Peter in the goalkeeper’s final competitive appearance for Celtic, the Scottish Cup-tie at Brechin City in February 1927]

The Celtic line-up for this match is also fairly unique, in that with regular goalkeeper Joe Kennaway now on holiday in the USA, former Celt Peter Shevlin was between the posts, presumably as a guest given that he was registered with Hamilton Academical, and indeed had played against Celtic just the previous month. The full Celtic team was as follows.

Peter Shevlin; Bobby Hogg & Peter McGonagle; Jock Morrison, Chic Geatons & George Paterson; Jimmy Delaney, John Crum, Frank O’Donnell, Malcolm MacDonald & Hugh O’Donnell.

The French side began strongly but were reduced to 10 men early on when centre-forward Norbert Van Caeneghem had to leave the field with an injury. This caused some confusion in the 8,000 crowd, perhaps unaware that substitutes were not allowed in Scottish football at that time, albeit it did not stop the Select team opening the scoring through their Austrian internationalist Heinrich Hiltl in the interim.

Willie Maley did consent to the introduction of a replacement player on the half-hour, Constant Tison from RC Roubaix joining the fray, and Entente were still ahead at the break. Six minutes into the second half, Hungarian Janos Kalmar doubled the French lead, but Celtic fought back with two goals in as many minutes through Malcolm MacDonald and Frank O’Donnell, albeit The Evening Times credits the first goal to Delaney.

Despite all-out attack from the Celts, the match was finally settled in favour of the hosts thanks to a late double from SC Fives’ French international forward Ernest Liberati.

As a footnote, SC Fives would merge with Olympique Lillois to form Lille OSC in 1944, whilst seven years earlier, Excelsior AC signed a young Argentinian defender named Helenio Herrera.

Whatever would become of him?

The 1934/35 season would be bittersweet for Peter. He would make the highest number of League appearances as Hamilton Academical finished fourth in the First Division, seven points behind title winners Rangers, whilst going all the way to the Scottish Cup final before losing out to the Ibrox men. Peter was outstanding in that cup run, particularly in the 2-1 semi-final over Aberdeen at Celtic Park on Saturday, 30 March 1935. But he would miss out on the final due to slice of huge misfortune. I’ll pick up on that later.

Peter would also enjoy a victory over his old club, a 4-2 win for Accies at Douglas Park on Saturday, 15 September 1934. Back to the book.

Douglas Park, Hamilton was the next port of call for an unchanged Celtic team four days later. The game got off to a flying start as Jimmy McGrory beat his old Celtic colleague Peter Shevlin to give the Hoops the lead after 20 minutes, only for Dave Wilson to equalise seconds later. A second scoring burst around the hour mark saw Bobby Reid and Bertie Harrison push Accies 3-1 in front before Jimmy Delaney reduced the deficit. With Celts chasing a point, Wilson sealed the match for the hosts with his second goal five minutes from time.

The return at Celtic Park saw a Hoops win but another outstanding performance from Peter, once again recorded in the forthcoming book.

Seven days later, on Saturday, 12 January 1935, the Celtic supporters would look forward to welcoming two of their own back to Parkhead, where Hamilton Academical were the visitors. As it transpired, former skipper Jimmy McStay would not be fit enough to play, although he would recover to lead his men all the way to the Scottish Cup Final that season, ensuring that there would be Hoops at Hampden, albeit in the red-and-white colours of the Accies.

Wearing the gloves for the Douglas Park outfit was Peter Shevlin. Like the great McGrory, he was another former St Roch’s man from those heady, early years, having started his junior career at Pollok.

Continued on the next page…

Celtic and Accies now presented the immediate threat to Rangers, both clubs tucked in two points behind the League leaders, and they would face off at Parkhead as the Hoops run of tough fixtures continued. Both teams would be without key players, Peter McGonagle suspended for 14 days and fined £20 in midweek for his dismissal at Ibrox whilst as mentioned above, Jimmy McStay was deemed unfit to face his former club. Jock Morrison replaced McGonagle, Chic Geatons came in for the injured Malcolm MacDonald at centre-half and Jimmy Delaney replaced Frank O’Donnell in a revamped attack.

It was another Old Bhoy who stole the show, Peter Shevlin in the Accies goal defying Celtic time and again, albeit he was still beaten three times on the day as Celts recorded a 3-1 win. Jimmy McGrory was on target within the first five minutes, a Delaney double in an eight-minute burst just before the break settling the issue of the points much to the delight of the majority of the 28,000 crowd. David Wilson did manage a consolation goal for the visitors with eight minutes remaining, but the contest was over long before that.

Accies hopes of silverware now resided in the Scottish Cup, but there was a cruel sting in the tail for the man who did so much to get them there.

There was a 10-day gap before Celtic’s final League game of the season could be played. That was due to the Scottish Cup final between Rangers and Hamilton Academical at Hampden on Saturday, 20 April 1935.

Having won five Scottish Cup-winners medals as a Celtic player – the last two as captain – the now 40-year-old Jimmy McStay would play for the Accies at the end of his highly successful first season at Douglas Park. His former Parkhead teammate Peter Shevlin would not be so lucky. He had kept goal for Celtic as they won the Scottish Cup at Hampden in 1925, the Hoops beating Dundee 2-1 thanks to a last-minute Jimmy McGrory strike, in a game forever remembered for Patsy Gallacher’s ‘somersault’ equaliser, before winning a Championship medal the following season, the last title won by Celts to this point.

Peter returned to the national stadium with the Bhoys for the 1926 Scottish Cup final against St Mirren, however on this occasion he would be blamed in some quarters for the two goals which took the trophy to Paisley.

Shevlin would now suffer more Scottish Cup heartache. Having been man-of-the-match in the semi-final win over Aberdeen, the injury suffered in a meaningless League game with Queen of the South seven days before the final cost him his place against Rangers at Hampden. He had to look on from the stand in the driving rain as Jimmy Morgan performed heroics in the Accies goal, the young deputy saving a Bob McPhail penalty as Rangers edged home by the odd goal in three to complete back-to-back Doubles.

Peter was then released by Hamilton, finishing his football career at nearby Albion Rovers.

Peter did indeed receive a free transfer from Douglas Park, joineing another Lanarkshire First Division outfit in Albion Rovers on 7 May 1935. He was appointed captain at Cliftonhill and played 16 League games there before retiring at the end of the 1935/36 season. He did not feature in either of the matches with Celtic that campaign.

Just five years after his playing career ended, whilst living in the English Midlands in 1941, Peter was a civilian casualty of the second world war, seriously injured following a Luftwaffe bombing campaign and spending months in hospital thereafter. Sadly, he would never fully recover, passing away seven years later in Withington Community Hospital, Manchester on 10 October 1948. Peter was only 45 years old. You may recall that his father Hugh had been one year younger than that when he died in Hamilton 40 years earlier. Peter’s mother Helen had a much longer life. She also passed away in Hamilton, but not until 1943, aged 78.

Just over six years after Peter died, he and his wife Rose were reunited. She passed away on 18 February 1955 at the County Hospital in Cleland, aged 53, and at that time was living with their son John at 33 John Street, Craigneuk. She is described as the widow of Peter Shevlin, Professional Footballer.

Rest in peace, Peter, another man who fought through adversity to live the dream.

And as a final aside, the Celtic connection for the Shevlin family didn’t end with Peter’s involvement back in the 1930s. His cousin just happens to be the grandfather of one of the stalwarts of the Celtic FC Foundation Supporters’ Committee, Lorna Shevlin, who will be honouring Peter and all of the other Celts who made the first 50 years of our club’s existence so special at our unique event in Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza hotel on Saturday, 23 March 2024.

That’s an international weekend so please do yourself a favour and get your ‘Celtic fix’ by joining us for what promises to be something extra special. An evening full of fun, music, laughter and Celtic content you just won’t get anywhere else. Tickets available at this link.

Hail Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on Twitter/X @Boola_vogue

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