As a Bhoy brought up in Springburn, in the north side of Glasgow, living above the Cowlairs Co-operative Society premises on the main road for the first twenty years of my life, I’ve always been curious about the football clubs of the past who came from the same area. I’ve finally done something about it and discovered that there are some real Celtic connections.
I’ll start this story back on 28 January 1888, as Cambuslang win the first-ever Glasgow Cup competition, the only one not to feature Celtic, who had been founded in November of the previous year and had yet to play a game. Cambuslang had beaten Rangers 3-1 in the Final at Second Hampden. Older readers will know this venue as Cathkin Park, home to Third Lanark from 1903 until their sad demise in 1967, and currently the focus of some dedicated people, working hard to uncover the remains of the old terracing and preserve a football heritage.
This would prove to be Cambuslang’s only Glasgow Cup success.
On the following Saturday, 4 February 1888, the newly-crowned Glaswegian champions would face the best team in the land, Renton, in the Scottish Cup Final at the same venue. They would find Renton a different proposition, being on the wrong end of a 6-1 scoreline, a Cup Final record unchallenged until May 1972, when a Dixie Deans hat-trick inspired Celtic to beat much-fancied Hibernian by the same margin. For 130 years, it has never been bettered.
In the victorious Renton side that day were two men who would later carve their names into the history of another club, James Kelly and Neil McCallum. Kelly was the Billy McNeill of that era, a dominating central defender and leader. He left Renton to become Celtic’s first captain and Scotland skipper, scoring the second goal in our history in a 5-2 victory over the Rangers ‘Swifts’ at the original Celtic Park, on 28 May, 1888. In a decade of service to the ‘Bould Bhoys’, he was part of the first Celtic side to win both the Scottish Cup (1892) and Scottish League (1893), the first of his three Championship titles.
On his retiral in 1897, he became a director at Celtic, a post he held until his death in 1932. James spent five years as chairman from 1909 and was the father of Bob Kelly, who carried out the same role between 1947 and his own passing in 1971, having succeeded his late father as a Celtic director, back in 1932.
Winger Neil McCallum has the distinction of scoring Celtic’s first-ever goal, in the 5-2 game mentioned above, a header in the opening ten minutes. With Kelly, he was part of the Renton side which became unofficial ‘World Champions’ just nine days earlier, beating English FA Cup-winners, West Bromwich Albion, 4-1 at Cathkin Park.
He had also scored a double in the 6-1 Scottish Cup Final win against Cambuslang on the same ground.
Interestingly, whilst McCallum’s first goal is widely known, Kelly’s is much less so and, even more bizarrely, the fact that Tom Maley scored Celtic’s first hat-trick that day rarely gets mentioned. Tom was actually the signing target for Brother Walfrid and club patrons, John Glass and Pat Welsh, when they called at the Maley household in Cathcart on that evening all those years ago. He was then joined at Celtic by his brother Willie, who just happened to be at home at the time. The rest, as they say, is history.
In addition to those mentioned above, that first Celtic line-up, consisting of guest players from the Irish community in Scotland, also featured Dumbarton’s John Madden. Followers of early Celtic history will know that Johnny moved to Slavia Prague in the early part of the twentieth century, making such an impression that he is revered to this day as ‘the Father of Czech football’. Celtic played in Prague in July 2017, in a match to open a stand named in his honour.
The pioneer Celtic team also included one and possibly two players who had taken part in the first game to be played at the original Celtic Park. This had taken place earlier that month, on Tuesday, 8 May, International Exhibition Day in Glasgow.
The game was due to be played between the current and previous Scottish Cup-holders, Renton and Hibernian, the two sides having played a charity game at Walfrid’s request the previous year, 12,000 fans turning out at Clyde’s Dalmarnock home, Barrowfield Park, raising much-needed funds for the East End poor. However, as Renton later advised that the date was unsuitable, facing a Glasgow Charity Cup Final against Cambuslang the following Saturday, Celtic invited a team from Springburn, Cowlairs FC, to face the Edinburgh side on this historic occasion.
Almost 5,000 spectators watched the teams play out a goalless draw, the football gods thus allowing a Celt, Neil McCallum, to be first on the scoresheet at the new ground, some three weeks later.
Inside-forward, Michael Dunbar played for Hibs in that first game, before signing for Celtic. Mick would perform at both Celtic Parks over the next five years, part of the side which won our first major honour, the Glasgow Cup of 1891, and League title in his final season of 92/93.
He had scored six goals on the run to Celtic’s first Scottish Cup Final, the ‘Snow Final’ of 1889, which was lost to Third Lanark, after a replay. This included a hat-trick against Cowlairs, in an 8-0 Second Round victory at Celtic Park in September 1888.
He would appear to have enjoyed facing the Springburn club, five of his ten Celtic goals being scored against them. Mick’s first-team spot had been taken by the great Sandy ‘Duke’ McMahon, by the time he retired in 1893, returning to the club as a Director in 1897, a role he retained until his death in 1921.
He was joined on the Board at that time by ’88 colleagues James Kelly and Tom Maley, whilst a third, Willie Maley, became Celtic’s first-ever team manager, at the tender age of 29 years.
I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to ascertain if James McLaughlin also played for Hibernian against Cowlairs in that initial Celtic Park match.
Born in September 1864, at 447 Springburn Rd, just a few hundred yards from where I grew up at 399a, he started his career as a junior at Cowlairs and was the senior team captain before joining Hibs in 1887 then Celtic, one year later. He played at full-back in the 5-2 inaugural victory over Rangers, then, remarkably, later took over as goalkeeper, between the sticks for Celtic’s first-ever trophy win in May 1889 (more on that to follow).
He left the following year to join Battlefield and on his retirement from playing, he became one of the top referees of the era, representing Celtic in that role for many years. James passed away in March 1946 and lies in rest in St Kentigern’s, Lambhill.
The 8-0 Scottish Cup tie mentioned above wasn’t the first fixture between Celtic and Cowlairs. As that first game on Celtic Park was playing out on 8 May 1888, between the Springburn side and Hibernian, over in the west end of Glasgow, an event was kicking off which would have significance for the history of the new club.
The first Glasgow International Exhibition was opened at Kelvingrove Park by the future King Edward VII. A football tournament was arranged to coincide with the exhibition, running through August until early September of that year, featuring the top sixteen clubs of the day. The games were all played on the area now used as tennis and bowling surfaces, in front of the present Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, constructed by the turn of the century using funds generated by the Exhibition.
Thus, after the fixture against Rangers and three further home friendlies in June, a 1-0 win over Dundee Harp, a 3-3 draw with Mossend Swifts and a 4-3 defeat by neighbours, Clyde, Celtic played its first competitive game against Abercorn, in the First Round of the Glasgow Exhibition Cup at Kelvingrove on Wednesday, 1 August, 1888 (1/8/88!). Although details of the match are sketchy, it ended 1-1 and Celts included Kelly, McCallum and Madden in their line-up but neither Maley brother. Strangely, there does not appear to have been any replay, however, Celtic then advanced to the next round at the expense of the Paisley side.
Three weeks later, Celtic met Dumbarton Athletic in the last eight of the competition at the same venue. This club would later be absorbed by neighbours, Dumbarton, who would go on to win the inaugural Scottish League Championship in 1891, finishing level on points with Rangers as the title was shared for the first and only time, following a drawn ‘decider’. On this August night, Celtic secured a first competitive victory, beating Athletic by three goals to one.
On Wednesday, 29 August, Celtic lined up against local favourites, Partick Thistle, in our first-ever Semi-final. Thistle were at that time based literally ‘across the road’ in Overnewton St., in what is now Yorkhill. They would have several homes in the west end before moving to their current ground in Maryhill, in 1909. The white-clad Celts would beat the navy-shirted Jags by a solitary late goal, sadly, again, the scorer unknown, to face Cowlairs in our first Final.
If Celtic’s progress to the final of the Exhibition Cup had been laboured, then the Springburn side’s run had been pretty emphatic, beating Thistle then Clyde, both Dalmarnock-based clubs, by 9-1 and 5-0 respectively, before defeating St Mirren by a single goal in the last four.
So it was then that Celtic played its maiden Cup Final against Cowlairs at Kelvingrove Park on Thursday, 6 September, 1888, just over three months after our inaugural game. There would be another historic Thursday final for the fledgling club, some 79 years later. However, unlike Lisbon, this would not be our night, goals from Stewart and Bishop securing the Glasgow Exhibition trophy for Springburn, as ‘the Irishmen’ were abused by the crowd then defeated.
They would not have long to wait for revenge. Five days before the final, Celtic had played and won its first Scottish Cup tie, 5-1 against local side Shettleston at Celtic Park. Some reports would appear to credit left-winger, John O’Connor, with all five goals, however, this is as yet unconfirmed. Celtic’s opponents in the Second Round would be…Cowlairs, just sixteen days after the Kelvingrove defeat. Retribution was duly taken…and how, a Dunbar hat-trick, another McCallum double and goals from Groves, Kelly and Tom Maley securing an 8-0 rout.
There would be two more meetings between the sides that season, both resulting in wins for the new Bhoys. On 13 April, 1889, Celtic won 1-0 in our first visit to Gourlay Park, home of Cowlairs. The visitors were missing their two Scottish internationalists, James Kelly and James McLaren, both on duty at the Oval, as the Scots came from two goals down to defeat England 3-2, McLaren with the last-minute winner.
He was another who had featured for Hibernian against Cowlairs at Celtic Park in May of the previous year, going on to make history as the first Celt to captain Scotland, in the next game against the Auld Enemy, at Second Hampden in April 1890, a 1-1 draw. His team-mate, Kelly, would also skipper Scotland, lining up against England in Richmond, in April 1893, together with colleagues, Willie Maley, Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell. Sadly, they would be on the wrong end of a 5-2 defeat that day.
Four weeks later, Celtic and Cowlairs met again, in the final of the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup at Barrowfield Park in Dalmarnock. In the First Round, Celtic had defeated Clydesdale at Titwood Park, the Kinning Park side, resplendent in their blue and orange hoops, surrendering to a 5-1 defeat on 29 December 1888. The Second Round saw Celts paired with another club from Springburn, Northern FC, the tie resulting in a 4-1 Parkhead victory on 16 March, 1889.
That set up a fourth and final meeting between the two sides, in this, our debut season. Remarkably, it was a third final for the new club, having lost to Cowlairs at Kelvingrove then to Third Lanark at Second Hampden in our first Scottish Cup Final in February. It would be third time lucky for Celtic, a 6-1 (there’s that scoreline again!) win in front of 8,000 spectators securing an historic first trophy, the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup, almost one year to the day of Celtic Park’s opening game.
The goals on this momentous occasion were spread across five players. Johnny Coleman, another who had played for Hibernian against Cowlairs in the 0-0 draw that day, notched a double, with top-scorer, Willie Groves, Hugh Gallagher, Peter Dowds and Tom Maley also on target. As mentioned earlier, James McLaughlin, a fullback in our first game, that day became the first Celtic goalkeeper to be presented with a cup-winner’s medal. This medal is still owned and treasured by James’ family to this day, a priceless heirloom.
To Be Continued…
Hail, hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on twitter @Boola_vogue
Credit to the Scottish Football Archive, Hibernian Historical Trust and the Celtic Wiki on Kerrydale Street for invaluable reference information.
