Neither Doyle nor Dawson would feature at Hampden as a full-strength Celtic side took the field. Tom Doyle would feature three times in the first team the following season, all three games played within a week in October 1937. He was between the sticks in place of Joe Kennaway for the visit of Clyde on Saturday, 2 October 1937, the Bully Wee succumbing to a 3-1 defeat, despite the best efforts of former Celt, Willie Hughes. Four days later, Tom kept a clean sheet at Roker Park, as Celtic beat Sunderland 2-0 in the battle of the FA Cup-holders from north and south of the border. The Wearside club would face Celtic again at the end of that season, in the Empire Exhibition Cup quarter-final at Ibrox. Doyle’s final game for the club came on Saturday, 9 October 1938, at Gayfield Park, Arbroath. It would prove an unhappy farewell, as nine-man Celtic, both Willie Lyon and Jimmy Delaney crocked in the first-half, lost 2-0 to the hosts. He was freed by Celtic at the end of the season, subsequently joining Rochdale.
Despite his two goals in six days, Danny Dawson’s days at Celtic were also numbered. He would feature in the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup success the following month, victories over Clyde at Parkhead then Queen’s Park at Hampden, Celts behind three times to the Spiders in the Hampden final before a late double from Jimmy McGrory enabled the trophy to be retained, then disappear from the scene.
He joined Queen of the South in the summer of 1938, returning to Parkhead with the Doonhammers for the 5-1 defeat on Wednesday, 12 October that year, as the defending champions inflicted a second 4-goal hammering on their closest challengers, having beaten Rangers 6-2 at home in September. The Bhoys had also beaten Kilmarnock, now managed by Jimmy McGrory, 9-1 and Raith Rovers 6-1, both at Parkhead, Hearts 5-1 at Tynecastle and Albion Rovers 8-1 at Cliftonhill, in a blistering start to the season. Before the end of that month, Third Lanark would also be hit for six in the east end. Dawson would take a degree of satisfaction by scoring Queen’s goal in the 1-1 draw at Palmerston in January 1939 and again in his side’s 3-1 defeat by Celtic in April 1940 in the Regional League at the same venue.
The following season, Danny was on the books at Hamilton Academical, however, his movements beyond that in wartime football have proven more difficult to pin down. The Celtic Wiki states that he had a loan spell at Third Lanark, whilst there is evidence to suggest he signed with a Canadian Major League outfit called King Edward in June 1945, by which time he would have turned 33 years-old.
Thanks, as always, to the Celtic Wiki, a wonderful source of reference information.
Hail Hail!
Matt Corr
