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reland v Scotland Home International match, 1913 — The maroon cap is from the Ireland v Scotland Home International match played at Dalymount Park, Dublin on Saturday, 15 March 1913. Photo Matt Corr

Willie Maley’s Celtic ‘Team of all the Talents’

The maroon cap in the photo is from the Ireland v Scotland Home International match played at Dalymount Park, Dublin on Saturday, 15 March 1913. There were no Celts in the Scotland team which won 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Willie Reid and Alec Bennett of Rangers, Jimmy ‘Napoleon’ McMenemy having been forced to withdraw due to injury a few days earlier. Bennett and McMenemy had played together at both Rutherglen Glencairn and Willie Maley’s Celtic ‘Team of all the Talents’ before the former switched to Ibrox in 1908.

James McMenemy and Alex Bennett. — Jimmy McMenemy and Alex Bennett. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Will Quinn was drafted in as Scotland trainer for that match in Dublin, a late replacement for future Rangers manager Bill Struth, who was required for duty at his club Clyde’s Scottish Cup quarter-final replay with Dundee at Shawfield the same afternoon.

And a mile or so to the east, Celtic lost 1-0 to Motherwell in a League clash at Parkhead, ‘Trooper Joe’ Cassidy making his Hoops debut in the absence of the great McMenemy. That result enabled Rangers to pull two points clear of the Celts at the top of the table, following their 1-1 draw with third-placed Hearts at Tynecastle. Both Glasgow clubs had eight League matches still to play.

In our previous article (see below), we covered the events at Belfast’s Solitude in November 1912 which saw Celtic left-back Joe Dodds viciously assaulted by home supporters following a match between the Irish and Scottish League teams. Incredibly, there would be yet more violence in Dublin just four months later, as their full international sides clashed. Here is the link.

Photo courtesy of Steven Quinn — Players back row from left: Dodds, Gordon, Lawson, Hampton, Walker, Reid.

READ THIS…Pistols fired as Celtic’s Joe Dodds attacked and beaten by mob in Belfast

The Irish team were confident, having enjoyed their first-ever win over England the previous month, a 2-1 victory at Windsor Park, Belfast, an outcome which saw Ireland’s Lord Lieutenant John Hamilton-Gordon attend the match in Dublin to present commemorative medals to the home captain, Everton centre-half Val Harris, and John Ferguson, secretary of the Irish FA.

This match was made infamous by the incident at full-time which saw Scotland winger George Robertson charged with assault, the accusation being that the Menstrie-born Sheffield Wednesday star broke a spectator’s leg as he attempted to retrieve the ball from the crowd. In the aftermath of the game, the Scottish squad was followed back to the team’s hotel where another of their English-based players, John ‘Jock’ Walker of Swindon Town, was assaulted.