TONY DUNNE BECAME A MAN UNITED EURO LEGEND BUT CLUB DENIED HIM MORE RECOGNITION BY HIS COUNTRY...
THE greatest moments, and some of them were truly great, came in the red shirt of his club and not the green one of his national team. Tony Dunne, who passed away on Monday at his home near Manchester aged 78, achieved something which will live forever, the first Dubliner to win the European Cup (with Manchester United in 1968) and one of only 10 players from the Republic to have won it.
Just seven players made more first-team appearances for United and Bobby Charlton reckoned the man from Drimnagh was “the quickest defender I ever saw... the best left-back in Europe for years.”
His time at United ended badly, in acrimony, as Dunne was one of a number of legendary players forced out by a new manager in 1973, his 13 years of service soured by penny-pinching and small-mindedness.
In later years, Dunne (above) would have to sell most of his memorabilia, including his European Cup medal.
At least he got to scale those heights of medals (six major trophies at United) and glory.
But, in a story which pretty much sums up the era when he played, Dunne experienced frustration and disappointment when playing for his country.
Having won the European Cup in 1968, Dunne’s Republic side finished bottom of their qualifying groups for the next two tournaments.
He was one of four Irish players from United’s league-winning team of 1965 who had real hopes of qualifying for the 1966 World Cup, only to be denied not just by Spanish opponents but catastrophic decision-making by an amateur FAI.
In between his debut, at Dalymount Park, in 1962 and his final international appearance in 1975, the Republic of Ireland played 65 internationals but Dunne played in just 33 of them and was on the losing side more often (18 times) than the winning one (11).
Getting picked was not the problem: getting released by Matt Busby was.
“I should have had at least 100 caps,” Dunne told author Chris Moore in ‘United Irishmen’.
He explained that Busby’s desire to block him from Republic duty was due to the lack of professionalism at the FAI then.
He played in seven qualifying campaigns but the one that hurt most was for the 1966 World Cup. After games home and away to a Spanish side who were European champions, a place at the finals went down to a play-off, at a neutral venue.
The FAI wanted Wembley, the Spanish suggested Paris. The short-sighted penny-pinchers in the FAI were tempted by Spain’s offer to pay the travel costs, so hosting rights went to Paris, where 30,000 Spanish fans cheered on a win.
He helped record a 4-0 win in his final international, back where it all started (Dalymount Park), over Turkey in October 1975.
By then Dunne was an ex-united man, one of a batch of players axed by Tommy Docherty.
“Docherty wanted rid of me,” Dunne said in ‘United Irishmen’.
“He just threw me out and it was a nasty way he did it.”
Asked about his lowest moment at the club, he said: “Leaving the club the way I did. No shame in leaving, it was just the way I did.”
This week, United hailed Dunne as one of their greatest-ever full backs.