TOM’S ROVERS DAYS
THERE ARE UPS AND DOWNS IN EVERY FOOTBALLER’S LIFE AND THE 1970 FAI CUP FINAL WAS CERTAINLY A CAREER HIGHLIGHT FOR TOM LALLY AS HE TELLS CATHAL MULLANEY
FROM experiencing the wrath of Sligo Rovers’ suporters after a shock loss to Longford Town in the FAI Cup to a couple of years later being in and amongst the Lisbon Lions as a Celtic goalkeeper, the great Tom Lally has very nearly done and seen it all in football. The affable Galwegian, who enjoyed two stints at Rovers, the first including the memorable cup final saga of 1970, is still enthusiastic as ever about the game and has immersed himself in coaching goalkeepers of all ages, currently at Mervue United in his native county, since his playing days concluded.
Supporters of Rovers during that era will remember the composure, style and ability of a young 20-year-old who joined the club in 1968, and made the position his own, so much so that Celtic came in for him amidst interest from a whole host of British clubs.
He rejoined in the final years of his career in the late 1980s, though he admits that he and Rovers were struggling for form at a time when the club’s finances were in a dire state.
Nonetheless, even though he spent close to three years in the Celtic dressing room in togging out alongside the heroes of their 1968 European Cup success, Lally refers to his time at Sligo Rovers as ‘absolutely fabulous’.
“I was actually playing junior football in
Galway but I had a trial with Shelbourne at the time, I think the manager’s name was Gibby McKenzie and somehow or other I got a trial with Sligo Rovers.
“I went up and played it and Tony Bartley was the manager at the time so he decided to take a chance and sign me,” Tom remembers of his signing for the Bit O’Red.
“I was very raw but he did take that chance, I signed in 1968, and I had two of the happiest years of my life in football at Sligo during that time. There’s no doubt about that.”
Coming from Galway city, Lally’s eyes were firmly on carving out a career as a full-time footballer from an early stage in his life. He showed real promise at underage level, earning himself a notable reputation having played for Ireland at youths level, as well as a series of impressive club displays in Galway.
“I actually had set my sights at being a fulltime professional footballer at a very young age and I set out to do that, it was a kind of lonely thing because at that time there wasn’t that many people who could advise you or actually tell you what it entails and the real dedication and ability that you have to have.”
Although he wasn’t signed by Shels - one of the country’s top outfits at the time - Lally would find a full-time opportunity at Sligo Rovers, as he gave up a steady job in Galway to take the plunge into the professional game.
‘I remember it as a great adventure for me and a great challenge for me as well, to go there and change my lifestyle and devote myself totally to football,” Tom recalls.
“I was 20. I was employed at the time by CIE, I was a bus conductor in Galway playing amateur football with the local club.
“It was a full-time commitment with Sligo, we trained Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and our games that time were on a Sunday.
“I moved down to Sligo and I was in digs in two different places when I was there, I came back then for a while training with the part-timers on Tuesday and Thursday nights, there was a guy at the club at the time called Mick Hennigan, Mick took me under his wing and gave me the extra sessions and undoubtedly because of his input into my career, there was an improvement.”
Although only new onto the scene, Lally dislodged the existing number one, the late Gordon Brett, and established himself as the club’s number one.
He, and the club, made a promising start to the 1968-69 season but a run of poor form, culminating in that shock loss to non-league Longford Town in that ill-fated FAI Cup clash which sent shockwaves through the club. It ultimately cost manager Tony Bartley his job, Tom contends.
“The pitch in Longford at the time, not making excuses, was the old greyhound track and it was in a desperate, desperate state but we shouldn’t have lost that game, it infuriated the support at the time and I’m nearly sure it was the reason that Tony Bartley departed the club.
“Kenny Turner took over and obviously players were released and he brought in his own and the following year then we were probably a little bit more consistent, had a very good cup run and obviously that famous three games with Bohemians.”
The 1970 FAI Cup final is not just part of Sligo Rovers folklore, but of national footballing folklore.
The cup final in those days went to a replay, and another replay if needed. It took three games to separate the sides, before Bohemians eventually clinched the honours.
“It almost broke Sligo, with all the people who went up and supported the team,” Tom says.
“I’ve never experienced support like it, I’d make a comparison with Celtic, where the support was as fanatical as it was in Sligo. It’s a great soccer town to be honest about it.
“My memory of it [the FAI Cup campaign] was there was a great sense of camaraderie in the groups of players that were there, there was a feeling about the situation that we were going to have one of these seasons. I can’t put my finger on that feeling but there was a calm confidence within the group that we were going to have a successful run at the cup.
I’VE NEVER EXPERIENCED SUPPORT LIKE IT, I’D MAKE A COMPARISON WITH CELTIC, WHERE THE SUPPORT WAS AS FANATICAL AS IT WAS IN SLIGO. IT’S A GREAT SOCCER TOWN
- TOM LALLY ON THE SLIGO ROVERS FANS DURING THE 1970 FAI CUP RUN
“It’s unheard of now. I think there was nearly 35,000 at the first game, the nil-all draw, the following Wednesday we played the replay again up in Dalymount, which was a little bit unfair as it is Bohs home ground, but I think there was 12,000 at that and that’s a game possibly we should have won.
“Then in the third game we took the lead, Johnny Cooke scored the goal, they got the equaliser through Johnny Fulham and then Tony O’Connell scored the winner up on the right-hand side. I’m still catching that ball, 50 years afterwards!” Having gone so agonisingly close, you still get the sense from Tom 50 years on that this was one they could, and possibly should have won, on any of the three days.
“There’s no doubt we could have won it, there’s no doubt about that,” he insists.
“But sometimes in football or in life indeed, there comes a fear, fear creeps in about winning and you become a little bit conservative and really and truly when we took the lead, I felt that that situation we stepped off a little bit, we didn’t step forward and Bohs got into the game a bit more, of course there was a great save from David Pugh and that seemed to me to be the turning point of the game.
“In sport, you’re not going to win every time, the main character you have to have is when you’re down like that, you have to bounce back again and I know it’s not easy,
I’ve been in that situation quite a few times, when you’re down on the ground you either stay down there or you get up and that was the feeling I always had in my own career, there were going to be disappointments and you had to take them on board and enjoy the victories when they came on stream.”
Having spent close to three years at Celtic, the time came for Tom to return to Ireland and he initially returned to football with St Patrick’s Athletic, with whom he lost an FAI Cup final in 1974 against Finn Harps.
A decade later, he was player/manager with Galway United in another cup showpiece, but they came unstuck against Shamrock Rovers. A couple of years later, he was back with Sligo Rovers.
“The late Gerry Mitchell gave me a call, I was nearly 38 years of age at the time but he more or less needed somebody, so I went back,” he says.
“It was a bad, bad time for Sligo Rovers. There was financial difficulties, there were a number of players playing from Dublin who weren’t really that committed or fit even and it wasn’t a good time. It wasn’t a good time for Sligo and it wasn’t a good time for me personally because I felt that I let myself and the club down by not being at the level of performance that I would have required of myself in the past. It was a bad season.”