MOVE TO CELTIC CAME AFTER INITIAL PERIOD WITH ROVERS
Soon after the 1970 FAI Cup final, Sligo Rovers were back on the trophy hunt in the Blaxnit Cup, a cross-border competition.
They reached the two-legged final - where they lost to Irish League outfit Coleraine 4-2 on aggregate - but displays from Tom Lally en route aroused interest from a number of cross channel clubs.
Indeed, one performance in particular brought about a conversation that still remains vivid for the Galway man to this day.
Tom says: “We played Derry City up in the Brandywell, and it was surrounded by sand bags and machine guns and helicopters, we won that game 1-0, Joey Wilson scored the goal.
“That was probably one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life that night.
“Afterwards I was told there was a gentleman who wanted to speak to me. I met the man anyway, and he was actually a Glasgow Rangers scout. He said to me that it’s an awful pity you’re a Catholic at the end of it!
“The question I asked him was how you judge or evaluate a player, I was fascinated by this. And he said the first four letters of the alphabet - A, B, C and D. A for ability, B for build, C for character and D for dedication. He said miss one of those, you have a chance, but miss two you have no chance. It made an awful lot of sense.”
There was interest from Crystal Palace too, but eventually Lally ended up at Celtic.
His arrival there for trials came after a suggestion from John Fallon, a former Mayor of Sligo and father of Celtic great Sean. After a trial period, there was a couple of weeks of negotiations between the clubs before a fee was eventually agreed.
Although he found regular opportunities in the first team hard to come by, Lally did make an impression and played a key part with the club’s all-conquering reserve side, famously referred to as the ‘Quality Street Gang’.
At first-team level, he enjoyed a number of appearances, particularly in exhibition matches which Celtic played on a regular basis at that time given their standing in the European game.
“I made my debut against Clyde in the Glasgow Cup and actually we had a very severe training session the day before, I felt it was severe anyway, and we lost to the part-timers, 2-1.
“I came onto the scene when the Lisbon Lions were still active with the exception of Ronnie Simpson, he was the goalkeeper that played in the European Cup final.
“They were a formidable group of players, they were all Scots lads, very, very competitive, very skilful.
“On a Wednesday we’d often have 11 v 11, we’d train in a place called Barrowfield that time. The criteria was 20 minutes two touch, 20 minutes one touch and 20 minutes two touch with a one touch finish and the speed of that game used to be unreal.”
Of course, Sean Fallon was a prominent figure at Celtic with Jock Stein at the time - both have gone into the annals of Celtic history - and Tom has fond memories of the Sligo man.
“The first practice match we had in Barrowfield, there was a number of injuries, and the two first choice goalkeepers were playing in goals. Sean Fallon played at centre-half, and I was playing left back but I had no left foot whatsoever,” Tom remembers with a chuckle.
“The late Jimmy Johnson was down that side of the field, and of course there was nobody in the world could touch him. Fallon kept shouting at me ‘ break his leg’ - he was really trying to intimidate him psychologically to make him a little bit scared!
“But it was a really fantastic environment to be brought into, there were so many talented players.”