Inside Track: Louth footballers played Gaelic at Wembley

The old Wembley Stadium housed its last game on this day, October 7th, twenty-five years ago. It’s best remembered as the venue for England’s World Cup final win over West Germany, other internationals and FA Cup finals.

Not too well known, if at all, by the younger generation, is that it used to be the venue for an annual GAA football match. It was held on Whit Monday, and would attract a crowd of around 30,000, the vast majority of them ex-pats.

READ NEXT: Inside Track: Some things we could do without in the sporting arena

Louth never had a game there, but a couple of players well known in this county did line out. Both Mickey Brady and Seán Óg Flood wore the Louth jersey, the latter on the day of the All-Ireland win over Cork.

Brady might also have made the team had he not transferred back to his native Cavan a short time earlier. He had played at midfield for Louth in the 1956/’57 league, figuring at midfield in five matches, alongside, at different times, Stephen White, Kevin Beahan, Paddy Butterly and Dan O’Neill.

A provincial medal did come the Roche Emmets clubman’s way, however, Cavan dethroning the great All-Ireland-winning Down team in 1962. By then, Flood was also in the Breffni team, his work with the ESB taking him to the Ulster county.

Cavan were expected to win when they met Roscommon in the All-Ireland semi-final, but there was a surprise in store, the Connacht men winning by 1-8 to 1-6 despite missing a penalty.

It wasn’t Flood, however, who saved Don Feeley’s shot, but Jim McDonnell, who had taken over in goals from the injured Louthman in the first half.

It was as the reigning Ulster champions that Cavan got the invite to play at Wembley, with Flood and Brady – both happily still with us – lining out.

It’s doubtful if details of those Whit Monday matches were included when it came to writing the history of Wembley. What would have been were the first and last soccer matches played there.

The opener was the 1923 FA Cup final in which Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United 1-0. It was 77 years when the last FA Cup final was played, and Bolton went very close to again being involved.

They were out against Aston Villa in the semi-final, and with the game well into extra-time, Dean Holdsworth missed the proverbial sitter, somehow steering the ball wide from six yards with an unguarded goal in front of him. Villa went on to be beaten by Chelsea in the decider.

With the wrecking balls in place, the last match to be played at Wembley was a repeat of the 1966 World Cup. It was a qualifier for the 2002 World Cup finals, and Kevin Keegan was in charge of the England team.

Taking on what was reported at the time as being “the poorest German team in living memory”, England were put on the back foot early on when, after Paul Scholes had put in a rash tackle, Dietmar Hamann scored the resulting free, beating David Seaman.

Dietmar Hamann? That’s ‘Didi’, now a regular pundit with RTE television. He had the honour of scoring the last goal at the old stadium, the England defeat ending Keegan’s reign as the Three Lions’ manager.

The first game at the new Wembley was the 2007 FA Cup final, and just as they had done in 2000, Chelsea got the verdict, this time beating Manchester United with a late Didier Drogba goal.