Golden days when ‘Villa and mighty Rovers locked horns

The Hoops. It's hard to keep them down. Shamrock Rovers that is. As we know they won the League of Ireland Premier the other week, their 20th title, more than any other club. Loathe them (and I know some who do) or admire them they have a wonderful history.

An article I came across on the internet the other day revealed an amazing fact; over 60 players who turned out for the Rovers down the decades have also represented the Republic of Ireland senior team. The Rovers had some great teams down the decades, some big days. They went close to defeating the mighty Bayern Munich in the 1960s in the old UEFA Cup.

One of those who played against Gerd Muller and the German giants was striker Mick Leech, a man I have spoken to several times. Mick told me the story about how he played for the Republic in a tournament in Brazil in 1972. The Irish squad spent a couple of weeks in Brazil where they played four games against Iran, Ecuador, Chile and Portugal - but they had only ONE set of jerseys. On no account could the players swap jerseys at the end of a game - but I digress.

Shamrock Rovers, it can be said, are the Real Madrid of League of Ireland football but back in 1975 they came perilously close to getting knocked out of the FAI Cup by a team well known in these parts - Parkvilla.

When the Navan side were drawn to play the Hoops there must have been those involved with the Navan club who feared the worst. The proverbial pasting. Granted, Rovers were going through something of a lull in the 1970s yet they were still a major force to be reckoned with.

To make matters even more intriguing Parkvilla were drawn at home but in light of the significance of the fixture they booked Oriel Park. Hundreds of fans decamped from Navan to Dundalk for the day to support the team in claret and blue. The 'gate' was £520;quite a sum at the time.

The Rovers teams included a number of international including Pat Dunne, the goalkeeper who was signed by Matt Busby and who helped United win a league title in 1965, along with Georgie Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Tony Dunne and the rest. Also in the Rovers team in '75 was Tommy McConville from Dundalk; a classy centre-back who played several times for the Republic.

That day against Parkvilla, Tommy played in midfield and, by all accounts, he had a torrid afternoon - like the rest of the Rovers. The Dublin giants were fortunate to escape with a 0-0 draw. "Gallant non-leaguers Parkvilla from Navan caused a major upset by holding once proud Shamrock Rovers to a scoreless draw in yesterday's second round FAI match at Oriel Park," reported the Irish Independent the following day.

"Plucky" Parkvilla certainly weren't short of their own heroes. Goalkeeper John Gorman was picked out for the manner in which he kept the Hoops at bay. The defensive unit of player/coach Ray Keogh, Gerry Bradley, Christy Lougheed and Liam Holohan, combined to build powerful battlements against the Rovers attacks.

Bradley was particularly impressive. He didn't give Rovers' much-vaunted player Mick Cooke a look in. Cooke was replaced by 'A Ward' as the papers reported. He was none other than former rugby international Tony Ward who played for Rovers around that time. Even Wardy couldn't get past Bradley.

Another undaunted by the sight of the famous green and white hooped jerseys was 'Villa's Joe Garvey whose feet were sprinkled with fairydust. Joe showed real class along the wing. "He gave Rovers the runaround with his clever ball control," reported the Meath Chronicle.

The Navan "non-leaguers" even had the temerity to go close to scoring a couple of times. A stinging Keogh shot forced a smart save from Dunne. The Rovers netminder also managed to "scramble" a John Nolan effort off the line. At the end the 'Villa players were applauded off by their fans. Such days can be golden for many of those involved. Cherished memories.

And so it was onto the replay at Milltown the following Thursday afternoon. It is surely safe to assume there wasn't much work done around Navan that day. Rovers won the replay 5-1 but what an adventure it turned out for Parkvilla. The week they took on the biggest club in Irish soccer - and went close to causing a cup upset to beat all cup upsets.