Cork F.C.

Did You Know?

• Fordsons' train came under fire while passing near Blarney during the Irish Civil War, en route to an FAI Cup semi-final against Alton United.
• Jimmy Turnbull scored 68 goals in the 1935–36 season, including a record 37 league goals and 11 in the cup campaign.
• Two Cork players, Owen Madden and Jack O'Reilly, were suspended for three years by the FAI after signing for Norwich City without a fee being paid to Cork.
• Fordsons won the 1929–30 Munster Senior Cup with a reserve team.
• The club was forced to concede an away league game to Shelbourne in 1937–38 because they could not raise funds to travel.

History

Harry Buckle, a former Ireland international, moved to Cork in 1921 to work for the Ford Motor Company. Finding little association football activity in the city, he founded Ford F.C. and helped establish the South Munster League. By 1922–23 the club had been renamed Fordsons, after the Fordson tractor, and the South Munster and North Munster leagues merged into the Munster Senior League. Fordsons won their first Munster Senior Cup that season and their first Munster Senior League title in 1923–24, qualifying for the FAI Cup.

On 23 February 1924 Bill O'Hagan became the first Fordsons player to earn representative honours, playing for an FAI XI against Celtic. Fordsons reached the FAI Cup final in 1923–24, losing 1–0 to Athlone Town. In 1925–26 they won the cup, defeating Shamrock Rovers 3–2 after twice coming from behind. The final was remembered for Rovers' Bob Fullam withdrawing from a challenge with Bill O'Hagan. In 1930 Ford ended its association with the club, which was renamed Cork. The club folded in 1938.

Notable former players

Harry Chatton, Tom Davis, and Owen Madden played for the club. On 21 March 1926 Frank Brady and James Connelly became the first Fordsons players to represent Ireland (FAI), in an away game against Italy. On 12 February 1928 three Fordsons players—Paddy Barry, Charlie Dowdall, and Jack Sullivan—featured in a 4–2 win over Belgium; Sullivan scored a penalty in the 79th minute. In a 1934 World Cup qualifier against Belgium, three Cork players—Jim Foley, Tom Burke, and Tim O'Keefe—represented Ireland. Charlie Heinemann, Pearson Ferguson, and Jimmy Turnbull were the top goalscorers in the League of Ireland; Turnbull holds the record for most goals in a single season.