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North and south of the river
By Richard Early
Con Martin is a rarity indeed having played for both the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland. He’s a difficult man to pin down, further
illustrated by his versatility alternating between centre-half and goalkeeper.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler,…
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back…
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)
When Matt Busby was looking for a goalkeeper after the war, Manchester
United’s captain Johnny Carey recommended Con Martin, his international
teammate. But in vain — Busby could not persuade Martin to sign.
“I preferred to go to (Second Division) Leeds as a centre-half and
on reflection that was probably a mistake,” Con later recalled.
Con Martin, who was born in Rush, Co. Dublin in 1923, played Gaelic football
as a youngster and in 1941, at the age of 18, won the senior Leinster
title with his county against Carlow. However, when the GAA discovered
that he was also playing the ‘foreign game’ of soccer for
Drumcondra he was expelled from the Association and they withheld his
winner’s medal — which he finally received 30 years later
when the ban on playing foreign games was lifted. But what the Lord taketh
away he also giveth and GAA gave Con his handling skills.
Con was a big man and usually played at centre-half although during his
career he played in most positions on the field — particularly in
defence including goalie which earned him the nickname Mr Versatility.
Briefly, before being bought by Leeds, he was with Northern side Glentoran
and it was while there he was handed his international debut.
Chosen as reserve defender for the Iberian tour of 1946, Martin found
himself standing in for goalkeeper Ned Courtney when he was injured after
half-an-hour of the opening game against Portugal. He did not concede
any goals so the selectors kept faith with him for the following match
against Spain. We are told that the local media called him the Yellow
Canary apparently because of the colour of his jersey. Not so. After all,
why not call him the Yellow Buttercup? No, it was because he spent a lot
of the match flying around between the sticks performing heroics to keep
the talented Spanish forwards at bay and then sang joyously when Paddy
Sloan scored at the other end: “1-0 to the Irish!” Final score.
He played 30 times for Ireland between 1946 and 1956. During that post-war
period travelling back to Dublin to represent their country held other
attractions for the English-based players.
As Con himself said: “It was our chance to eat something substantial
for a change. With rationing still in force in England you could find
that the local chip shop would open only once a week, so a trip home where
food was plentiful had great appeal.” (Chips? You wouldn’t
get chips now Con, not if you were playing for Mr Juande Ramos anyway.)
At the beginning of the 1948 season Con was signed by First Division Aston
Villa. Again, he majored at centre-half though spent half of the 1951/52
season in goal deputising for the injured incumbent. He remained at the
Midlands club for eight years.
Con, being a regular in the Irish side, was in the team that famously
beat England 2-0 at Goodison Park in 1949 — the first non-UK team
to do so. Even without the Stanleys — Matthews and Mortensen —
and Tommy Lawton who were being rested (both teams were involved in World
Cup qualifying campaigns) it was assumed England would walk it. The bookies
were giving 10/1 against Ireland. Martin was not exactly confident either:
“There was a magicians’ convention on in the hotel (where
we were staying the night before the match) and I remember thinking we
would need a magician to beat England.”
As it happened Con scored one of the goals from the penalty spot. He got
a lift back to Birmingham after the game: “I was in for training
the following morning. England were the big team of the time but I don’t
think the enormity of what we had achieved sank in for a long, long time.”
Con was another dual internationalist. He played six times for Northern
Ireland from 1946 to 1950 when the split was finally made between the
FAI and the northern IFA who from then on were only able to recruit players
born in their respective jurisdictions. Matters had come to a head during
the 1950 World Cup campaign when some players (including Martin) represented
both countries. Extreme pressure was put on the Irish players involved
by the FAI to declare themselves in future only for the Republic.
Con was very unhappy about it: “I always had a great relationship
with the IFA. We were treated very well and I always liked playing for
them but the night before the game in Wrexham (when Northern Ireland played
Wales in a World Cup tie) I got a call from Dublin asking me to refuse
to play. I said that it was difficult to give an answer because this was
my work, my profession.
“However, when I returned to Aston Villa the morning after the game
I was approached by the chairman who asked me to refuse to play for Northern
Ireland again. Surprised at this coming from him I asked why and he said
that Villa would not be welcome in the Republic if I continued to play
for Northern Ireland. At the time there was a big connection between Villa
and Shamrock Rovers and it was Rovers who were making the running on this
issue… and about his time I had got a lot of threatening letters
and was called a Judas for playing for 20 pieces of silver. Some of the
other players were reluctant to follow me but eventually they all did.”
So, that game against Wales — March 8, 1950 — was the last
time an All-Ireland team played (ever…?). The other Southern players
present were Bud Aherne, Reg Ryan and David Walsh (Johnny Carey had been
withdrawn by United). In the team photo taken on the pitch before the
game sits the captain in his honorary position centre stage, ball at his
feet, looking every bit the part, statesman-like even — Con Martin.
Behind him and to the right stands a grinning, goofy-looking lad who would
become not just a Northern Ireland great but one of the game’s legends
— Danny Blanchflower. Forgive me while a wipe a tear. We all have
our heroes and many a time I watched in awe from the front of the terraces
as he graced the pitch at White Hart Lane a few years later.
Danny was also Con’s teammate then at Villa and played a part later
in helping Con recover his form after a niggling and chronic injury. In
a 1955 edition of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, Con relates
how a cracked bone in his nose — of which he had been unaware for
many years — had led to a loss of form the previous season, associated
with a loss of taste and a fear of internal trouble. Eventually he sought
medical advice and when the specialist identified the cause of his upset
tummy — oddly the injury to his nose — Martin was able to
recall the collision on the pitch that had caused it five years before.
“It was quickly put right and I began to feel fine, polishing off
food with relish. But still I didn’t strike form. I got back at
centre-half in the first-team but was still bashing the ball. Then coming
back from an away match Danny Blanchflower asked me: ‘What on earth
is wrong, Con? This isn’t the real you. I’ve seen you play
heaps better than this and there is only one reason why you are not doing
so now. You’ve lost confidence. Hold the ball and stop kicking it
wildly.’
“I accepted the challenge and forced myself to try to be constructive.
Soon I had the confidence to take my time and pick my spot when clearing.
I began to be settled and happy again and this mental uplift was translated
into much better form. Before the season ended I not only won back my
first-team place but had also been made skipper.”
We do not realise the despair an injury can sometimes cause a player whose
whole life is about playing his sport — not knowing how long it
will take to get back to full fitness, if indeed he ever will. For Con
the passage from injury and loss of form was like: “The feeling
of climbing from the pit of depression into a bright new world full of
laughter.”
Con Martin became player-manager with Waterford in 1956 and remained there
for eight years. His international career ended when he moved back to
Ireland. But a few years before, with the arrival on the scene of the
young pretenders (Noel Cantwell had won his first cap in 1953) the writing
was on the wall.
“While waiting at London airport for a flight to Paris for the World
Cup tie in 1953 a Millwall supporter came up to me and said: ‘Charlie
Hurley will be taking your place one of these days’ and it suddenly
dawned on me I couldn’t go on for ever.”
n What do you think? Was Con Martin the greatest, if not who was? Write
to Ronan Early, Sports Editor, The Irish Post, 1st Floor, West Wing, 26-28
Hammersmith Grove, Hammersmith, London W6 7HA or e-mail: ronanearly@irishpost.co.uk |
