Jobby & The Duns

Dundela Reserves  1  Harland & Wolff Welders U21  1

Irish Football League – Championship / PIL Development League Section A

Admission / Programme – Free / None

It was very long overdue indeed.

I’d not set foot on Irish soil since the July of 2019, a weekend that took in Belper Town’s ground breaking friendly at Portadown, and Shamrock Rovers comprehensive 7-0 victory over UCD.

Those that know me will know that trips across the water, both North and South happened at least twice, if not thrice in a year, but of course, Covid put paid to that. To be truthful though, I could have gone back earlier than I did, but in hindsight I found reasons not to go, as opposed to reason to go.

The issues with flights was a concern, would they be cancelled at short notice, and then of course we had the issues with games themselves being cancelled at short notice due to the virus. When I go to Ireland I like to look forward to it, not be filled with doubt and apprehension about what could go wrong, so I chose to park it for a little while more than was probably needed.

I took the plunge though, booked the flights, the accommodation, and all that went with it. My only concern was the game I had plumped for on the Friday night, Derry City v Finn Harps, would it be moved? I’ve been to Derry countless times, and I so wanted to head back to the Maiden City, meet up with old friends, have a few pints and head off down the Brandywell for a first ever experience of a North West Derby fixture. If that had not been on the Friday night the whole trip would have lost it’s edge, I was set to arrive Friday morning, head up to Derry, spend the night, head back to Belfast on Saturday, watch another game and then make my way home on the Sunday.

Thankfully, all went to plan, the game was on the Friday night, Simon sorted me a ticket for the game that was to ultimately be a sell out, and only at that stage could I truly start to look forward to it.

The trip started with a 3am alarm clock, a drive to Birmingham, off site parking and a 7am flight to Belfast City. Once in Belfast it was a short bus ride to the City Centre, the 212 bus and a two hour journey up to Derry.

I can’t describe the feeling I get as the bus comes up the hill from Drumahoe and gets to the Altnagelvin Roundabout, it’s a mixture of excitement, sentimentality and emotion. You know you are about to disembark, and immerse yourself in a City that has no compare.

I started with the Walls, and did a full circuit, just to survey the scenery, and then it was a walk down William Street and Rossville Street onto the Bogside. The murals were as vibrant and poignant as ever, it’s fifty years since Bloody Sunday and being and Englishman in what is a very Irish part of Derry was very much on my mind, but tourism is a big part of the West Bank of Derry, this is not an area to be afraid of at all. Politics, religion, anger, frustration, torment, suffering, injustice, all words that scream at you as you walk down Rossville Street, it never fails to get to you. I first came here in 2005, and the feelings I get remain exactly the same.

The afternoon was spent with my old pal Hugh Kelly (The Derry Raconteur), he struggles now and getting around is difficult, be he was absolutely insistent that he took me to meet someone. We drove up to the Collon, and parked outside a sports shop, a shop owned by John ‘Jobby’ Crossan.

Now this man is a legend. He started his football career at Derry City in the Fifties, moved to Coleraine and then went across the water to Bristol City. He then moved to Sparta Rotterdam before playing for Standard Liege where he lost a European Cup Semi-Final against Real Madrid, having beaten Rangers in the previous round.

He came back to England, scoring 39 goals in 82 games for Sunderland, before joining Manchester City and scoring 24 goals in 94 games. After that he moved to Middlesbrough before finishing his playing career back in Belgium at KSK Tongeren. Oh, and he played 24 games for Northern Ireland scoring 10 goals!

We chatted for a while, we talked about his friendship with Brian Clough who he played with at Sunderland, and his experience playing against Di Stefano and Puskas in a European Cup Semi Final. I also asked him about George Best…

“When I was at City, he was at United, so we shared a place together being Northern Irish lads, such a shy boy, it was a shame how things went wrong for him…”

I left Jobby’s shop with a sense of exhilaration, such an unassuming man leading such a humble life, yet so many memories of such great footballers who he came into contact with, and, let’s not forget, he was more than just a player himself. In fact he has a book written about him, it wasn’t always straightforward for Jobby, but I’ll let you do your own research into the man…….

Derry, who are having an excellent season won the game 3-0, it was straightforward enough, but they really need Shamrock Rovers to slip up if they are going to have a tilt at the title. I had a great night with great people, finishing in the Derby Bar, but it was time for bed, and an early start, because in the few days before my visit, my plans took a bit of a change.

I’d hooked up with second tier Harland & Wolff Welders who were to be my Saturday afternoon game on Twitter, and on the Wednesday I spotted a tweet suggesting they were playing away at Dundela on the Saturday morning at 11am. That was a bit weird, so I did my research and it turned out they had a side in the Development League who were an Under 21 outfit, and they were playing their local East Belfast rivals.

Now, I had Dundela, who are also a second tier Northern Irish League side, on the agenda for my last planned trip to the North back in 2020, but that got cancelled 24 hours before I went due to the onset of the virus. So, we now had a situation whereby as long as I got myself out of bed early enough, got a bus back to Belfast in time, and made my way on another bus East, I could get in the 11am game at Dundela, and then walk the twenty minutes to the afternoon game at the Welders. It was a plan that I hadn’t even considered a few days earlier, but now it was a chance to get to two of the three remaining grounds in the Championship I’d not visited, in one day.

7am alarm, 8am bus, 10am in Belfast, quick Greggs coffee and bacon sandwich, 3b bus to Strand Cinema on Hollywood Road, and before you knew it, I was walking into Wilgar Park a good fifteen minutes before the scheduled kick off! In fact just after I arrived the bus to transport the first team the relatively long journey to Dergview was pulling up outside the ground, they set off to the Donegal border mid-way through the first half.

It was a beautiful day, and what a cracking ground to be visiting. Wilgar Park is as urban as it gets, nestled in the heart of East Belfast in the Strandtown area which sits North of the Unionist Newtonwards Road. It has an absolutely superb social club which dominates one side of the ground, although to the West side of it is an area of covered terracing. It’s open behind the West goal and then as you move round to the South side you get two seated stands that are both modern and identical, either side of the dugouts. The goal to the East is inaccessible. The ground is very traditional but has clear indications of modernisation, notably the stands and the floodlights which are now a pre-requisite in the second tier, albeit a relatively recent requirement.

Yes, it’s a belter, one of the grounds that is as photogenic as it gets with it’s mixture of old, new and unusual. The club itself has spent many a year nestled in the second tier in Northern Ireland without ever threatening to make it to the top flight, and in fairness, that may well be the peak of the clubs ambitions, with the giants of Glentoran being a stone’s throw away and three other clubs in Belfast being dominant over the years.

This was a different kind of game though, and to be fair a decent crowd of over 100 rocked up to watch it. It was 0-0 at half time, but then in the second period the Welders took the lead with a well taken lob from an angle that eluded the Dundela goalkeeper.

The Duns did eventually come back into it and earned a point late in the game when a ball from the left was prodded home from close range.

On the final whistle, I made my way to the exit, I had one more game to get to, and it was only a short walk away……..