On This Day in the LOI - April 8 8th April 1922: St. James’ Gate became the first winners of the FAI Cup when they defeated Shamrock Rovers (then a Leinster Senior League club) by 1-0 in a replay match at Dalymount Park. The winning goal was scored
On This Day in the LOI - April 8
8th April 1922: St. James’ Gate became the first winners of the FAI Cup when they defeated Shamrock Rovers (then a Leinster Senior League club) by 1-0 in a replay match at Dalymount Park. The winning goal was scored by Jack Kelly in the 43rd minute. The original tie ended as a 1-1 draw also at Dalymount Park on St. Patrick’s Day. This victory secured the League and FAI Cup double for the Gate in what was the inaugural season of League of Ireland football.
On This Day in Irish Football - April 8
8th April 1934: Our first ever away World Cup qualifying match ended in a 5-2 defeat to Netherlands at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. Johnny Squires (Shelbourne), in his only international appearance, and Paddy Moore were the Irish goal scorers. Moore and his Aberdeen teammate, Joe O’Reilly were the only non-League of Ireland players in the team. Fred Horlacher (Bohemians) became the first substitute to play for the Republic of Ireland when he replaced his teammate, Billy Jordan in the 40th minute of the match.
8th April 1962: The Republic of Ireland lost by 3-2 to Austria in a friendly match played at Dalymount Park. Noel Cantwell (48) Liam Tuohy (59) scored to cancel out lead goal from the visitors. Three players made their international debuts in this match – Tony Dunne (Manchester United), Alfie Hale (Aston Villa) and substitute goalkeeper Dinny Lowry (St. Patrick’s Athletic) won his only cap when he replaced the injured Alan Kelly in the 34th minute.
8th April 1964: The Republic of Ireland lost by 2-0 to Spain at Dalymount Park in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the 1964 European Nations Cup (now known as the European Championship). Spain won the first leg played in Seville four weeks earlier to complete a 7-1 aggregate victory and went on to win the championship. Pedro Zaballa (24, 87) scored both goals in what was his only international appearance. Zaballa, who died in 1997, holds the distinction of having scored Barcelona’s 2000th League goal. The following year, the Spanish Football Federation introduced a fair play award for the Pablo Zaballa Trophy. It was so named due to Zaballa, then with CE Sabadell, kicking the ball out of play instead of scoring and calling for assistance for the Real Madrid goalkeeper and a teammate who were on the ground injured after a clash.