AOH 1984

AUL SOCCER: BILLY LYONS

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AOH FOOTBALL CLUB 1984



Our August 1984 picture shows a proud AOH football team, just promoted to the AUL Premier League, having won the championship in AUL 1B in the previous season.



Joe Healy, for so long associated with the club, recalls that season: "We didn't win anything in the Premier but we held our own and the highlight was a great 4-3 away win over Temple Utd, who would recover from the shock to go on and win the title."



While AOH weren't among the leading sides, they were the envy of most clubs because they used to play their home games in Flower Lodge.



This was AOH's second spell in the AUL and it was a little more fruitful that their first. In 1953, they were runners up to Turner's Cross Utd in the Second Division League and, two years later, placed second to Wembley in the First Division Shield. AOH went out of football themselves in 1957 when Cork Hibs came in.



And when Hibs folded, AOH started up again up as a junior side again in 1978 and thrived for quite a while and indeed fielded two teams for a three or four year spell. But the loss of the Lodge led to their second demise. Healy recalls: "We went out of football after 14 years or so. We lost interest when we lost the Lodge. It was the place to play."



While AOH didn't win much, indeed that 1984 league title was their only success, though they beaten by Tramore Athletic in the final of the City Challenge Cup, they enjoyed their football.



"We certainly had some good times," said Joe. "I was sort of everything, grasscutter, ballboy, also manager and secretary and Victor Yelverton took over as manager in 84. Others on the committee included Finbarr O'Sullivan (treasurer), Tim Desmond and Paddy Horgan."



"We had some good players too at the Lodge. Bobby O'Donovan went playing League of Ireland with Cork in 1984 and we also had Tony Nation, who went on to captain the Cork football team. And then there was scorer supreme Richie Cahill. He got two gems in that famous victory over Temple. Richie went on to play golf and is now quite an accomplished player in that sport. Kevin McGrath and Tim Desmond were other top class players. Desmond indeed was very good. He later went to college in Wales and played a very high level of non league football there."



The photo was taken at the Premier League game against a Carrigaline Utd side that featured the likes of Jim Turner and John Gargan and that Flower Lodge tie, AOH's second in the Premier, ended in a scoreless draw. AOH had scored four in their opener against Ballincollig but lost 5-4. Mick O'Keeffe, Brian McCarthy, Tadhg O'Reilly, Anthony Hogan and Richie Prenderville netted for the winners while Jim Connolly, Richie Cahill and Ger Courtney (2) replied.



Year of Triumph

In winning the One B title in 1983/84, AOH had a remarkable eight draws from their 22 games but they did win 12. Their best results were the double defeats that they inflicted on Mallow, Glasheen and St Martin's (of Youghal). "This gave us great heart," said Healy at the time, "In the previous year, they had taken the points from us."



In October, the champions-to-be lost one of their top players when Desmond went to the UK to continue his studies but, a week later, they signed the former Cork youth player Bob O'Donovan. AOH were lucky that season in that they had a good blend of youth and experience.



Healy put the likes of Yelverton, team captain Vince Looney, Noel Corcoran, Jim O'Callaghan, Tom Harrington, Denis McCarthy and Thos McCarthy into the experienced category. The younger players at the Lodge were Mossy Coughlan, O'Donovan, Declan Cahill, Jer Courtney, Frank O'Mahony, Jim Connolly, Desmond and John Bermingham. Healy was the manager that season and the trainer was the dedicated John Foulkes.



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