Sweden 1958
It’s difficult to chose between Sweden 1958 and Spain 1982 as Northern Ireland’s greatest ever World Cup finals performance. Whilst the heroics of Bingham's 82 squad were very special, the 58 boys played 5 games in just 12 days. On both occasions their tournaments ended with defeat to France.
Northern Ireland qualified by topping a UEFA Group 8. The other two teams in the group were Portugal and Italy. It initially didn’t look too good with a draw in Lisbon being followed by a defeat in Rome but Northern Ireland finished with a 3-0 home win against the Portuguese and a 2-1 victory over Italy to make it to Sweden. It was the only time the Italians failed to make it to the finals.
The Glentoran Connections:
The squad were managed by former Glentoran great, Peter Doherty.
Magherafelt born Doherty arrived at the Oval in 1931 and before his transfer to Blackpool in 1933 he played 61 games for the Glens and scored 34 goals, including one in the 3-1 win over Distillery in the 1933 Irish Cup final. Doherty’s career in England also included spells with Manchester City, Derby County, Huddersfield Town and Doncaster Rovers.
Peter Doherty Peter McParland
Newry born, Peter McParland scored 5 goals for Northern Ireland at the 58 World Cup. Pele got 6 although both were some distance behind France’s Just Fontaine who topped the scoring with 13! The bulk of McParland’s career was spent at Aston Villa but he’d also periods with Wolves, Plymouth Argyle and Worcester City. His playing career began at Dundalk and ended at Glentoran. He came to the Oval as player-manager following the departure of Alex Young in 1968. He played 18 times in the 68-69 season scoring 10 times. The following season he managed the Glens to the League title and the City Cup. He left Glentoran in 1971.
Four other players in the squad played for Glentoran prior to going on to have great careers in England and Scotland. The photograph above, Glentoran’s third XI in 1947, contained 3 of them; Danny Blanchflower, Billy Bingham and Jimmy McIlroy. The other was Bertie Peacock.
In Sweden, Blanchflower, Bingham, McIlroy and McParland featured in all of Northern Ireland’s games. Peacock missed just one, the quarter-final defeat to France.
Danny Blanchflower was on the books at Glentoran from 1946-49 and played in two Irish Cup final defeats. He made 124 appearances for the Glens, scoring 7 goals. At international level, Blanchflower won 56 caps and scored 2 goals.
Danny was transferred to Barnsley in 1949, to Aston Villa in 1951 and then Spurs in 1954. During a decade at Spurs he captained the side to the League & FA Cup double in 1961 and also lifted the FA Cup in 1962, scoring in the final against Burnley. Blanchflower managed Northern Ireland for a short time in the late 70’s and also had a brief spell as manager of Chelsea.
Billy Bingham, like Danny Blanchflower, was an East Belfast boy. Between 1948-1950 he played 60 games for Glentoran, hitting 21 goals. Internationally, Bingham won 56 caps and scored 10 goals.
In 1950 he was transferred to Sunderland and spent 8 years there before spells with Luton Town, Everton & Port Vale. After playing Billy Bingham had a long career in management including managing the national side.
Jimmy McIlroy played 26 times for Glentoran between 1949-1950 and scored 9 times.
He was transferred to Burnley in 1950 where he enjoyed a long successful career (497 apps) winning the League in 1959-60. McIlroy played in the 1962 FA Cup final, losing to Blanchflower’s Tottenham Hotspur. Jimmy ended playing career with spells at Stoke City & Oldham Athletic.
For Northern Ireland he won 55 caps scored 10 goals.
Bertie Peacock joined Glentoran from Coleraine in 1948. In his one season at the Glens he played 13 times, including the Irish Cup final defeat by Derry City. He scored 4 goals for the Glens.
Peacock was transferred to Glasgow Celtic in 1948. He spent 12 years there winning 1 League Championship, 2 Scottish Cups and 2 Scottish League Cups. He was also captain of Celtic for a time. Bertie Peacock managed Northern Ireland from 1961-64 and gave George Best his debut. He was Bingham’s assistant manager in Spain 1982. Locally he managed Coleraine to their one and only title win in 1974. Peacock won 32 caps and scored 1 goal for Northern Ireland.
Blanchflower, Bingham, McIlroy and Peacock
Northern Ireland’s squad was made up of 22 players although only 17 of them actually travelled to Sweden for the finals. Roy Rea, the third choice goalkeeper was one of the five left behind. A Glenavon player at the time of the tournament in Sweden, Rea would later play for Glentoran in the 1962-63 season (46 apps).
One tenuous final Glentoran link from the 1958 finals - Fay Coyle’s son Liam, played for Glentoran in the 90’s. In Sweden, Coyle senior played in one of Northern Ireland’s group matches, the 3-1 defeat to Argentina. Fay’s career consisted of two spells with both Derry City and Coleraine and he also played for Nottingham Forest.
Below is the Northern Ireland side which faced West Germany on 15th June 1958.
Back row extreme left is Peter McParland & extreme right is Bertie Peacock
Front row 2nd from left is Jimmy McIlroy, centre is Danny Blanchflower & 2nd from right is Billy Bingham
Group Stage:
8th June 1958 Czechoslovakia 0-1 Northern Ireland (Cush)
11th June 1958 Argentina 3-1 Northern Ireland (McParland)
15th June 1958 West Germany 2-2 Northern Ireland (McParland 2)
Group Stage Play-off:
17th June 1958 Czechoslovakia 1-2 Northern Ireland (McParland 2)
Quarter Final:
19th June 1958 France 4-0 Northern Ireland
Footnote: 1958 was the first and, to date, only time that all four home nations qualified for the finals.