Northern Ireland v Azerbaijan Offical Match Programme

Stephen Walker is the author of Ireland’s Call: Irish Sporting Heroes who fell in the Great War (published by Merrion Press). Twitter @Irelandscall15

7XITLIR ;EPOIV Picture by Bill Brown

Dick Moore Clipping from Belfast Evening Telegraph

LI] Courtesy of Burnley FC

XS [MR XLI -VMWL 'YT MR XLIMV ƤVWX IZIV ƤREP EKEMRWX Shelbourne in 1908. ,EVSPH 7PSER TIVWSRMƤIH XLI IVE SJ XLI ŬKIRXPIQER amateur’ who played the game for love rather than ƤRERGMEP VI[EVH He joined the British Army in 1915 and served with the Royal Garrison Artillery and in January 1917, aged 34, was killed in action on the Western Front. Sloan helped Bohemians become one of the big names in Irish football, which was something Dick 1SSVI EPWS QEREKIH XS HS [MXL 0MRƤIPH The son of a rope merchant from the Shankill, Moore was a talented left half who combined military life with a football career. He played for -VIPERH ERH 0MRƤIPH ERH LIPTIH XLI &IPJEWX GPYF achieve the league and cup double in 1891. Moore saw service in the Great War with the Royal -VMWL 6MƥIW ERH XLI 6S]EP -VMWL *YWMPMIVW ERH HMIH MR Greece in 1918. 8LI 0MRƤIPH QER [EW PMOI QER] &IPJEWX JSSXFEPPIVW whose lives ended prematurely as a result of the Great War.

Hiriam McKee, known simply as Hymie, started playing for Cliftonville as a teenager. He appeared MR XLI -VMWL 'YT *MREP EKEMRWX 0MRƤIPH EKIH just 16. % WPMKLX ƤKYVI ]IX WXVSRK ERH EXLPIXMG LMW Cliftonville performances attracted much press attention and he played three times for Ireland. Away from sport he trained to be an accountant and he moved to Canada. In 1916 as the war continued on the Western Front he enlisted with the Canadian Infantry and saw action in France. He died a century ago in November 1916. His Commonwealth headstone carries his name and is marked by the Canadian maple leaf. It also has a simple inscription which reads ‘ever remembered by his loving mother’. Hymie McKee, Dick Moore, Barney Donaghey and Harold Sloan had much in common. They were sportsmen and soldiers who were pioneers of the game but who in later years became the forgotten

heroes of Irish football. ;SVHW 7XITLIR ;EPOIV

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