Gerry McElhinney

Francis Gerard McElhinney (or Gerry McElhinney; Irish: Gearóid Mac Giolla Chainnigh; born 19 September 1956) is a former Irish Gaelic footballer, amateur boxer and soccer player from Park, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Gaelic football

McElhinney initially made his name on the Gaelic football field. He played club football for his local club St Mary's Banagher and was called up to play for the Derry Senior team at a very young age. McElhinney was part of the 1975 Ulster Senior Football Championship winning Derry side. Although Derry were beat by ? in the All-Ireland semi-final, McElhinney won an GAA All Star award for his performances in that year's Championship. He was the youngest player ever to win an All Star at the time and still Derry's youngest ever recipient. He won a second Ulster Championship in 1976.

Boxing

An amateur boxer of some note, he also won mid-Ulster titles in the middleweight and light-heavyweight categories.

occer

McElhinney also excelled on the soccer field and his early career comprised of playing with local teams including Derry City F.C., Limavady United and Dungiven Celtic, before earning a move to Scottish club Celtic. Unable to make a regular start at Parkhead he returned to Ireland initially on loan to Finn Harps, and then spent some time in the USA with FC Berne and Chicago Sting, before signing with Distillery F.C.. His robust style of defending brought the attentions of English clubs, and in August 1980 he made a £25,000 move to Bolton Wanderers.

McElhinney took some time to establish himself at Bolton, but was obviously in the plans of Northern Ireland manager, Billy Bingham, who included him in a number of pre-1982 World Cup squads. It was not until November 1983 that he won his first cap however, against West Germany in Hamburg. Unperturbed by the situation, he was a rock as a famous 1-0 win was attained, completing a home and away double over the Germans. A regular in the team for the following year, McElhinney then helped Northern Ireland claim the last ever British Home Championship. After that he began to fall behind other players in the pecking order and was only an occasional squad member up to the 1986 World Cup. In total, McElhinney won 6 international caps between 1983 and 1986.

Bolton's relegation to Division Three in 1983 gave McElhinney the opportunity to establish himself in the first-team in the wake of the departure of Mike Walsh and Sam Allardyce. He retained his place until transferred to Plymouth Argyle in a £30,000 deal in January 1985. The Pilgrims' fans quickly took to him, appreciating his rugged but fair style of play, and christened him 'Rambo'. In 1986 McElhinney captained the club's promotion to Division Two, and proved a steadying influence as they finished in seventh place in their first season.

Injuries soon began to take their toll on McElhinney, though, and in August 1988 he made a cut-price £10,000 move to Peterborough United. He battled on gamely for three seasons with Posh, before joining the club's coaching staff. Later he would return to the playing field with non-League Corby Town, where he was also joint player-manager in the mid-1990s. Appointed manager of Central Midlands League club Graham Street Pimms in the summer of 2006, McElhinney left the club in December after a run of poor results.

References

External links

* [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/search/label/BC1984 McElhinney on Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats]
* [http://www.irishnews.com/gaaworld/footballhistory01.html GAA All-Star Teams from 1963 to 2004 - "Irish News"]