The Invincibles

John McClelland
May 28
2 min read

Today marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most iconic days in Newry Town’s history.

On the 28th of May, 1955 we travelled to Wilgar Park, Belfast to play Dundela in a bid to finish the league campaign unbeaten - a feat that no club had ever done since the Alliance League’s inception in 1892.

Only three days earlier, Newry had been crowned Alliance League Champions as they held thier nearest rivals Dundela to a 2-2 draw at the Showgrounds in a game that drew huge attention from the public.

Dundela had recently just won the Irish Cup - becoming the first and only club to this day that have accomplished the feat as a junior club.

The Duns were given a fantastic reception on arriving in Newry. They were greeted at Trevor Hill with an open top bus and accompanied by St. Catherine’s Prize Silver Band as they made their way to the Showgrounds parading their newly acquired trophy.

Over 2000 fans attended the game - setting a record attendance for a junior match at the time.

It was a match which Dundela had to win as they sat in second place in the table, three points behind us with only two games remaining.

However, goals from Johnny McCaigue and a 30 yard rocket from Pat Curtis helped us seal the Championship trophy as the game finished 2 -2 and with one game to spare put us out of reach of Dundela.

Three days later the two sides would met again in Belfast, the Duns now with nothing to play for but pride but Newry were one game away from making history..

We started the game in determined fashion and with only ten minutes gone we were already two goals up. Billy Hewitt and Alex Reid both taking advantage of slack defending from Dundela.

Leading marksman Jimmy Edgar then scored a brace to put us four goals to the good and seemingly put tie beyond doubt but right on halftime Cavanagh nodded in from a corner to pull on back for the homesters.

HT: DUNDELA 1 NEWRY TOWN 4

Dundela were much improved in the second half with Pat Mooney pulling off great saves from Cavanagh and Greenwood.

Pat Curtis had Newry’s best chance to extend our lead but he only found the side netting from close range.

The Duns then pulled another goal back through Forsyth but the Newry defensive partnership of Jimmy McKinvin and captain Billy Flanagan did well to restrict the Dundela forwards and held firm for the remaining minutes.

We had done it. 30 league games undefeated. We were INVINCIBLES!

FT: DUNDELA 2 NEWRY TOWN 4

Lineup for both games was unchanged:

Pat Mooney, Stanley Kidd, Jimmy McKinvin, Billy Flanagan, Jackie Bowers, Jackie Millar, Johnny McCaigue, Pat Curtis, Jimmy Edgar, Alex Reid, Billy Hewitt.