Leo Donnelly

Name: Leonard Aloysius Donnelly
Born: c.1886, Co. Armagh
Died:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Half-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1913), 2 Amateur Caps (1909-1910).
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish League Champion 1905/06 (shared); Irish Cup Winner 1909/10; City Cup Winner 1912/13; Belfast Charities Cup Runner-Up 1905/06, 1909/10, 1911/12.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Belfast Celtic	-	-	Amateur	-	-	-
Distillery	05/06-12/13	-1906	Amateur	* 103/8	-	-
Lurgan Celtic	-	-1913	-	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	-		-	-	-

Biography:
Originally an attack-minded winger with Belfast Celtic, Leo Donnelly moved to Distillery where he developed into a stalwart half-back. He arrived at Grosvenor Park at the tail-end of the 1905/06 season, scoring twice on his debut, and featured on the left-wing in the Charities Cup Final replay defeat by Cliftonville a few days later. In the League Championship title play-off replay match, Donnelly scored to give Distillery a 2-1 lead over Cliftonville, only for the Reds to equalise late on. The drawn match meant that the Irish League trophy was shared for the only time in its history, each club holding it for six months.

Four years later Distillery finally claimed a decisive win over Cliftonville, defeating the double-chasing favourites 1-0 in the Irish Cup Final at The Oval in 1910. 1913 brought Donnelly another winner's medal, this time in the City Cup, and an international cap for Ireland as stand-in for the unavailable English McConnell, at centre-half in a 1-0 defeat by Wales. That year he left Distillery for hometown club, Lurgan Celtic.

Ireland Cap Details:
18-01-1913 Wales... H L 0-1 BC

Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
20-11-1909 England. A D 4-4
19-11-1910 England. H W 3-2

Summary: 2/0. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 0.