Sam Young

Name: Samuel Young
Born: 14 February 1883 or 1884
Died: 28 November 1954
Height:
Winger:
Position: Winger/Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 9 Full Caps / 1 Goal (1907-1914); Irish League: 6 Caps / 1 Goal (1905-1914).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Irish League Champion 1913/14; Irish Cup Winner 1914/15, Runner-Up 1913/14; City Cup Winner 1914/15; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1906/07, 1907/08, 1913/14; Belfast Charity Cup Winner 1904/05, 1913/14, 1914/15

Club Career:

Clubs	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Linfield	-	-	-	-	-	-
Airdrieonians	08/09-12/13	c/s-08	-	131/32	-	-
Portsmouth	12/13	Feb-13	-	13/ 3	-	2/1
Linfield	-	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS			-	-	-	-

Biography:
A member of the highly successful Linfield side of the early part of the 20th Century, Sam Young could play anywhere across the forward line. In a freescoring Blues side he won title-after-title, only the Irish Cup eluding him prior to a move to Airdrie for the 1908/09 season.

He joined a strong Airdrie side who were regularly challenging the dominant Old Firm and Edinburgh clubs of the time without clinching major honours. In 1913, after a brief spell with Portsmouth in the Southern League, Young returned to Linfield winning further titles and finally picking up that elusive Irish Cup winner’s medal with a 1-0 victory over Belfast Celtic in the 1915 final.

First honoured at representative level as the Irish League’s outside-left in October 1905, he finished on the end of a 4-0 defeat by the Football League in Manchester. Two years later he scored his only inter-league goal in a ding-dong 6-3 defeat by the English in Sunderland.

The Irish FA selectors first picked Young in February 1907 for a Home Nations match against England at Goodison Park as stand-in for regular outside-left, Jack Kirwan. His best performances on the international scene came when deployed as inside-right and centre-forward during the 1914 Championship.

The opener was a 2-1 win over Wales in Wrexham. Three weeks later the two Billys, Lacey and Gillespie, stole the show as England were shocked 3-0 in Middlesbrough. The final match of the series was set for Solitude, though was switched to Windsor Park to facilitate an expected bigger crowd. Ireland needed just a draw to claim the title outright for the first time. It seemed a feat too far when the Scots took a 70th minute lead, but Young was on hand to score a last minute equaliser to bring the trophy to Belfast.

LinfieldFC.com

Ireland Cap Details:
16-02-1907 England. A L 0-1 BC
16-03-1907 Scotland A L 0-3 BC
15-02-1908 England. H L 1-3 BC
14-03-1908 Scotland H L 0-5 BC
13-02-1909 England. A L 0-4 BC
16-03-1912 Scotland H L 1-4 BC
19-01-1914 Wales... A W 2-1 BC *
14-02-1914 England. A W 3-0 BC
14-03-1914 Scotland H D 1-1 BC 1 Goal

Summary: 9/2. Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 6.

* It had previously been believed that Young scored the opening goal in this match, but it is now credited to Billy Gillespie.
It has been suggested that Young played for Clyde prior to joining Portsmouth, though further corroborating evidence is needed,