Name: Alexander Douglas McCartney (Macartney)Born: 14 November 1879, Ballynafeigh
Died: 21 July 1968, Belfast
Position: Full-Back
Representative Honours: Ireland: 15 Full Caps (1903-1909); Irish League: 4 Caps (1904-1910); Ulster Representative.
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish League Champion 1900/01; (with Linfield) Irish League Champion 1903/04; Irish Cup Winner 1903/04.
Club Career:
Teams
|
Seasons
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Signed
|
Fee
|
League
|
FA.Cup
|
Other
|
Rosetta
National School
|
-
|
Youth
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Ferndale
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Hatfield
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Distillery
|
00/01-01/02
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Ulster
|
02/03
|
-1902
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Linfield
|
02/03-03-04
|
-1903
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Everton
|
04/05
|
-1904
|
-
|
0/0
|
-
|
-
|
West
Ham United
|
05/06
|
c/s-1905
|
-
|
6/0
|
-
|
-
|
Belfast
Celtic
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Glentoran
|
08/09
|
-1908
|
-
|
*23/0
|
-
|
-
|
Linfield
|
09/10
|
-1909
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
TOTALS
|
-
|
£-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Biography:
Full-Back Alec McCartney began his senior football career as a bit-part player in Distillery’s 1900/01 title winning side. It was after his move to Ulster that he first came to the notice of the Ireland selectors, winning his first two caps, at right-back, in 2-0 wins over Scotland and Wales in March 1903. Shortly thereafter Ulster, having finished bottom, left the Irish League and McCartney joined Linfield.
In McCartney’s first full season Linfield completed the clean-sweep of Irish League, Irish Cup, City Cup and Co. Antrim Shield. He retained his place in the Ireland team, playing at left-back in a win over Wales and a draw with Scotland, and won his first Inter-League cap in a 3-1 defeat by the Scottish League in Paisley. In 1904 he signed for Everton and, although he failed to make a firstteam appearance in two seasons at Goodison Park, retained his place in the Ireland team. It was whilst with Everton, on his sixth appearance, that McCartney first tasted defeat on the international stage as Scotland conquered Ireland 4-0 at Parkhead in Glasgow.
Signed by Southern League West Ham in the summer of 1905, McCartney made his Hammers debut in a 1-0 win over Swindon Town on the opening day of the 1905/06 season and his last in a 3-1 defeat at Watford in November before returning to Ireland to sign for Belfast Celtic. He retained the Ireland left-back slot for a further six games during his time at Paradise, adding a further Inter-League cap and City Cup medal to his honours collection.
McCartney spent the 1908/09 season with Glentoran, during which time he won his final two caps, his third inter-League cap and represented Ulster against Leinster at inter-Provincial level. The Glens finished runners-up in the League and bowed out of the Irish Cup to Bohemians at the semi-final stage, though the biggest frustration arrived in the Co. Antrim Shield.
.
One of the oddities of the Co. Antrim Shield competition was that for many years clubs could conceivably enter both their senior and reserve sides, if they won the Steel & Sons Cup. Inevitably, of course, a team would eventually be drawn against “itself” as happened at the semi-final stage in March 1909 when Glentoran faced Glentoran IIs. McCartney was part of the ill-fated Firsts, who lost out 1-0 to their underlings. The Seconds duly defeated Cliftonville 3-0 in the Final to complete a unique “treble” of Shield, Steel Cup and Intermediate Cup and left their senior counterparts in the shade.
McCartney finished his senior playing career back with Linfield in the 1909/10 season, helping the Blues to another City Cup success and represented the Irish League for the fourth and final time – he never finished on the winning side in an inter-League match. Despite his own limited success playing in England, McCartney would later go on to advise other local players to give it a go.
Ireland Cap Details:
21-03-1903 Scotland A W 2-0 BC
28-03-1903 Wales... H W 2-0 BC
21-03-1904 Wales... A W 1-0 BC
26-03-1904 Scotland H D 1-1 BC
25-02-1905 England. A D 1-1 BC
18-03-1905 Scotland A L 0-4 BC
16-02-1907 England. A L 0-1 BC
23-02-1907 Wales... H L 2-3 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
11-04-1908 Wales... A W 1-0 BC
13-02-1909 England. A L 0-4 BC
15-03-1909 Scotland A L 0-5 BC
20-03-1909 Wales... H L 2-3 BC
Summary: 15/0. Won 4, Drew 2, Lost 9.
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