Billy Johnston

Name: William Cecil Johnston
Born: 21 May 1942, Coalisland
Height: 5.08 ft
Weight: 11.07 st
Position: Inside-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 2 Full Caps/1 Goal (1962-1966), 1 Under-23 Cap (1962), 13 Amateur Caps / 3 Goals (1961-1966); Irish League: 8 Caps / 7 Goals (1961-1965).
Club Honours: (with Glenavon) Irish Cup Winner 1960/61, Runner-Up 1964/65.

Club Career:

Clubs	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	FL Cup	Europe	Other
Coalisland Rangers			-	-	-	-	-	-
Glenavon	60/61-65/66	1960	Amateur	* /141	-	-	2(0)/0	-
Oldham Ath.	66/67-68/69	Jun-66	-	28(1)/  6	-	3(1)/0	-	-
Coleraine	-	1968	Free	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS				-/147	-	3(1)/0	2(0)/0	-

Biography:
Not only did Billy Johnston become the first substitute ever used by Northern Ireland, he also marked his appearance from the bench against Mexico with a goal!

Despite attending a rugby-playing school, Johnston excelled at football and signed as an amateur with Glenavon as a teenager. Even when an established Irish League player he continued to take to the rugby field at any opportunity, turning out for King's Scholars while completing his teacher training.

With the Lurgan Blues Johnston scored 141 goals in around 200 appearances over six seasons, claimed a host of honours and represented Northern Ireland at Under-23 and Amateur level as well as the Irish League. He also won two Full caps before departing for England in 1966.

After qualifying as a teacher Johnston was signed by Oldham Athletic as a possible successor for Jimmy McIlroy. Sadly he suffered a compound fracture of his right ankle in the opening minute of his sixth league outing. He never fully recovered and retired from professional football in October 1968.

Johnston returned to the field of play briefly with Coleraine before joining Crusaders as coach in 1970. He took the post of manager in 1972 and led the club to unprecedented successes through the mid-70s. Later he was also boss Ballymena United, Bangor and at Glentoran from 1985 to 1987.

Northern Ireland Cap Details:
11-04-1962 Wales... A L 0-4 BC
22-06-1966 Mexico.. H W 4-1 FR sub 1 Goal

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

Northern Ireland Under-23 Cap Details:
07-02-1962 Wales... H D 0-0

Northern Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
14-01-1961 Wales... A L 1-4 1 goal
18-02-1961 Scotland H D 3-3
30-09-1961 England. H L 0-3
13-01-1962 Wales... H W 3-1
17-02-1962 Scotland A D 0-0
29-09-1962 England. A L 2-3 1 goal
11-01-1964 Wales... H D 2-2 1 goal
08-02-1964 Scotland A D 2-2
26-09-1964 England. A L 1-2
16-01-1965 Wales... A D 1-1
03-04-1965 Scotland H D 1-1
15-01-1966 Wales... H D 0-0
12-03-1966 Scotland A W 3-2

Summary: 13/3. Won 2, Drew 7, Lost 4.

Robert "Sid" Johnston

Name: Robert Sidney Johnston
Born:
Died:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Centre-Half

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1905).
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish League Champion 1905/06; Irish Cup Winner 1904/05; City Cup Winner 1904/05; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1902/03, 1904/05; Belfast Charity Cup Runner-Up 1905/06.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Distillery	02/03-05/06	-	-	-	-	-
Southampton	05/06	Dec-1905	-	-	(Southern League)
Distillery	-	-	-	* 63/0	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

* all competitive games, both spells.

Biography:
A strapping centre-half, Robert Johnston established himeslf in the Distillery first team in the latter part of the 1903/04 season. In 1904/05 he played every game as the club won the Irish Cup, City Cup and Co. Antrim Shield. In April 1905 he played at left-half for Ireland in a 2-2 draw with Wales at Solitude.

Transferred to Southampton in December 1905, Johnston lasted less than a season at the Dell, returning to Distillery in April 1906 and helping the Whites claim the Irish League title.

Ireland Cap Details:
08-04-1905 Wales... H D 2-2 BC

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

Sam Johnston

Name: Samuel Johnston
Born: 18 September 1866, Belfast
Died: 25 April 1910, Belfast
Position: Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 5 Full Caps/2 Goals (1882-1886).
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish Cup Winner 1883/84, 1884/85, 1885/86; Charity Cup Runner-Up 1883/84.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Distillery	81/82-86/87	1881	Amateur	* 32/21	*	# 89/15
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

* all competitive games (pre-League), # friendly games.

Biography:
A blacksmith by trade, Sam Johnston’s well-built appearance meant that when he took to the field for his international debut at the age of 15 years and 154 days his age wasn’t even commented on – seemingly nobody realised he was so young. It has only been confirmed in recent years that he was younger than Norman Whiteside (the long-thought youngest (Northern) Ireland international), by a margin of almost two years! To add to his list of achievements at such a tender age, Johnston scored in his second Irish appearance, Ireland’s first international goal. That was the equaliser against Wales, though subsequently it turned out to be little more than a consolation in a 7-1 defeat.

A regular goalscorer for Distillery over seven seasons, Johnston won three Irish Cups, scoring in the 1884 5-0 defeat of Wellington Park and twice in the 3-0 win against Limavady in 1885. He made a total of 121 appearances and scored 36 goals including in friendlies for Distillery. He scored one hat-trick, in the 4-0 defeat of Wellington Park in an Irish Cup match on the 24th February 1883.

Season 1888/89 started as usual with friendly matches and the first competitive match was on the 6th October 1888. Johnston played his last match for Distillery in a friendly on the 29th September 1888. There was no warning of his leaving the club and as Sam Johnston commenced playing centre-forward for Linfield the following week (the 6th October 1888) one could have assumed he had moved clubs. However this was not so. It wasn’t until he was reported performing as linesman at a Distillery match on 5th January 1889 while Sam Johnston of Linfield was scoring 4 goals against Oldpark at Solitude in a Charity Cup match that this was conclusively proved to be two separate persons. Apart from acting as linesman in a Distillery match a few years later Johnston would appear to have broken all ties with football.

Ireland Cap Details:
18-02-1882 England. H L 0-13 FR * (15 years, 154 days)
25-02-1882 Wales... A L 1- 7 FR 1 Goal
23-02-1884 England. H L 1- 8 BC
13-03-1886 England. H L 1- 6 BC
20-03-1886 Scotland H L 2- 7 BC 1 Goal

Summary: 5/2. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 5.
.
* Many sources list D. McCaw (Malone FC) in the starting line-up for this match rather than Johnston. Based on more recent research by George Glass it appears McCaw played only in a "trial" match prior to Johnston being selected for Ireland's first "full" international.

By George Glass.

Tom Jordan

Name: Thomas Henry Jordan
Born: 16 November 1872, Lurgan
Died: June 1940, Belfast
Position: Forward

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 2 Full Caps/1 Goal (1895); Irish League: 1 Cap (1895).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Irish League Champion; Irish Cup Winner 1894/95, 1897/98, 1898/99, Runner-Up 1893/94; (with Distillery) Irish League Champion 1902/03.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Linfield	-	-	-	-	-	-
Distillery	-	-1902	-	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

Biography:
A prolific goalscorer with Linfield during the 1890s, scoring in the 1898 2-0 Irish Cup Final win over St. Columb's Hall Celtic. Transferred to Distillery in 1902, he won another League title in his first season at Grosvenor Park.

Capped twice by Ireland, in his second appearance he was awarded the captaincy and scored to give the Irish a 2-1 lead over Wales at Solitude, only for the Welsh to find a 85th minute equaliser.

If you have any further details on Tom Jordan please let NIFG know.

Ireland Cap Details:
09-03-1895 England. A L 0-9 BC
16-03-1895 Wales... H D 2-2 BC 1 Goal

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

Sam Johnston

Name: Samuel Johnston
Born: 19 March 1869, Waringstown
Died: Bangor
Height:
Weight:
Position: Forward/Half-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 4 Full Caps (1890-1894); Irish league: 1 Cap (1893).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Irish League Champion 1892/93, 1894/95, Runner-Up 1893/94; Irish Cup Winner 1891/92, 1892/93, 1894/95, Runner-Up 1893/94; County Antrim Shield Winner 1889/90; Charity Cup Winner 1892/93.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	Irish.Cup	English.Cup	Other
Mercantile.Academy	86/87	-	Youth	-	-	-	-
Cliftonville Olympic	87/88	-1887	Amateur	0/ 0	-	-	-
Linfield	88/89-89/90	-1888	-	0/ 0	#	10/8	# 32/37
Distillery	90/91	c/s-1890	-	* / 8	-	-	-
Linfield	91/92-99/00	c/s-1891	-	* 55/ 7	-	-	-
Bangor	-	-1900	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		/15	-	10/8	-

# all other games, includes 7 Irish Cup goals and friendlies; * all competitive games.

Biography:
Sam Johnston made his name as a forward with Linfield, scoring 45 goals in 42 matches in his first two seasons. The only competitive matches played at this time were in the Irish Cup, English FA Cup, Charity Cup and County Antrim Shield. He proved a prolific scorer, even managing four goals in a 12-0 defeat of Oldpark in a Charity Cup match in 1889.

Johnston was one of four Linfield players to make ten appearances in the English Cup, scoring eight goals. These goals included strikes in a 4-0 win over Bolton in November 1888 and in a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest in February 1889.

In the summer of 1890 Linfield signed two Army players, Bob Milne (a centre half) and Bob Hill at centre forward. Sam decided his prospects as a centre forward at Linfield were diminished and he duly signed for Distillery. He scored eight competitive goals for Distillery that season and before deciding to return to Linfield in the half-back line.

He went on to win three Irish Cup winner's medals and two League titles, and to add further Irish caps to his collection. His second spell at Linfield saw 55 appearances and seven goals, including three in a 7-0 win over Cliftonville in the 1894 Charity Cup semi-final. In April 1893 he played in the first inter-league match – a win over the Scottish League.

Johnston "retired" in 1897 but remained at Linfield to the end of 1899, helping with the reserves and turning out occasionally. He even managed to play for the 1st XI against Cliftonville in a City Cup match in December 1899. Shortly thereafter he left to become manager of Bangor.

Ireland Cap Details:
08-02-1890 Wales... A L 2-5 BC
25-03-1893 Scotland A L 1-6 BC
05-04-1893 Wales... H W 4-3 BC
03-03-1894 England. H D 2-2 BC

Summary: 4/0. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 2.

By George Glass.

'Cutter' Johnston

Name: William J. Johnston
Born:
Died:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Full-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 2 Full Caps (1885).

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Oldpark	-	-	Amateur	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£0		-	-	-

Biography:
Oldpark FC, from the Oldpark Road area of North Belfast, were founder members of the Irish Football Association in 1880, and ten years later they were founder members of the Irish League too. They left senior football late in the 1891/92 season in protest at the hostility that they had been shown after fulfilling a fixture against Distillery. Distillery, at the time, were being boycotted by a number of clubs unhappy at percieved leniency from the League after the club had fielded an ineligible player earlier in the season.

Only two Oldpark players were ever awarded full international honours, William 'Cutter' Johnston and Robert Muir, both in the same matches, consecutive 8-2 defeats by Scotland and Wales in 1885.

Ireland Cap Details:
14-03-1885 Scotland A L 2-8 BC
11-04-1885 Wales... H L 2-8 BC

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

Oldpark FC c.1880s
(note: it is unknown if Johnston or Muir are featured in this picture) 

With thanks to the_red_warrior from ILF for the picture.

Damien Johnson

Name: Damien Michael Johnson
Born: 18 November 1978, Lisburn

Height: 5.09 ft

Weight: 11.09 st

Position: Midfielder/Right-Back

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 56 Full Caps (1999-2009), 11 Under-21 Caps, 2 Under-18 Caps, 1 Under-17 Cap / 1 Goal, 2 Under-16 Caps, 6 Under-15 Schools Caps.

Club Honours: (with Portadown) Mid-Ulster Cup Winner 1994/95; (with Birmingham) Football League Championship Runner-Up 2006/07, 2008/09; (with Huddersfield) Football League One Play-Off Winner 2011/12.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	FL Cup	Other
Lisburn Youth	-	-	Youth	-	-	-	-
Portadown	94/95	-	Youth	2 (1)/0	0(1)/0	1(0)/0	3(0)/1
Blackburn  Rovers	97/98-01/02	Aug-97	Youth	43(16)/3	3(4)/0	12(3)/1	-
Nottingham Forest	97/98	Jan-98	Loan	5 (1)/0	-	-	-
Birmingham City	02/03-09/10	Mar-02	£50k	179(13)/4	13(2)/0	5(2)/0	1(0)/0
Plymouth Argyle	09/10-11/12	Jan-10	Free	20 (0)/2	-	-	-
Huddersfield Town	10/11	Aug-10	Loan	14 (2)/0	3(0)/0	1(1)/0	2(0)/0
Huddersfield Town	11/12	Jul-11	Loan	16 (2)/0	-	-	3(0)/0
Fleetwood Town	12/13-13/14	Jun-12	Free	17 (5)/0	1(0)/0	-	-
TOTALS	-	£50k		296(40)/9	20(7)/0	19(6)/1	9(0)/1

Biography:

From teenage striking sensation with Portadown, through flying winger with Blackburn, to midfield anchor and captain at Birmingham, Damien Johnson was undoubtedly one of Northern Ireland's most valuable players.

..

Johnson won his fiftieth cap against Poland in March 2009 and was awarded the captaincy for the occasion. Cheekily the match announcer credited him with the third goal in a 3-2 win which was actually an own goal.

..

On 29th July 2010, at the age of 31, Johnson announced his retirement from international football following a succession of injuries. story

Johnson playing career drew to a close after he was released by Fleetwood in October 2013. He has since coached at Everton's Academy and worked as a scout for the Irish FA. In April 2015 took a coaching role at Blackburn's Academy and he joined the Northern Ireland Under-21 coaching set-up the following month, remaining part of the staff until August 2016.

More to follow.

Irish FA Bio

Northern Ireland Cap Details:

29-05-1999 Rep of Ireland A W 1-0 FR. sub
10-10-1999 Finland....... A L 1-4 ECQ sub
23-02-2000 Luxemburg..... A W 3-1 FR
28-03-2000 Malta......... A W 3-0 FR. sub
26-04-2000 Hungary....... H L 0-1 FR. sub
16-08-2000 Yugoslavia.... H L 1-2 FR
02-09-2000 Malta......... H W 1-0 WCQ
11-10-2000 Iceland....... A L 0-1 WCQ
28-02-2001 Norway........ H L 0-4 FR. sub
28-03-2001 Bulgaria...... A L 3-4 WCQ sub
02-06-2001 Bulgaria...... H L 0-1 WCQ
06-06-2001 Czech Republic A L 1-3 WCQ
06-10-2001 Malta......... A W 1-0 WCQ
13-02-2002 Poland........ N L 1-4 FR
27-03-2002 Liechtenstein. A D 0-0 FR
17-04-2002 Spain......... H L 0-5 FR
21-08-2002 Cyprus........ H D 0-0 FR
12-10-2002 Spain......... A L 0-3 ECQ
16-10-2002 Ukraine....... H D 0-0 ECQ
12-02-2003 Finland....... H L 0-1 FR
29-03-2003 Armenia....... A L 0-1 ECQ
02-04-2003 Greece........ H L 0-2 ECQ
03-06-2003 Italy......... A L 0-2 FR
11-06-2003 Spain......... H D 0-0 ECQ
06-09-2003 Ukraine....... A D 0-0 ECQ
10-09-2003 Armenia....... H L 0-1 ECQ
18-02-2004 Norway........ H L 1-4 FR
30-05-2004 Barbados...... A D 1-1 FR
02-06-2004 St Kitts & Nev A W 2-0 FR. sub
06-06-2004 Trinidad & Tob A W 3-0 FR
18-08-2004 Switzerland... A D 0-0 FR
04-09-2004 Poland........ H L 0-3 WCQ
08-09-2004 Wales......... A D 2-2 WCQ
09-10-2004 Azerbaijan.... A D 0-0 WCQ
13-10-2004 Austria....... H D 3-3 WCQ
26-03-2005 England....... A L 0-4 WCQ
04-06-2005 Germany....... H L 1-4 FR
17-08-2005 Malta......... A D 1-1 FR
03-09-2005 Azerbaijan.... H W 2-0 WCQ
07-09-2005 England....... H W 1-0 WCQ
08-10-2005 Wales......... H L 2-3 WCQ
12-10-2005 Austria....... A L 0-2 WCQ sent off 74
07-10-2006 Denmark....... A D 0-0 ECQ sub
11-10-2006 Latvia........ H W 1-0 ECQ
24-03-2007 Liechtenstein. A W 4-1 ECQ
28-03-2007 Sweden........ H W 2-1 ECQ
06-02-2008 Bulgaria...... H L 0-1 FR
26-03-2008 Georgia....... H W 4-1 FR
11-02-2009 San Marino.... A D 3-0 WCQ
28-03-2009 Poland........ H W 3-2 WCQ
01-04-2009 Slovenia...... H W 1-0 WCQ
06-06-2009 Italy......... A L 0-3 FR
12-08-2009 Israel........ H D 1-1 FR
05-09-2009 Poland........ A D 1-1 WCQ
09-09-2009 Slovakia...... H L 0-2 WCQ
14-10-2009 Czech Republic A D 0-0 WCQ

Summary: 48(8)/0. Won 16, Drew 15, Lost 25.

Northern Ireland Under-21 Cap Details:

21-04-1998 Switzerland... H W 2-1 FR
20-05-1998 Scotland...... N D 1-1 MT
22-05-1998 Rep of Ireland A W 1-0 MT
04-09-1998 Turkey........ A L 0-2 ECQ
09-10-1998 Finland....... H D 1-1 ECQ
26-03-1999 Germany....... H W 1-0 ECQ
31-03-1999 Moldova....... A D 0-0 ECQ
02-09-1999 Rep of Ireland N L 0-1 MT
17-08-1999 France........ H W 3-1 FR
03-09-1999 Turkey........ H L 1-2 ECQ
07-09-1999 Germany....... A L 0-1 ECQ

Summary: 11/0. Won 4, Drew 3, Lost 4.

Picture by Roy Cathcart.