Charlie McIlroy

Name: Charles McIlroy
Born: Ballymena
Height:
Weight:
Position: Outside-Right

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Amateur Cap (1934).
Club Honours: (with Belfast Celtic) Irish League Champion; Irish Cup Winner 1936/37, 1937/38; Gold Cup Winner; City Cup Winner; Belfast Charity Cup Winner; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1938/39.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Summerfield	-	-	Amateur	(Intermediate League)
Ballymena	32/33-33/34	-	Amateur	*41/12	-	-
Belfast Celtic	-	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

Biography:
Signed by Ballymena from their near-neighbours, Summerfield, Charlie McIlroy was greatly eulogised in the press. A profile in Ireland's Saturday Night noted:

“A quick-working brain and a pair of nimble feet, he can give any defender a lively afternoon. He is not the type of player with whom liberties can be taken. Possessed of a fine turn of speed, and excellent ball control, he takes a deal of stopping”.

Still a relative youngster when selected at outside-right for Amateur Ireland's trip to face England at Ilford in February 1934, McIlroy readily attracted the attentions of cross-channel scouts. Instead, in the fallout that followed Ballymena's expulsion from the Irish League and re-formation as Ballymena United, he joined Belfast Celtic. Just 21 years-old when he moved to Paradise, Mcilroy won all of the available honours through to the early 1940s, featuring mainly on the left-wing. He was one of the "other" scorers in a 13-0 win over Glenavon in January 1940, Peter O'Connor claiming eleven!

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
17-02-1934 England A L 0-4

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

Details and picture kindly supplied by Jim Murphy.

Johnny Dalrymple

Johnny Dalrymple was a star of Distillery's "Cup Specialist" side of the 1920s...

Name: John Patrick Dalrymple
Born: 2 June 1901, Ballymena
Died: 31 March 1970, Ballymena
Position: Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1922); IFA Representative: 1 App/2 Goals (1922); Irish League: 7 Caps/1 Goal (1922-1929).

Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish Cup Winner 1924/25; Gold Cup Winner 1924/25, Runner-Up 1923/24; Belfast Charities Cup Winner 1920/21; Co. Antrim Shield Runner-Up 1920/21, 1921/22, 1923/24; (with Ballymena) Irish Cup Runner-Up 1930/31.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Distillery	20/21-29/30	-	-	*290/102	-	-
Ballymena	29/30-30/31	Dec-29	-	*53/  6	-	-
Summerfield	31/32-34/35	Aug-31	-	(Intermediate League)
Ballymena United	35/36	Aug-35	-	*5/  1	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		348/109	-	-

* all games

Biography:
John Dalrymple made his Distillery debut as centre-forward on 23rd October 1920 in a match that was their last at the club's old Grosvenor Road home for seven years - they lost 3-1 to Linfield. The season was a disastrous one for Distillery as they finished bottom of the Irish League and exited the Irish Cup to intermediate club, Forth River. Dalrymple did provide one of the highlights, scoring both goals in the Charities Cup Final victory over Glentoran.

The 1921/22 brought an improvement in League form with Distillery finishing third. Dalrymple earned recognition from the IFA when he was included in an end-of-season tour of Norway. He led the line in both games, a 2-1 defeat in what is now regarded as an official international in Bergen, and he scored twice in a 3-1 representative match win in Oslo three days later.

Irish League representative honours came Dalrymple's way during the 1922/23 season when he made the first of seven appearances in a 5-1 defeat by the Football League. He played a total of seven inter-league matches at centre-forward, inside-right and on the right wing, scoring once in a 5-2 defeat by the Scottish League in 1926.

On the domestic front, Dalrymple's most successful season was in 1924/25 when he finished with both Irish Cup and Gold Cup winner's medals, scoring in the replayed final win over Queen's Island in the latter. Dalrymple played out his time with Distillery filling in at centre-half as well as in the forward line before joining his home-town club, Ballymena, in December 1929. In all he scored 5 hat-tricks for Distillery, the most memorable for him was in the 4-3 defeat of Belfast Celtic in a County Antrim match on the 12th December 1925.

Ballymena had been newly promoted to the league in 1928/29 and actually won the Irish Cup in their inaugural year. They already had a team of experienced players when Dalrymple joined them and he missed out on the Irish Cup Final in March 1930, when Linfield beat Ballymena 4-3. He however appeared at outside-right in March 1931 when they were again defeated by Linfield.

After a spell at Ballymena Intermediate side Summerfield he "returned" to Ballymena (by then Ballymena United) as trainer in 1935/36 season. He even managed to play in a few matches for the seniors, including a match against Larne in the City Cup on the 18th April 1936, scoring a goal.

Ireland Cap Details:
25-05-1922 Norway.. A L 1-2 FR

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

Irish FA Representative Match Details:
28-05-1922 Norway.. A W 3-1 FR 2 goals


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

Ballymena appearance details from "Neil Coleman - The Official History of Ballymena United"
Additional details by George Glass.