Cork City Football Club was an Irish association football club based in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

. After replacing Cork F.C., they played in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

between

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

and

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

. The club folded in 1940 and were in turn replaced in the League of Ireland by a new club, Cork United.

History

Foundation

Shortly after Cork F.C. folded, an emergency meeting was held to form a new club. Two potential names were proposed – Cork Celtic and Cork City. During the 1920s both of these names had been used by teams playing in the Munster Senior League. A team named Cork City also finished as Munster Senior Cup runners up in 1924–25. Initially, however, the Cork F.C. name was retained as the new club were given permission to complete Cork F.C.'s fixtures from the 1937–38 League of Ireland season. They eventually finished second last in the league. New colours were also adopted – a strange combination of red, yellow and black hooped shirts.

1938–39

By 1938–39 the new club had settled on the Cork City F.C. name. The club also managed to recruit some professional players including Hugh Connolly, Willie Ross, Jim Foley, Jimmy Turnbull and Tom Davis. The club also enjoyed some moderate success. They reached the final of the

Dublin City Cup The Dublin City Cup is a defunct Irish football tournament which was played for by all League of Ireland sides (and not just those from Dublin city as the name suggests). It ran from 1933 and ran uninterrupted until 1973. In the 1975–76 se ...

. In the semi-final on 31 August 1938 they defeated

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

7–0, a result which remains Rovers' biggest ever defeat. However, in the final Cork City lost 6–0 to St James's Gate. They also won the 1938–39 Munster Senior Cup, defeating

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

4–0 in the final at The Mardyke with Turnbull scoring a hat-trick in the final.

1939–40

For the 1939–40 season Cork City managed to recruit two former Cork F.C. players, Owen Madden and Billy Millar, as well as two emerging players, Jackie O'Driscoll and Billy O'Neill. However it later emerged that Billy Millar had signed for Cork City while he was still technically contracted to Shelbourne and the club were subsequently fined by the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

. Like Cork F.C. a few seasons earlier, Cork City began to struggle to raise travel costs for away games in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and the fine received over Millar did not help. Then on 21 January, Cork City played Shelbourne and were unable to pay the visitors their 20% share of the gate money. On Sunday, 28 January 1940 at The Mardyke, Cork City played what transpired to be the last match in its short history. City defeated

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

2–1 with O’Neill scoring both goals. Under threat of suspension from the league, Cork City were dissolved on 13 February 1940. However history repeated itself and a new club, Cork United, was immediately formed and they were given permission to complete Cork City's league fixtures.

Notable former players

Dual Ireland internationals

* Tom Davis * Owen Madden * Jackie O'Driscoll

Ireland (FAI) internationals

Ireland (IFA) internationals

* Billy Millar Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
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Goalscorers

* Billy O'Neill (8) – 1938–39 * Jimmy Turnbull (8) – 1938–39; scored hat-trick in Munster Senior Cup final.

Honours

* Munster Senior Cup **''Winners'': 1938–39 *

**''Runners-up'': 1938–39

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cork City F.C. (1938-1940) Association football clubs in County Cork Defunct League of Ireland clubs Association football clubs disestablished in 1940 1940 disestablishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1938 1938 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs in Cork (city)