| Sammy Donnelly |
 Samuel Donnelly was born on Tuesday, 13th October, 1908, in Ayr, South Ayrshire. The forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Friday, 3rd June, 1932, having most recently been with Irvine Meadow XI. Aged 23, he made his debut appearance on Wednesday, 24th August, 1932, in a 2-1 win away to Celtic in the SFL First Division. There were no goals for Sammy during his spell with Thistle. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 11th March, 1933, in a 2-0 defeat away to Ayr United in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 6 occasions. His club-list included Irvine Meadow XI, Partick Thistle, Rochdale and Pollok. Sammy died in February, 1992, in Islington, London, aged 83. *
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 The son of John Donnelly (coal miner) and Janet Borland Donnelly (née Alexander). This inside forward was part of a very succesful Irvine Meadow side and 1931-32 was particularly memorable for him. Not only did he do the Ayrshire Cup and West of Scotland Cup double with the Medda (the latter won at Firhill!), he earned 3 international caps for Junior Scotland, playing in a 1-1 draw with Ireland (Solitude 5 March 1932), a 1-0 win over England (Tynecastle 23 April 1932) and a 4-1 win over Wales (Dens Park 7 May 1932). Brilliantly, Sammy got on the scoresheet in the latter game. All of this success led Donald Turner to offer him terms at Firhill. So well thought of was Sammy at Meadow that they held a testimonial concert for him in June 1932 to give him a send-off before he joined Thistle. Many speeches were made in tribute and the Provost presented him a wallet of notes, recently collected from all around the town. (see 'Scrapbook' tab for more on this) Sammy got his first taste of senior football at the hotspot of Celtic Park and, brilliantly, the Jags came away with a 2-1 win. However, it was part of one of the most bizarre runs ever seen by fans of the club. Thistle lost 7 of their opening 8 League games, the only victory coming away to Celtic! This was followed by 12 successive League wins - the all-time club-record! Literally, they were the great unpredictables. On a personal level, Sammy never got much of a chance after the opening run of defeats, and he was largely confined to the reserves. Sammy spent a month on trial with Rochdale at the beginning of 1933-34, before signing for Pollok that summer. Staying in the juniors, he settled once again at Irvine Meadow from December 1933 onwards, for several seasons. He was described in the local papers as "Sammy", a popular player of the Meadow. On 17th July 1936, aged 27, Sammy married an Ayr lass (Grace Gemmell Brogan, 1913-1978), the occasion being reported in the Irvine Herald. Such reports are always great news for the historian as we now have his birth and (approximate) death details; it looks like Sammy moved down to London at some stage, for there he passed away early in 1992. |
| (WS/JK/MD) |
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