By Sean Ryan
Ronnie Nolan, who died last month aged 89, was widely regarded as one of the greatest Shamrock Rovers players — and he had the medals and caps to prove it.
With Rovers, he tasted success all the way but, as he recalled, he had been prepared for it: “When I joined Rovers in the early 1950s, a lot of us had been with successful schoolboy teams and we expected success rather than hoped for it. Of the team that won the Cup in 1955, Hughie Gannon, Mickey Burke, Gerry Mackey and I all played with Johnville.”
In a 15-year career with the Hoops he won six FAI Cup medals, four League medals, 10 international caps, and was a regular on the League of Ireland XI for more than 10 years, winning a record 33 inter-League caps. He was versatile too. Most often named at right-half, he also filled in at left-back and centre-back, not just for League games, but in Cup finals as well.
According to ace Manchester United scout Billy Behan, Nolan was the best League of Ireland player never to leave Ireland — although he did have a short summer season with Boston.
“Ronnie was the best defensive wing-half I ever saw in the League of Ireland,” Behan said. “He was absolutely brilliant — because he could read the game.”
Three times Behan tried, and failed, to sign Nolan for United. On the first occasion, Ronnie’s father wanted his son to finish his apprenticeship as a fitter. Then, in United’s hour of need after the Munich disaster in 1958, acting manager Jimmy Murphy felt he couldn’t sign a part-timer.
Finally, Matt Busby, recovering from the injuries he received in Munich, was delayed a few weeks in coming over to see Nolan in action and in that time he signed Maurice Setters. Nolan was brilliant in Busby’s presence, but the United manager felt he couldn’t sign another right-half, although he acknowledged that Ronnie was as good as Setters, if not better.
Ronnie won his first League medal in 1954 in his first full season, and the following year gained an FAI Cup medal, but he nearly missed his date with destiny, as he recalled: “I was waiting for a bus in Leeson Street to take me to Dalymount, and they were all going by full.
Fortunately, the Milltown golf professional Christy Greene was driving past, spotted me in the queue and brought me to the ground. Otherwise, I’d have missed the final.”
The following year Rovers retained the Cup, but it was a close call, with rivals Cork Athletic leading 2-0 with less than 15 minutes left. At that point one of their directors left the ground to buy the champagne. Imagine his chagrin when he returned to the ground to find it 2-2, and Rovers were all over their rivals, benefiting from Paddy Coad’s switch of Nolan to left-half from his left-back starting role. It was into injury time when Nolan headed a Coad corner into the top right corner.
Such were the celebrations it took the Rovers players 20 minutes to get off the pitch, and Nolan’s goal had other repercussions, as he discovered. “I met an old schoolmate of mine, Jack Kiely, and his leg was in plaster,” Ronnie recalled. “Apparently when I scored the winner he jumped up on the terraces, fell down the steps and broke his ankle.”
Ronnie was fortunate to be a vital cog on two great Rovers’ sides, Coad’s Colts in the 1950s and the team that completed the Grand Slam of League, Cup, Shield, and Leinster Cup in 1964. Their record was phenomenal: they played about 60 games, and only lost three. They went on to retain the Cup in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.
The pressure of work, which led to difficulties with training and a loss of form, cost Nolan his place in the 1967 final, but it wasn’t the end of his Cup success. He moved to Bohemians as manager and when the Dalymount club finally made the big decision to turn professional in March 1969 he was succeeded by Sean Thomas, who had overseen Rovers’ success in 1964.
Despite many good signings, Bohs made a bad start to their 1969-1970 League campaign as professionals. Thomas persuaded Nolan to come out of retirement and he lined up at centre-back beside Johnny Fullam. It was the turning point for the team’s fortunes, as they climbed to safety and clinched the Cup, thanks to a three-month unbeaten run. It was Ronnie’s seventh cup medal.
In retirement, he enjoyed playing golf as a very competitive member of Newlands, getting down as low as five handicap. His wife Fran was also a keen golfer and they scooped up their share of husband and wife prizes. A very united couple, Ronnie’s decline began with Fran’s death seven years ago. He is survived by his five children, Bernadette, Ronnie, Anna, Paula and Dermot.
This obituary was originally published in the Sunday Independent on Sunday July 2 2023 and is reproduced with the generous permission of the author.
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