Rob Sawyer
Researching the football careers of Everton players such as Peter Farrell,Tommy Eglington, Mick Meagan, Peter Corr and Alex Stevenson, as well as Blackburn Rovers’ Michael McGrath, I have always been drawn to tales of their appearances for Ireland at Dalymount Park. This venerable stadium is the storied home of Bohemian FC and also served as the principal venue for home international fixtures until the 1980s.
After a club match on a Saturday, the likes of Farrell would dash for the overnight ferry from Merseyside to Dún Laoghaire, their boots dripping wet after a quick post-match wash. Hopefully rested during the Irish Sea crossing, they’d convene at Dublin’s Gresham Hotel with other players and the FAI committeemen for lunch and a pep talk before heading to the Phibsborough district, north of the city centre. Post-match, if they were lucky, they might get a chance to say hello to family members before catching the ferry back to Britain, ready to resume club training on the Monday. Flying to and from matches only became a thing in the back end of the 1950s. The photos of a packed Dalymount in that 1950s and 1960s era are awesome, particularly post the installation of the towering floorlights (125 feet high) in 1962, which stand to this day.
It’s been my pleasure to correspond frequently with Gerry Farrell, one of Bohemian FC’s official historians and curator of the website A Bohemian Sporting Life. We’ve assisted each other with various pieces of research linking Irish football and English football, and, more specifically Everton and Bohemians (Bohs, for short). With ‘Dalyer’ about to undergo a dramatic transformation, I accepted Gerry’s invitation to join him at a match – a local derby between Bohs’ and Shamrock Rovers’ women’s sides, which would be the last played under the 64-year-old lights.
The main stand was approached by a narrow passageway between Georgian terraces off the R147; tasteful Bohs graffiti was everywhere. Having got through the vintage turnstile and walked to pitchside, the first thing that struck me were those four floodlights, standing sentinel and ready to do service as dusk approached.
The stadium has been in decline since its mid-20th Century heyday and only two sides currently accommodate supporters. However, much of the Tramway End terracing is extant, if unused – Archibald Leitch’s 1920s work still in full view. Dalymount has hosted far more than soccer – there’s been boxing, circus performers, Rugby League matches and concerts, notably Thin Lizzy in 1977 and Bob Marley and The Wailers’ final European gig, three years later. Both concerts are commemorated on a set of gates.
A nice touch at half-time was an appearance on the pitch by the players from the 1970s and 1980s incarnations of the Suffragettes – the name given to the original women’s football team with a connection to Bohemians.
Inside the main stand, Gerry showed me another notable Everton connection in the shape of former Toffees striker Bobby Parker who had scored the goals in 1914/15 that pushed the club to the league title. He repeated that success as coach at Bohs and appears in a couple of late 1920s squad photos proudly on display. Parker’s grave in Glasgow has recently been restored by EFCHS, and Gerry has been a keen supporter of the initiative. Bill Lacey, the former Everton and Liverpool player was another link mentioned, he became Bohs manager in the mid-1930s. Above the bar in the stand is a plaque proclaiming Bohs as ‘The People’s Club’ – so maybe they got their first with that sobriquet!
This fan-owned club has had several brushes with financial catastrophe, so it was reassuring to hear that when the Toffees sent a strong side to play Bohs in an August 2011 friendly, the gate receipts helped to keep the wolves from the door. For the record, the match ended 1-1, as per the EFC Stato website:
https://www.efcstatto.com/fixtures-and-results/friendlies/match-centre/?match=1202 .
Previously, the Blues had taken to the field at Dalymount in April 1902, as these transcribed newspaper reports document:
https://www.bluecorrespondent.co.uk/1901-02/april1902.html .
Hopefully, Everton will visit the revamped Dalymount, several years from now, few British teams would be more fitting to play in an inaugural match there.
And the match result in the night? In wet and windy conditions Bohs went down 1-2 to Rovers, having taken the lead in the first half.
Further reading:
Farrell, Gerry , ‘Shedding some light on Dalymount – the true story of the Bohs floodlights.’ A Bohemian Sporting Life, (9 October 2019)
Sawyer, Rob, ‘The life and times of Bobby Parker,‘ Everton FC Heritage Society Website (2025)
Sawyer, Rob, The Emerald Evertonian: The Life and Times of Peter Farrell, Toffeeopolis (2025)
……………………………………………………………..
Gallery
