Roy Welsh – Tribute (part one)

Here we bring you Part 1 of a three part tribute to our great player and friend Roy Welsh – this part covers the two spells he played for “The Whites”, and has been compiled by Distillery’s club historian Dawson Simpson.

Distillery LEGEND Roy Welsh made 432 appearances and scored 81 goals, also spent the majority of his football career at this great club, both as player and manager. He had two spells at Distillery as a player and also two spells as a manager.

And historically, he transcends that period of our club history from the last decade at Grosvenor Park, through those nomadic years at Seaview and Brantwood, to the formative years establishing the club here at New Grosvenor. Along the way he went on to win Irish League Championship with Glentoran and grace that perfect playing surface at Castlereagh Park with Ards.

Roy Welsh made his Distillery debut under manager George Eastham at the age of 18 on 15th August 1959 in a 4-0 Ulster Cup defeat by Linfield at Grosvenor Park. But such was his ability and the impression he made that from that day on he was a regular on the team (apart from injury spells) for over 8 seasons — a remarkable achievement.

He scored his first Distillery goal on 27th August 1959 in an 8-2 Ulster Cup defeat by Glenavon at Grosvenor Park. Roy helped the club win the City Cup that season and on 19th October 1959 he played for the County Antrim FA against Sheffield & Hallamshire FA and scored two goals.

In December 1960 Distillery agreed terms with Norwich City for his transfer, but he turned down the move. In the 1961 season he was capped by Northern Ireland at U-23 International level and played against Wales in a 0-0 draw on 7th February 1962 at Windsor Park.

In 1962/63 he played in all the forward positions as well as right-half, making 48 appearances and scoring 14 goals. On 24th November 1962 he scored four goals against Derry City at Grosvenor Park in a 5-0 victory and so helped clinch the City Cup that day. This triumph was bettered in an amazing end to the season as he helped the club win the Irish League Championship and finish runners-up in the Irish Cup. Roy played twice for the Irish League, against the Football League in a 3-1 defeat at Norwich on 31st October 1962 and the League of Ireland at Dalymount Park on 18th March 1963 when he scored in a 6-3 victory.

Roy was out injured in 1962/63 when the Whites took on the mighty Benfica in the European Cup, however he did accompany the team to Portugal.

In 1967/68 he made 10 appearances and scored 4 goals before being transferred to Glentoran for £2000. The Glens had transferred Billy Sinclair to Kilmarnock and Arthur Stewart to Derby County and they went on a spending spree, signing Roy as well as Nigel McGucken from Cliftonville and Eamonn Gorman from Portadown. His last game in his first spell for Distillery was on 4th November 1967, when the Whites beat Bangor 3-1 in a League game and he bade farewell with a trademark goal.

In two seasons at The Oval, Roy was part of their Irish League Championship and County Antrim Shield (CAS) winning teams in 1967/68 anda season later he played in both of their European Cup games against Anderlecht.

Then in 1969/70 he teamed up with former Whites’ manager George Eastham at Ards, and playing again with his former Distillery colleagues Billy Nixon, John Anderson and Jim Burke. After beating Distillery in the previous year’s Irish Cup Final, Ards had qualified to play in the European Cup Winners Cup, so in that first season at Ards Roy played in both European Cup Winners Cup games against Roma.

In August 1971 Distillery manager Jimmy McAlinden signed Roy from Ards and he made 36 appearances and scored 7 goals during 1971/72. He played in the European Cup Winners Cup away game at Barcelona and in the losing Gold Cup Semi Final against Ards at the end of a difficult season, where the club had to play a lot of games away following the loss of Grosvenor Park and before the club settled in at Seaview.

On 9th December 1972 he started off on a new career as a full-back when we played Bangor.

In his last two seasons he played in all positions except goalkeeper and centre-half and he ended his playing career on 1st April 1975 when he came on as sub for Steve McMurtry in a 3-1 League defeat by Cliftonville at Seaview. The team that day was: —- Sammy Stewart; Steve McMurtry, Sean Quinn; Brian Jess, Malcolm Nicholl, Martin Cahalan; Cyril Hewitt, Mickey Hodgkinson, Bobby McAuley, Brian Nicholl, Bertie McMinn. Sub: Roy Welsh.

He is the third highest player in terms of appearances for Distillery since we were formed in 1880.