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Joey McLaughlin's Moville Celtic diary entries from 1909-10

Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007

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Moville Celtic Diary

Here are the relevant diary entries from Joey McLaughlin which pertain to the origins and start date of Moville Celtic - or Moville Football Club as it appears to have been called back then.

Dec 23 1909

Foootball Team was started.

Jan 1 1910

Played Carn men, & lost 4/3

An extra entry on the back of the page gives extra info. It says:-

Played on January 1st Carn & Moville at Carndonagh
M. Harold,
Moville
Moville Lost match, 4 to 3
Moville
Football
Club
Note:- This appears to show that the original name of the club was not Moville Celtic but Moville Football Club. There have been some people in the town saying that the Celtic should be taken out of the name as it is too divisive. The fact that the team was originally called Moville FC will give them a better argument.

Jan 1 1910

Took Pledge 1 year {1910}

Jan 11 1910

Football room was opened

Jan 30 1910

Had some trouble at Temperance Hall

Feb 12 1910

Paddy (Joey's brother) Came home from sea

Mar 14 1910

Started stable at Col Montgomery's

Mar 23 1910

Frank Starr died of inflammation of the bowels

Mar 28 1910

Had a dance in Temperance Hall for Football Club and an awful argument

May 8 1910

Played Football Match with Carn men & won
Result 7 + 2

Dec 1910

There appears to be the names of a football team in the diary without specifying who they played or when they played. The names are:-

P Smith
Joe McLaughlin
Ted Harold
D Harvey
Wm Glacken
Wm Hunter
B Harold
P Loage (not sure about the spelling of that one)
M McLaughlin (my grandfather)
Tom Moore
Ian McCartney

Note:- I wonder if any of your relatives are in there. Two of mine are.

There then appears what looks like another team but there appears to be 12 men. I'll just put down what the diary says and in the order that it puts it:-

P. Loage, W. McDonald
D. Cartney (not sure about that one) Larkey
Glacken Carlin
W. McDaid Ned Harold
D Harvey, H Barr
W Hunter J McLaughlin

Note :- Some of those were a bit smudged so I'm not sure of I got the spellings right.

Then there is another team:-

Pat Smyth, Feinds (the 1st letter could also be an L or T and the final one could be an A)
Jim McKinney,

Actually I'm going to have abort this one. The only names I'm sure of are:-
Pat Smyth
Jim McKinney
Joe McLaughlin
Ned Harold
Willie McLaughlin
Willie McDaid
M McLaughlin

Another team:-

Joe McLaughlin, Centre
Jim Larkey, Inside Right
Wm McGhee, goal,
Tom Moore, C. Half
Charles McLaughlin, Back
J. H Moore, B (or R) Half
Wm McDonald, ? Half
Wm McDaid, O Right (this one was scored out so it looks like somebody's Great Grandfather got the chop for this game or couldn't make it)
Wm McLaughlin (his position is scored out)
Donald Harvey, I Left
Dand (I'm sure that's not right) McCartney O Left
Wm McDaid, Left (obviously switched from Outside Right)

Note:- It doesn't seem to make any sense with an O Left and I Left and a Left - but that's what it says.

Another Team

Some of these appear to be given marks by Joey.

Harry Burnett
Joe Burnett
Frank Star - 7.5
Patrick Doran (could be Dolan or Dohan) - 6
Harry Barr - 7.5
Geroge Mitchell - 6
Hugh McGroarty - 8.5
William Weber (not sure about last two letters)
Joe McCauley
Sam McCurry

One thing to point our here is that this couldn't have been from December 1910 as the diary entry shows that Frank Starr died in Mar 23 1910.

He seems to have been a bit of a star with his 7.5.

Another Team

There then follows another team with 12 players in it followed by another 6 in different pen. Perhaps it is the squad.

I'll write it as I see it.

Mick McLaughlin
Joe McKinney IR
Willie McLaughlin
Wm Glacken IL
Hugh Carlin OR
Wm McDonald L, HO (whatever that means)
Eugene Doherty
Pat McLaughlin
John Smith
Charles McLaughlin (goal was put here and then scored out)
Charles Donoghue
Pat Loage (that A in Loage could be a U) goal

Then in different pen we have:-
C Canning
McColgan (couldn't read 3 or 4 letter 1st name)
S. Morrison
H. McLaughlin X
Sam O'Donnell X
M McDaid X

Another Team

Pat Smith - 0
Jim McKinney - 106
Joe McLaughlin C,60
Wm McDaid 106
Ned Harold - 0 6
Donald Harvey 160
Dan McCartney 16
Berd. Harold -06
Jim Larkey C.H 06
J. H Moore 0 6
Wm Hunter R, H06
Mick McLaughlin B60
Wm McGhee - 0- 6

Note:- I don't know what the numbers mean but perhaps it is something to do with money in old LSD.

Another Team

Goal. W McGhee
Backs, P Smith, N Hart
HB. B Harold, M McLaughlin, C Donaghue
Forwards J. McLaughlin, C. Wm McDaid (does the C stand for Captain?), Harvey, Wm McLaughlin, Dan McCartney

Another Team

Is this the first ever team which lost 4/3 to Carn or the one which won 7 to 2?

Here's what it says:-

Team, Carndonagh

P Smith will go
J McLaughlin w go
Ned Harold will go
Berd. Harold will go
D Harvey will go
D McCartney w go
J McKinney
J Larkey
W McGece (is this McGhee?) will go
Berd. Smith
J Smith

I believe this to be the first team as the diary entries just before this are for September and November 1909.

What seems to have happened is that Joey McLaughlin started the diary one way and in December 1909, for some reason flipped the diary round and started from the other direction but kept adding the teams from the original direction.

I believe that the team entries I have put in should be read in reverse order.

There are also 2 different handwritings in the diary. I belive the 2nd one to be that of my grandfather Mick McLaughlin as there are the words of a song about a girl called Mary Green which is in the 2nd handwriting and it has the name of Mick McLaughlin immediately after it.

I bet Joey McLaughlin would have been delighted to know that when he wrote the diaries they would be the final piece in the jigsaw which shed light on the start date and origins of Moville (Celtic) Football Club.