Match Summary

Ireland Team

England Team

The Association game in Ireland has not advanced in skill in the same degree as that of the Rugby Union and in most points of play it ill compares with the form of a picked English side. In the 17 years of the match between England and Ireland the Englishmen have not known defeat, and the only instance of anything approaching a check was in 1894 when a tie of two goals occurred. England's victory at Belfast on Saturday was gained by three goals to two, and had the conditions been less unkind--the snow and rain quickly ruined the surface of the field of play--the Englishmen would no doubt have done much better. As it was they could never thoroughly develop their game, such was the bad state of the turf. Sufficient was, however, seen of the relative merits of the teams to stamp England as much the better, particularly as regards the half-back and forward work. Ireland were strong at full-back, and in goal for them Scott was very good, while now and again their forwards put in some skilful individual work. James Pyper actually scored the first point for Ireland ; but the visitors generally had more of the game, and goals by Richards and Athersmith gave England a half-time lead of two to one. Subsequently each side scored once, and England won by three to two. Such has been the triumph of English football in the Irish matches that in addition to winning 16 out of 17 England's aggregate of goals has now reached 101 to Ireland's 11. There were over 10,000 spectators of Saturday's game. - The Times - Monday 7th March, 1898

 

Football League Division One 5 March 1898
Team	P	Pts
Sheffield United	26	36
Sunderland	25	33
The Wednesday	25	29
Aston Villa	24	28
West Bromwich Albion	22	28
Everton	23	27
Wolverhampton Wanderers	24	26
Nottingham Forest	21	24
Derby County	24	22
Blackburn Rovers	23	20
Bolton Wanderers	23	19
Liverpool	22	18
Preston North End	25	18
Stoke	26	18
Notts County	24	17
Bury	21	15

 

Division One matches played on 5 March 1898:

ASTON VILLA 4-1 DERBY COUNTY
Smith, Fisher, Sharp 2 (Boag)
11,900 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Villa were without Athersmith (who scored, what turned out to be, the winning goal) and Wheldon, who were playing for England in Belfast, whilst Derby were without Jimmy Turner, who was also playing in Belfast.

EVERTON 4-2 BURY
Divers, L.Bell, Chadwick, J.Bell (Cust, Wilson)
12,000 (Goodison Park, Liverpool)

NOTTS COUNTY 0-0 BLACKBURN ROVERS
6,000 (Trent Bridge, Nottingham)

PRESTON NORTH END 0-0 STOKE
6,000 (Deepdale, Preston)

SUNDERLAND 3-1 SHEFFIELD UNITED
Howell o.g., Wilson, Leslie (Cunningham)
24,000 (Newcastle Road, Sunderland)

Sheffield United were without Tom Morren, who scored England's equaliser in Belfast.

THE WEDNESDAY 2-0 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Brady 2
5,000 (Olive Grove, Sheffield)

 

 

All eyes were on Sunderland, where a capacity crowd saw the hosts close the gap on their opponents to three points, with a game in hand. Sunderland were forced to switch to white shirts when Sheffield United turned up in red and white stripes, and then Sunderland had to lend their own red and white stripes to them, so that United could wear dry shirts for the second half.

Football League Division Two 5 March 1898
Team	P	Pts
Burnley	23	40
Newcastle United	23	34
Manchester City	22	31
Woolwich Arsenal	23	28
Small Heath	22	27
Luton Town	22	25
Newton Heath	21	24
Leicester Fosse	22	22
Walsall	26	22
Gainsborough Trinity	20	21
Grimsby Town	23	19
Blackpool	22	14
Burton Swifts	22	14
Lincoln City	25	14
Darwen	23	14
Loughborough	21	11

 

Division Two matches played on 5 March 1898:

BURTON SWIFTS 0-2 BURNLEY
(Toman, Ross)
 4,000 (Peel Croft, Burton)

DARWEN 1-3 NEWCASTLE UNITED
Sugden (Peddie 3)
2,000 (Barley Bank, Darwen)

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 4-0 LOUGHBOROUGH
Raby 2, Scott, Wigmore
 3,500 (The Northolme, Gainsborough)

GRIMSBY TOWN 1-2 WALSALL
Goldie (Copeland, Griffin)
 2,000 (Abbey Park, Grimsby)

LINCOLN CITY 1-4 LEICESTER FOSSE
Fletcher (McLeod, McMillan, Dorrell, Keech)
 2,000 (Sincil Bank, Lincoln)

WOOLWICH ARSENAL 4-2 SMALL HEATH
Hannah 3,1 pen., White (Hare, Oakes)
 8,000 (Manor Ground, London)

 

Burnley maintained their six-point cushion at the top and were closing in on a test match place in their attempt to win promotion straight back to the First Division, following the previous year's relegation.

 

 

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 6 March 1898 that Felice Cavallotti, the 55-year-old leader of the Italian Extreme Radical party was killed in a duel with the 36-year-old editor of a newspaper, Count Ferruccio Macola in Rome, when the sword was thrust into his mouth and throat. It was Cavallotti's 33rd duel and he had never killed anyone himself. Macola was sentenced to 13 months in prison. He was said to have been full of remorse and committed suicide in 1910.

Source Notes

Michael Cochrane's year of birth is deliberated from his death, he was 37 years old when he died in April 1912, giving him a birth year of 1874/75. But there is no entry in the Irish Civil Registration to specify a date. (possibly 20 October 1877).

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
Original Newspaper Reports
TheFA.com
Rothman's Yearbooks
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
Ancestry.com
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CG