Jimmy Dunne came to The Dell as an Irishman of distinction. He had just won his fourth cap, and scored his seventh goal, at centre-forward for the Republic of Ireland. Moreover, he had, by 1932 – as two Irish football authorities vied for jurisdiction – made seven appearances for Northern Ireland, while playing in the English First Division with Sheffield United, for whom his 41 League goals in 1930-31 remains a record for an Irishman in an English season. However few if any on the mainland knew of his rebel past. Growing up in a Dublin suburb on the south bank of the River Liffey, Jimmy became a teenage member of the Anti-treaty IRA’s “D” company during the 1922-23 Irish Civil War.

He was interned both at the Curragh Military Prison and at Portlaoise’s Maryborough Gaol and went on hunger strike while incarcerated. The upside was that, in order to keep fit in prison, he took up football seriously and came out in 1923 in shape to embark on a career that took him away from the rifle and the labyrinthine world of Irish politics. Having arrived in England as a 20-year-old, he had soon progressed from Third North New Brighton to Division I. Yet he would be 28 by the time the League champions, Arsenal, paid £ 8,000 for him. Having ousted the high-scoring Jack Lambert, he was soon superseded, in turn, by the arrival of Ted Drake from Southampton. Which meant that, after a couple of seasons of being dubbed “the most expensive reserve player in English football,” Dunne was ready to join Second Division Southampton. Attracting the nickname of “Snowy”, on account of his fair hair, Jimmy comprehensively made the centre-forward spot his own.

Dangerous in the air and with a short, striding run that enabled him to retain his balance in quick moves near the goal,

he had scored 14 times in 34 League and Cup appearances by mid-March. But a new manager was appointed that month and, after only three more games – and, reportedly, a falling-out with Tom Parker – Jimmy returned to Ireland. Having won two further caps while at The Dell (see below), he would thereafter play in the Republic’s next nine games. Passing through Southampton en route to one of those matches in Germany, he was given a rousing reception by the dockers – an indication of how well he had coped in the unwelcome role of being, in effect, a delayed swap for Ted Drake.

Jimmy died, aged 44 of a heart attack (see scrapbook section) but the Dublin Dunne’s had quite a footballing pedigree on both sides of the Irish Sea.

James (Jimmy) Dunne had two footballing sons, Jimmy Jnr (b 1935 in London while he was with Arsenal) and Tommy (b 1932 in Dublin while Jimmy was with Sheffield Utd). Jimmy Jnr was considered to be better than his father, he played for Leicester and Peterborough and for St Patrick’s Athletic and Sligo Rovers. He represented the League of Ireland (playing alongside a cousin, Christy Doyle, who was the son of Jimmy’s sister, Annie) and would have won a full cap but in those days the fact he had been born in London disqualified him. After settling down in the Dunstable area he worked as a printer in Fleet St while turning out for Bedford Town and Dunstable. Sadly he took his own life in 1983.

Meanwhile Tommy had started playing professional football with Shamrock Rovers and then St Patrick’s Athletic, captaining them to consecutive League of Ireland titles between 1954 and 1956. He was offered terms by Manchester United but turned them down preferring to remain in Ireland. Because his mother had returned to Ireland for his birth he was, unlike his younger brother, able to win full international recognition. He moved to Sligo Rovers in 1964 and then Dundalk in 1966. He worked for Jacob’s biscuits in Dublin and passed away in 2015.

There were also two other footballing cousins (the sons of Jimmy’s brother Cronje), another Tommy who played for Sligo Rovers, Leicester, Exeter and Southport and Noel who represented Shamrock Rovers.