Al Finucane footage / video

Hey all,

After going through the careers of some of the names from the League's past, I would say the only one who really made me think "Jeepers, I would have liked to have seen him play" was probably Al Finucane. :good:

(Partly because of some of the comments in these links)

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/featu...37legends.html
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/featu...edlegends.html

I suppose in a way if you've seen one great striker you've seen them all, but for a defender to stand out on the pitch takes something special. Is there any internet footage out there that might actually show Finucane at his best, or do any of ye have any that ye might be able to upload . . . for those of you who might have seen him in action, who would compare his style to? McGrath, Baresi? :cool: Even good ball-playing defenders are rare.

I was very young when he was winding up his career in the late 70's / early 80's but he was a class act even then and went on to play LOI til he was 44 I think with newcastlewest. He was an incredible reader of the game and his fitness and attention to detail kept him playing far longer than most others. There's no doubt in my mind that he easily would have made it across the water and won a lot more caps if he had the inclination.

He passed his footballing genes down to his nephew Paul who won a league cup with limerick and also could have gonemuch further in the game if he so wished.

I was fortunate enough to see him playing for Newcastle West, I was young, maybe the 86/87 season, and while not being fully aware at that time of what he had achieved before playing for NCW as I was too young to fully appreciate it, I do remember him being good, a cut above and he just seemed always unflustered and comfortable, win it, pass it. Over and over. I remember one game, I was standing near where he was playing, and remember him talking to the players around him, just calmly organising the shape and potitions. Maybe I'd compare him to Dennis Irwin. I also remember the older supporters speaking in reverence at his performances.

I remember there was a feature on Sports Stadium (RTE) about ex LOI side, Home Farm, and NCW happened to be the opponent that week (and may even have won 2-3), so there was footage of him on it and a brief interview also, it would have been late 80's, I remember it but have no idea where to start looking for such a thing, or it RTE archives are accessible in that way.

had the pleasure of playing againist him in the MSC in 1987. he would have been around the same age as my father at that stage(40,41,42) but played and looked like a guy in his 30's. seemed to glide over the pitch. totally natural football player

Al was only booked twice in his career too. He was certainly with us up to 1985. I saw his last couple of seasons before leaving for Waterford in 1973. That didn't go down well at the time. Still a class player when he came back circa 1981. He got quite a few caps for Ireland too (11 I think) and most if not all with Limerick. One of the greatest LoI footballers of all time.