Personal
Fullname: Patrick Corcoran
aka: Paddy Corcoran, Pat Corcoran, Patsy Corcoran
Born: 16 June 1893
Died: […1967… TBC…]
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 26 Oct 1918 (loan)
Position: Outside-left
Debut: Celtic 5-0 Dumbarton, League, 26 Oct 1918
Internationals: none
Biog
Pat Corcoran made three appearances for the Hoops after signing on loan at Parkhead in October 1918 from Albion Rovers.
Prior to Celtic, he was the infamous man who gave Charlie Shaw a scar after Paddy Corcoran opened Charlie’s head with a kick in a Scottish Cup replay in 1914. Celtic still won the match 2-0.
The Albion Rovers outside-right was loaned by Celtic to help ease the burden on a squad hit by illness and injury. Spanish flu was rampant at the end of World War One, and this consequently also had a bad effect on the availability of players for football games (the least of the problems for some in society in wartime).
His debut was a 5-0 league thrashing of Dumbarton at Boghead on 26 October 1918, a match which was delayed by 30mins as the two sides tried to patch together their sides, with Celtic loaning in Paddy Corcoran from Albion Rovers and Dumbarton being lent in Tom McGregor from Celtic.
In total, he only managed to play in three matches for the first team. His last two games were a 1-0 victory over Partick Thistle and a 3-1 loss to Motherwell. Overall a fine record and helped Celtic on the road to regaining the league title that season.
Into his place stepped the great Joe Dodds who went on to play around 400 games for Celtic.
Pat Corcoran went to have a long set of spells at a number of clubs, including Hamilton Accies, Bathgate, Plymoth Argyle, Luton Town, and East Stirlingshire.
At Plymouth, he was popular enough to at one point be “spoken of as the best outside forward ever seen at Home Park“, and earned himself selection for the Anglo-Scots v Home Scots in an International Trial on 20th March 1924.
One of his most notable moments came in the summer of 1924. Whilst with Plymouth Argyle who were touring South America, Pat Corcoran was nominated to ‘miss’ a penalty against Boca Juniors, whose fans had already invaded the pitch when they had gone 1-0 up. However he was ushered aside by a colleague who promptly dispatched the penalty; the pitch was duly invaded again and the game abandoned at 1-1.
He missed a season at Plymouth due to a groin injury, and his move to Luton was refused by the English League on grounds of compensation already received for ‘total disablement‘. It was after this he returned back up north to return to Bathgate and wrapped up his career with East Stirlinglishire in 1927.
He is reported to have passed away in 1967 […TBC…].
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1918 | 3 | – | – | – | 3 |
| Goals | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Pictures
Links
Notes
- According to wikpedia, Pat Corcoran died in 1967, source: https://www.enfa.co.uk/subscribe.php. still TBC.
Articles
PATSY CORCORAN
http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/gosdb-players2.asp?pid=194&scp=1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Full Name: Patrick Corcoran (also known as Paddy)
Born: 16 June 1893
Came from: Bathgate Went to: Torquay United
First game: 06 November 1920 Last game: 26 December 1925
Appearances: 198 (198/0) Goals: 26
Corcoran was said to be a tough outside-right who “was afraid of no one”. He started his career with Bellshill Athletic in 1904 before moving to Mossend Hibernian and then to Clyde in 1912. The following year he moved to Ireland with Shelbourne before returning to Clyde.
He then had a series of loan spells from Clyde, firstly to Royal Albert in May 1916. Three months later he moved the short distance to Hamilton Academical and then had spells with Renton, Albion Rovers, Celtic and once again at Royal Albert. Leaving Clyde, Corcoran returned to Accies in September 1919 for a full season at Douglas Park. In total he made 43 appearances and scored ten times for Hamilton before moving to Bathgate.
It was from Bathgate that he moved south to join the Pilgrims in late 1920, blossoming into a quality winger with Argyle, despite being very tall for the position and lacking pace. However, he did possess excellent ball control and wasn’t afraid to shoot from all angles. Whilst at Argyle he was chosen for the Anglo Scots versus the Home Scots International trial match along with his team-mate, Fred Craig.
In the summer of 1924, whilst Argyle were touring South America, Corcoran was nominated to ‘miss’ a penalty against Boca Juniors, whose fans had already invaded the pitch when they had gone 1-0 up. However he was ushered aside by the competitive Moses Russell, who promptly dispatched the penalty; the pitch was duly invaded again and the game abandoned at 1-1.
In early January 1926 Corcorin was rushed to a nursing home, suffering from appendicitis. He spent two months recovering from an operation, and although he played for the Reserves in the March, the previous Christmas fixtures proved to be his last in the first team. That summer, after five and a half seasons at Home Park, Corcoran left the club, although his destination is unclear. One source suggests he moved to Torquay, but there is no newspaper evidence to back that up. However, in October 1926 he did sign for Luton Town before returning to Scotland to rejoin Bathgate and then a final move to East Stirling in 1927, at the age of 34.
Footnote: written with help from www.acciesmemorybank.co.uk.
Article
Source: https://www.vintagefootballers.com/product/corcoran-patsy-image-1-plymouth-1922/
Glasgow born winger Patsy Corcoran was said to be a tough outside-right who “was afraid of no one”. He started his career with Bellshill Athletic in 1904 before moving to Mossend Hibernian and then to Clyde in 1912. The following year he moved to Ireland with Shelbourne before returning to Clyde. He then had a series of loan spells from Clyde, firstly to Royal Albert in May 1916. Three months later he moved the short distance to Hamilton Academical and then had spells with Renton, Albion Rovers, Celtic (making 3 appearances in hoops in October 1918) and once again at Royal Albert. Leaving Clyde, Corcoran returned to Accies in September 1919 for a full season at Douglas Park. In total he made 43 appearances and scored ten times for Hamilton before moving to Bathgate. It was from Bathgate that he moved south to join the Plymouth Argyle in November1920, making his debut a few days later against Brighton & Hove Albion, blossoming into a quality winger with Argyle, despite being very tall for the position and lacking pace. However, he did possess excellent ball control and wasn’t afraid to shoot from all angles. Whilst at Argyle he was chosen for the Anglo Scots versus the Home Scots International trial match along with his team-mate, Fred Craig. In the summer of 1924, whilst Argyle were touring South America, Corcoran was nominated to ‘miss’ a penalty against Boca Juniors, whose fans had already invaded the pitch when they had gone 1-0 up. However he was ushered aside by the competitive Moses Russell, who promptly dispatched the penalty; the pitch was duly invaded again and the game abandoned at 1-1. In early January 1926 Corcoran was rushed to a nursing home, suffering from appendicitis. He spent two months recovering from an operation, and although he played for PlymouthReserves in March, the previous Christmas fixtures proved to be his last in the first team. That summer, after five and a half seasons at Home Park where he’d made 198 appearances and scored 27 goals, Corcoran moved briefly to Torquay. In October 1926 he signed for Luton Town but never made their first team, before returning to Scotland to rejoin Bathgate and then a final move to East Stirlingshire in 1927, by then aged34.
Where Are They Now – Patsy Corcoran
This edition in the popular Where Are They Now series takes a look at the career of Patsy Corcoran.
PATSY CORCORAN – Born 16th June 1893 Glasgow, Scotland.
Patsy was christened Patrick, he was known as Paddy or Pat when he played in Scotland but Argyle fans knew him as Patsy. He started his football career with his local club Albion Rovers as a right winger, despite being taller than most wingers of the era at 5′ 10′ he had excellent ball control and wasn’t afraid to shoot from any angle.
In 1918 he was loaned to Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic where he made three appearances. From there he joined a club called Bathgate, I had never heard of them so decided to look them up. They were founded in 1893 and started playing in the Central Football League. Just after Patsy left them they were admitted to the Scottish Football League playing in Division 3 South.
The club initially prospered but along with all the East Lothian clubs were badly hit by the 1926 miners strike. In 1929 the club resigned from the league and joined the East of Scotland Football League. They played on until 1938 when the club was dissolved. They now play as Bathgate Thistle in junior team football.
Patsy was spotted playing for Bathgate by Argyle manager Bob Jack on one of his scouting missions and signed on for the club. He made his debut on 6th November 1920 in a 5-0 thrashing of Brighton at Home Park watched by a crowd of 19,000 it was a scoring debut as well, he got the fourth goal with Billy Kellock, David Jack (2) and William Toms all scoring. He scored one other goal in his first season, that came on 13th April in a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth with Harry Raymond scoring the second goal.
Although Patsy was a regular throughout the 1921-22 season, the six goals he scored came in the space of eight matches, he got his first in a 1-1 draw at Brighton and followed that up by scoring twice in a 3-0 win at home to Charlton with Frank Richardson getting the other goal. Patsy scored both goals in the next home game a 2-0 win over Northampton and in the away game against the same team the following Saturday he scored the third goal in a 3-1 after Harry Raymond and Billy Baker had scored the first two.
For the first of six consecutive seasons Argyle finished second in the table just missing out on promotion, this time they were pipped by Southampton on goal difference.
Patsy got off the mark a lot quicker for the 1923-23 season, scoring in the first home game in a big 5-1 home win over Bristol City, after Frank Richardson had scored twice Bertie Bowler and Patsy both scored before an own goal completed the rout.
His next goal also came in another big home win, this time 4-0 over Luton, Frank Richardson again scored two goals with Bert Batten and Patsy adding the other two.
On 10th February in another home win Patsy scored the first goal in a 2-0 victory over QPR with Bert Batten getting the second. Exactly a month later on 10th March Patsy again scored the first goal this time in a 2-2 draw at home to Brighton with Leslie Deacon scoring the second.
Patsy scored his fifth goal of the season on Good Friday in a 5-1 thrashing of local rivals Exeter at Home Park, Jack Fowler scored a hat trick in between goals from Rollo Jack and Patsy.
Patsy scored his first goal of the 1923-24 season on Boxing Day in a 4-0 thumping of unfortunate Exeter at St. James Park, I say unfortunate as they had been beaten by the same score the day before at Home Park, on Christmas day the goalscorers were Percy Cherrett (2), Cecil Eastwood and Jack Leslie and 24 hours later Percy scored another two with Patsy and Bob Preston making it a miserable Christmas for the Grecians.
Reading were the next team to feel the power of Patsy’s shooting power when he scored the winner at Home Park in a 2-1 win with Jack Smith getting the first goal. He scored his last of the season in another 2-1 win this time at Aberdare Athletic with Percy Cherrett getting the second goal.
In the summer of 1924 Argyle went on a tour would seem extraordinary by today’s standards let alone the mid-twenties when they went to South America on a tour of Uruguay and Argentina. The team sailed to Buenos Aires on the RMSP Avon arriving in mid-June with nine games lined up. On 22nd June they won the first game against Portenos 1-0 with Percy Cherrett scoring the goal. In the next game they lost 3-0 to Argentinos. They then went on to easily beat Uruguayos 4-0.
They followed that up with two games against Rosarinos, drawing the first 0-0 and losing the second 2-1.
On 9th July they played Boca Juniors in a game marred by pitch invasions. When Boca took the lead the crowd ran on to the pitch and carried all their eleven players around on their shoulders.
The Argyle team went back to their dressing room and stayed there for half an hour before returning to the pitch to continue the game. When Argyle were awarded a penalty the crowd again invaded the pitch and the Argyle players returned to their dressing room.
It was decided Patsy would take the penalty and for their safety would deliberately miss. They returned to the pitch and when Patsy lined up to take the penalty, the ever competitive Moses Russell, the team captain, pushed Patsy out of the way, took the penalty and scored. The fans again invaded the pitch and the referee Fred Shreeve, a Plymothian who had travelled out with the team abandoned the game. They went on to beat Argentinos 1-0, draw 1-1 with Uruguayos and lose the final game to Argentinos 1-0, ending up with a record of won 3, drew 3 and lost 3.
The team arrived back in England in the middle of August and kicked of the 1924-25 season on 30th August with a 1-1 draw at Norwich with Frank Sloan scoring the Argyle goal. In the first home game they thrashed Brentford 7-1 with Patsy, Jack Leslie and Bert Batten all scoring twice and Sammy Black getting the other goal.
After scoring in the first home game Patsy had to wait until the final game of the season at home to Southend before he scored again, he again scored two goals in a big win this time 6-0 with Fred Forbes, Sammy Black, Jack Leslie and Jack Cock all scoring one each.
Argyle started the 1925-26 season just as they had finished the previous one when they scored another six against Southend at Home Park, the visitors at least made a game of it this time by scoring twice, Jack Cock scored a hat trick with Jack Leslie, Sammy Black and Patsy getting one each. Patsy scored another five goals before the end of November with all of them in high scoring games. He scored the third goal in a 4-0 win at home to Brentford with goals from Sammy Black, Jack Cock and an own goal completing the scoring. Three days later he scored in a 7-2 rout of Aberdare Athletic with John Pullen, Fred Forbes, Jack Cock (2), Jack Leslie and Sammy Black all on the scoresheet. Amazingly the next time Patsy scored also ended in a 7-2 home win, this time over Bournemouth, Sammy Black, Jack Leslie and Jack Cock all scored twice with Patsy getting the other goal.
The following Saturday Patsy scored in between goals from Sammy Black and Jack Cock in a 3-2 win at Bristol Rovers. Patsy equalled his best scoring season when he got his sixth goal in a high scoring 5-5 draw at Crystal Palace after he had scored the first goal Fred Forbes, Jack Cock (2) and Sammy Black all scored to ensure Argyle came back with a point. He must have thought he would score at least ten goals for the season. Unfortunately after a 2-2 draw at home to Exeter on Boxing Day he was taken ill with stomach pains. He missed his first game of the season two days later a 1-1 draw at Luton as he was still in pain.
In early January he was rushed into a nursing home with acute appendicitis. He spent the next two months recovering from the operation and in March played for the reserves, but never played for the first team again. In fact there is no record of him playing football again. It was rumoured he spent the early part of the 1926-27 season with Southern League Torquay, but I couldn’t find any trace of him ever playing for them.
He joined Luton in October 1926 again with no record of him making any appearances.
Patsy made 198 appearances for Argyle and scored 26 goals, but after he left the club I could find no definite trace of him, not even a record of his eventual death. I can only assume he returned to Scotland and took up an occupation outside of football.