Doherty, John

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Note:
1) There has been more than one player at Celtic with a similar name (‘John Docherty’). So please check other namesakes if need be.
2) Some reports have his name spelt as ‘Docherty’ rather than ‘Doherty’

Personal

Fullname: John Doherty
aka: Pot, John Docherty
Born: 1917
Died: […]
Birthplace Derry
Signed: 1 November 1937
Left: July 1939 (to Coleraine)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Celtic 0-1 Queen’s Park, League, 3 Jan 1939
Internationals: N/A
International Caps:N/A

Biog

Goalkeeper John Doherty made two appearances for the Bhoys after signing for Celtic from Derry City in November 1937. He was an understudy at Derry City to ex-Celtic keeper John Wallace.

Used almost exclusively in the reserve set up, his first team debut came on 3rd January 1939 after Joe Kennaway had taken a knocking-about in the Ne’er day derby v Rangers two days earlier.

It was two years since he had signed, and Celtic were to lose 1-0 in his debut match to Queen’s Park in a league clash in what was described as a very poor performance by the Celtic team, although one match report opined that John Doherty served Celtic well that day. The flint hard pitch made play that day a lottery, and Celtic had no one to match Queen’s Park’s diminutive Christie who scored the game’s only goal. It was reported positively on John Doherty that:

“Doherty, the reserve goalkeeper, is fast becoming a popular figure. His long left-footed goal-kicks are amazingly accurate in finding a team-mate.”

Despite that positive note, his only other first team appearance was in a 3-1 win over Partick Thistle at home, but significantly despite the win he conceded again. One report was again very positive about his performance:

“Celtic had a two-goal lead at the interval, and Thistle started attacking furiously on the resumption, but Docherty dealt with all that came his way with confidence.”

He was filling in for the respected Joe Kennaway, and going by the match reports on John Doherty, he did a fine job.

In time, the war was to begin and Celtic’s rapid decline and lull for a generation was in process, so maybe John Doherty was luckily away from the shambles that was Celtic in the war years.

As Joe Kennaway was to leave soon back to North America, in retrospect maybe Celtic should have tried to retain John Doherty, especially as some of the incoming goalkeepers until the arrival of Willie Miller were to have poor records. Possibly the decision to move him on was to be due to more than just his football career, in light of the looming war.

John Doherty returned to the north of Ireland in the summer of 1939 when he signed for Coleraine.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

Pictures

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