McEvoy, Patrick – The Celtic Wiki

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Fullname: Patrick George McEvoy
aka: Patrick McEvoy, P.G. McEvoy, Paddy McEvoy, Pat McEvoy
Born: 2 May 1899
Died: […]
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 1 Apr 1917 (prov); 22 July 1918 (full); 29 Nov 1919 (back to Celtic)
Left: 16 Aug 1919 (loan to Dumbarton Harp); Spring 1921
Position: Half-back
Debut: Hibernian 0-3 Celtic, League, 17 Aug 1918
Internationals: none

Biog

Half-back Patrick McEvoy signed for Celtic in April 1917 from junior side St Anthony’s but his early months at the club were spent in the reserves or on loan.

He was called into action for the 3-0 league win at Hibs on August 17th 1918.

With the Bhoys’ usual half-back choices struggling with injury Pat proved an able deputy during the early course of the league season and after making ten appearances he picked up a deserved championship winners medal.

All his games were in the first half of the 1918/19 season. One big 3-0 defeat to Rangers sadly, but he still played his part in the league title charge which included a 5-0 win over Dumbarton and a 3-0 win over Queen’s Park. Added to the Hibs win from his debut proved to be valuable points.

These games came in the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic, and for the 5-0 away match v Dumbarton, Celtic had two debutants but had to then loan Tom McGregor to Dumbarton as they were missing their regular centre-forward and goalkeeper.

His last game was a 3-1 defeat to Motherwell in Dec 1918, a match in which according The Glasgow Herald reported that :

“[The Motherwell side] merely treated the ex-champions [Celtic] as an average eleven, and proceeded to reduce them to mediocrity!”.

Celtic actually went on to progress after that defeat, and didn’t lose another game to the end of the season, going on to win the regain the league title pipping Rangers by just 1pt. At least it meant that James McAvoy was to win a League title with Celtic, and have played a part in this triumph.

He slipped back into the reserves for the next campaign, including a loan move out to Dumbarton Harp, before leaving Celtic in 1921. Celtic had begun from around this point a slow decline, only really to be reversed in the 1960s, albeit there were some golden moments too during the interim period.