Chasing down McLaughlin’s tally

The champion made a quiet entry. He was 26 back then and barely even a household name in his own home. Yet here he was, making his managerial debut at Oriel Park, the ground he would later achieve his greatest success. So he stood in the away dug-out and looked to his left at Jim McLaughlin, the most celebrated manager in the history of the League of Ireland, but a man whose time was coming to an end.

What McLaughlin didn’t – or couldn’t – have known then was that a symbolic baton was being passed that night. The greatest League of Ireland manager of the 20th century was making way for the greatest the old league would see in the