Heroes welcome

Cliftonville Football Club were very pleased to welcome some faces from yesteryear to Solitude this week.

Joining Jim Boyce as special guests for the Danske Bank Premiership fixture with Dungannon Swifts were Gerry Kearney, Bertie Fulton and John Peacock, who made in excess of 600 appearances between them from 1965-1975.

Kearney, who scored 13 goals in 155 games for the Reds, had the honour of captaining the team in the Club’s first match after adopting Professional status – a 3-1 defeated to Ballymena United on August 4, 1972.

Also in the all-Amateur line-up that day were Peacock (who registered an impressive 54 goals in 205 outings during a spell when times were particularly hard for Cliftonville) and Fulton, an Amateur International who represented the Reds 255 times and who holds the distinction of being our first ever substitute having emerged from the bench in another contest with Ballymena six years earlier.

Bertie Fulton, Gerry Kearney (back row, third and fourth from left) and John Peacock (front, third from left) in a June 1968 Reds line-up

Always delighted to celebrate heroes from bygone eras, we hope that, in spite of the result, all three enjoyed their returns to Solitude and we look forward to seeing them again soon.