Sammy Curran
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Sammy Curran (born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland) was a former Irish footballer who played as a centre-forward.
One of the Irish League's most prolific goalscorers between the Wars, Curran's feats in front of goal brought a host of medals and representative honours his way.
Ironically nick-named "Blind Sammy" because he never lost sight of goal, Curran was one of the stars of the Irish League in the 1920s. He made headlines as a goal-getter with Carrick-based intermediate club, Woodburn, and brought the attentions of the Irish League’s top clubs. Belfast Celtic won the race for his signature, usurping Linfield FC at the last minute.
Curran made his Celtic debut in 1-0 defeat at the hands of Glenavon FC on 22 August, 1925, but it was to be one of the few lows in a startling first season in senior football. Curran found the back of the net on 51 occasions as the Gibson Cup (Irish League), Irish Cup, Gold Cup, City Cup and Belfast Charities Cup (shared with Glentoran FC) all returned to Paradise. Individual highlights included a hat-trick in the 3-2 Irish Cup final victory over Linfield and a brace in a 4-2 friendly win against Glasgow Celtic on Easter Monday, 1926. Impressive club form also brought Curran representative honours. He scored on his inter-league debut in a 5-1 defeat by the Football League in October 1925, and scored two on his first outing for the IFA's "Ireland" in a 3-0 win over Wales.
Over the next few seasons Curran could not stop scoring, as Belfast Celtic went on to claim four consecutive League titles, plus further successes in the City Cup and the County Antrim Shield. In 1928 he was chosen to lead the line as Ireland played in what was one of their first full international games against “foreign” opposition – France. Ireland cruised to a 4-0 win in Paris. In all, he won 4 international caps.
Having scored over 170 goals for Celtic, Curran moved on to Derry City FC, playing in their first match as a senior side on 22 August 1929. Two days later he had the honour of scoring the club's first senior hat-trick, as Derry came back from 5-1 down against Portadown FC, only to lose 6-5 to a late goal. Curran finished his first season at the Brandywell with 35 goals in 39 appearances.
In 1931 Curran moved closer to home, signing for Bangor FC. The club struggled during Curran’s first season, finishing bottom of the Irish League, five points behind Glenavon. A personal highlight for Curran though was a hat-trick back at the Brandywell, although the final score of 7-4 to Derry, now the opposition, no doubt took some of the gloss of the achievement. Ironically, Bangor had been the main rivals of Woodburn during their Intermediate League days. Indeed, Curran had scored for Woodburn in the 1923 Steel and Sons Cup Final against the Seasiders, the replay being marked by controversy as Bangor won 2-0.
On retiring from playing, Sammy Curran settled in Bangor, where he bought a sweet shop.
