Lisburn Distillery FC – Barcelona, Benfica and Belfast

I first learned of Lisburn Distillery during a chat with a friend and former colleague on a particularly slow day at work nearly three years ago. The friend had zero interest in football but she mentioned that her parents were involved with a greyhound racing track in Belfast, called Drumbo Park – she mentioned that a football team played there sometimes. After a quick Google search it became obvious that this wasn’t just a Sunday League team having a kickabout at a Greyhound track.

This was the club that kicked off Martin O’Neill’s career, this is the club where Sir Tom Finney played his final game, this is the second oldest professional club in Northern Ireland, a club that’s faced Barcelona at Camp Nou and has hosted a Benfica side that included the great Eusebio and the club who hosted the first ever floodlit match in the country. This is a side who have won their top division 6 times and their main domestic cup 12 times.

Founded in the shadow of the world famous Dunville’s Whiskey Distillery in 1880 by a group of cricketers who were keen to keep moving throughout the winter months, Distillery FC became the country’s second professional football club and, after numerous league titles, cup wins and a record-setting 18-0 victory over United Steamship, quickly established themselves as one of the most successful football clubs in Northern Ireland.

Distillery’s first superstar came long before Martin O’Neill and Sir Tom Finney, in the form of the man known globally, as “The Offside King” – Bill McCracken made his name at Newcastle amassing over 400 appearances during a twenty year spell, but the man credited with inventing the offside rule started his career in Belfast at Distillery FC, winning an Irish Cup, a league title and a County Antrim Shield before becoming a hero in the North East with Newcastle United.

Sir Tom Finney

Distillery carved out their own piece of football history in 1952, hosting the first ever game played under floodlights, in an exhibition match against Burnley. This was followed by the British Isles first ever floodlit league match, when Distillery hosted Coleraine on Christmas Eve 1953. It may seem small but I can’t really imagine looking at a football stadium without envisaging the floodlights and for many people approaching their clubs ground on a match day is made official when you get the view of the floodlights from afar and rarely does a night game occur on television without a commentator or pundit saying the phrase “under the lights”.

10 years later, a league title win brought European football and the mighty Benfica to Belfast in a side that included Portugal’s first Ballon d’Or winner, goalscorer on the day, Eusebio. Distillery had their own superstar signed up for the tie - coaxed out of a retirement made official three years previously, Tom Finney emerged for Distillery to help balance the tie against the European giants and his influence, leading the Irish league champions to a 3-3 draw in a game held at Belfast’s Windsor Park. The fairytale ended in the second leg as a Finney-less Distillery fell to a 5-0 defeat, including a brace from the brilliant Eusebio in Lisbon.

Sadly, it feels difficult to write a historical piece centred around a Belfast institution without involving The Troubles and this is no different – The Whites have always prided themselves on being a politically neutral club, which has had its complications over the years. They haven’t allowed political loyalties to impact their fanbase or their squad, leaving people with the freedom of choice and hoping that people would prioritise their love of football and the club over issues away from the pitch.

This all came to a head in 1970 when, in the midst of the conflict, Distillery were forced to leave their home of Grosvenor Park due to being located in an area with high tensions. This left them homeless and relying on the kindness of colleagues, specifically Crusaders and Brantwood who offered groundshare arrangements for the next ten years.

Martin O’Neill, who is back managing Celtic and attempting to disrupt one of Scottish Footballs great underdog stories in his efforts to stop Hearts from winning a first league title in 66 years, started his illustrious football career with Distillery. During this period, he scored a brace against Derry City in the final of the 1971 Irish Cup Final – leading the club to another European adventure, this occasion including a two-legged tie against Rinus Michel’s Barcelona, scoring in the first a 1-3 defeat at Belfast’s Windsor Park, another glamour but unsuccessful second leg against European giants saw the side lose 4-0 at the Nou Camp. Obviously impressed at what they’d seen, Nottingham Forest brought him across the sea to the City Ground in the month that followed. Two European Cups, a league title, a League Cup later proving to be a shrewd investment!

Martin O’Neill

Since the 1971 Irish Cup victory, the club has been on a steady decline – despite finding a permanent home at New Grosvenor Park (or Drumbo Park to those who enjoy an evening of Greyhound Racing). A County Antrim Shield and a Gold Cup throughout this period but in the league, the club has struggled to match that of its past. Currently, they sit in the third tier of Northern Irish football, plying their trade in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League with a new name, Lisburn Distillery – based on the town just outside of Belfast where they play, but as with every football club in the world, the fans and those who remain, believe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I reached out to the club to find out more and was swiftly introduced to Phil Gowdy, a man who has been involved with the club in a variety of ways over the past 45 years, from Programme editor to Groundsman (a job he still does) to Director, he’s also run buses for fans, and pretty much everything in between. I spoke with Phil about the club, a deeper dive into their history and what they mean to him and so much more…

Interview with Phil Gowdy

Max: How did the club come onto your radar and what drew you to get involved to begin with?

Phil: Good question, how does a football club pick you?! I wouldn’t say you ever choose a club, I think they pick you! I first went 45 years ago last September. Before they moved to the outskirts of Lisburn, they were based about 8 miles away from mine. My Dad, who wasn’t big into football, more of an athletics man, took me to my first Distillery match because I was just really into football as a kid. It tortured him to take me! I’ve always been into football, I’ve got a football programme from Northern Ireland vs Yugoslavia at Windsor Park.

Max: Could you share a brief history of the club and where they’re placed in Irish football?

Phil: Well, we came from the Royal Irish Distillery’s Dunville’s Whiskey, they started in 1808 and the football club started in 1880, we’re in our 145th year and we’re the 2nd oldest professional club in Northern Ireland – the distillery were very competitive, so the early years were successful because they hired loads of Scottish players as staff, they didn’t work for the distillery, they just played for the club!

Max: Beyond the Benfica’s and the Barcelona’s, what other periods in the clubs history would you say are less spoken about but just as significant?

Phil: Oh course, the amount of different players we had, even in the 1800s! Our old secretary and manager Bob Kyle was poached by Sunderland and to this day remains Sunderland’s longest serving manager and the only Irishman to win the top division in England. We lost 10 or 11 players to the First World War, to which we still hold a remembrance service to them every November. Then there’s Bill McCracken, the Offside King. We also had Derek Dougan, who went on to make over 600 appearances in English football. The 60’s and 70’s, which was probably our most recent period of success and Martin O’Neill who was in that 1971 cup winning side. In his first spell at Celtic, he used to take that side over to Celtic Park and give them the corporate treatment, he’s still in touch with them I believe. He’s a busy man now though isn’t he!

Max: Can you talk to me about Sir Tom Finney’s connection to the club?

Phil: He was the David Beckham of the era! I think he’d retired from playing for Preston and he’d kept himself fit enough. Our manager got him out of retirement, we paid him £100 for a single game, it was the 3-3 draw with Benfica at Windsor Park, Eusebio scored – its probably the greatest home performance from a Northern Irish side in European competition. I’ve got a programme from that game! We had a stag group over recently from Preston for Tom Finney, they headed over to the ground for a game and the tour.

Max: When you think of the club and its legacy, how do you hope they’re remembered in future?

Phil: Well I think it’s all generational and mine would be the Tom Finney stuff but I think some of my friends from the older generation would probably say a home game against Burnley, the first game with the floodlights, the first floodlights in Northern Ireland. I’ve been told the floodlights were terrible and you could barely see the ball! Back in the 50s, football was the only show in town. You got huge crowds for it, it didn’t matter which team you supported. Distillery were everyone’s 2 nd favourite team, no one really dislikes Distillery!

Max: After all the years you’ve been involved, what does the club mean to you?

Phil: Its my whole identity really! I’m into loads of stuff away from football, I collect records, I’ve DJ’d, I’ve surfed! I’ll go away with Northern Ireland, I’ve been to about 22 countries following Northern Ireland, all different clubs fans and everyone knows me as Phil the Distillery fan. You walk into my house and you can see I’m in a Distillery fan. My sons are brainwashed now too (M: My dad once said, Luton is the best gift I gave you isn’t it?) Exactly, I doubt they’d have picked Distillery but they had no other choice! When I was a director, my sons used to pester me for the inside scoop and I had to tell them I couldn’t say anything! I guess it’s just your whole being isn’t it?

It was a privilege to speak about Distillery with Phil and I could have spoken to him for hours – his enthusiasm and passion for the club, as well as his knowledge, was infectious. During our chat, it was clear how much the club means to him. A real club man. I’ve promised him, next time I’m in Belfast – I’ll head back to New Grosvenor and I’ll get myself to a game.

Football clubs like Lisburn Distillery don’t really exist in isolation, they live through the people who give their time to them. Through conversations, through memories, through decades of showing up. What began, for me, as a throwaway comment about a greyhound track slowly turned into something far more meaningful: a glimpse into a club that has brushed shoulders with greatness, been shaped by history, and continues to matter deeply to those around it. It’s a reminder, more than anything, that football isn’t always about the biggest stages, it’s about the places and people you don’t expect to stay with you, but do.

Max Pollard