The day a Cork footballer kissed a Lisbon Lion’s knee

It’s not every Cork footballer that can claim to have kissed the knee of a Lisbon Lion, but then Leeside legend, Dinny Allen isn’t just any footballer – a FAI Cup medal winner with Cork Hibs, he also captained the Cork footballers to All-Ireland football success in Croke Park.

Allen has always been a great raconteur and prompted Celtic FC’s clash with Cork City FC in Supervalu Pairc Ui Chaoimh for the Cork Super Cup.

He recalled a previous visit to Leeside by Celtic when he went head to head or rather knee to knee with Celtic hero, the late Billy McNeill.

“I had signed with Cork Hibs in January 73 – I came into the team after Miah Dennehy went to Notts Forest – we won the FAI Cup that year – we beat Shelbourne 1-0 at Flower Lodge in a replay with Carl Humphreys getting a late winner,” he says.

“That summer Celtic came over to play a Cork Hibs XI – we had Peter Thomas and Alfie Hales from Waterford and Richard Brooks from Cork Celtic as well as Martin Sheehan and Noel O’Mahony from Hibs who were two great stalwarts of the club.

“And we had Sonny Sweeney and John Lawson, who were both Scottish lads and members of the Hibs team that had won the FAI Cup the year before when Miah (Dennehy) scored his hat-trick, and Miah was up front for us, guesting from Notts Forest.

“And Celtic had Billy McNeill, who captained them when they won the European Cup in Lisbon in 1967 and they had Bobby Lennox who also played that night in Lisbon and Jock Stein brought on Bobby Murdoch and Jimmy Johnstone at half time, so they were a very good side.”

Hibs got off to a dream start when, after just four minutes, Brooks, Mick Doyle from Limerick, Allen, who was playing in midfield, and Dennehy, combined to set up Sweeney, who sent a 20 yard screamer past Celtic keeper, Ally Hunter to nestle inside the far post.

But Celtic, with two of their greatest servants, David Hay and Danny McGrain to the fore, struck back and equalised after eleven minutes through Harry Hood before they went ahead on 20 minutes when Hibs’s centre half, Martin Sheehan deflected a McGrain cross into his own goal.

Hood added a second and Celtic made it 4-1 five minutes before half time, and Lennox netted his second in the final minutes, but by then Allen had pulled one back for Hibs, linking up with trialist Owen O’Neill to fire past Hunter from 15 yards as Celtic ran out 5-2 winners.

Cork Examiner reporter, Billy George had noted Dennehy was unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet with a late header, and he singled out both the Notts Forest man and Allen for plaudits, saying “Dennehy was their top player, and Denis Allen gave him most support.”

But Allen’s recall of the game, played in front of 6,000 fans, is less about the goal he scored but more about his accidental clash with McNeill and years later an encounter with the Celtic star, who holds the record for most ever appearances ever for the club with 822 games to his credit.

“McNeill won a huge amount for trophies with Celtic – the European Cup obviously but he was part of that team that won nine Scottish championships on the trot, and he won trophies with them too as a manager and there’s a statue to him at Celtic Park.

“Anyway, during the game, I went for a ball and my knee knocked against his knee – his knee had been done a couple of times over the years, and he went down injured – it was a complete accident, but he had to be stretchered off.

“I thought I was going to have go off myself because there were so many fellows threatening me - one fellow told me he was going to kill me – at least that’s what I thought he was saying because he had the strongest Scottish accent, but it eventually fizzled out,” laughs Allen.

Fast forward a couple of years, and Allen, who later played a couple of seasons with Cork Celtic FC after a stint with the Cork hurlers, got an invite from his Nemo Rangers club mate and Cork goalkeeper, Billy Morgan to join him on a trip to Celtic Park.

“Billy is a huge Celtic fan, and he got an invite from this shareholder to go over for a game – they were playing a German crowd so we’re going into the game up in the VIP section and we’re a few minutes late and fellows have to stand up to leave us shuffle past them.

“Anyway, who is there in the row but Billy McNeill and as we are passing him, Billy Morgan says to him ‘Remember the time you got injured playing in Flower Lodge in Cork – this is the fellow that did it to you and put you off the pitch that day’, and he pointed to me.

“’Aye, I did get injured playing in Cork and to my cost’, says McNeill so I said, ‘It was just an accident, the two of our knees just clashed’ but he got a bit fired up and called me ‘A little fecker’ and Billy (Morgan) stoked things up a bit by asking him “And how’s your knee now?’ “And he pulled up the leg of his pants to show us the scar down the middle of his kneecap - Jesus, what a sight and all I could do was apologise, and I dropped down on my knees and gave his kneecap a kiss, and he just burst his heart laughing – he took it well in fairness.”

Allen, who later embarked on a career with the Cork footballers, captaining them to victory over Mayo in the 1989 All-Ireland, recalls that the Cork Hibs XI v Celtic game was the first and only time that he played with Miah Dennehy, who sadly passed away in 2023.

“It was nice to play with Miah and to play against Celtic- they were a great side and obviously won a lot – I would have had great respect for them but I wouldn’t be in awe of them, you can’t be in awe, you just have to treat them like anyone else - otherwise the game will pass you by.”

This article originally appeared in the 2025 Holly Bough.