There were fond Midlands football memories at a summer gathering in honour of the late Eugene ‘Pooch’ Davis, who scored 130 League of Ireland goals during his career.

Fellow former Athlone player and IPFBA Chairman, Harry McCue recalled the legendary striker, who died in June, aged 70, leaving a legacy that included his 23-goal top-scoring exploits for The Town when they won the League in 1980-81:

“He was a big lad, Pooch. The ‘burly butcher’ we used to call him, because he was a butcher in Dún Laoghaire. Turlough (O’Connor) used to be on to him about his diet, but then he started scoring so many goals that Turlough just said, ‘forget about that – just keep at it!’ You would never get the ball off Pooch. When he got the ball, he would turn (the defender) and you just always knew that he was going to score.”

Harry (right) is pictured above with former Athlone Town manager Jimmy Greene (left) and other ex-Town players Dennis Clarke, John Minnock, Pauric Nicholson. | Photo: Paul Molloy

Read the Westmeath Independent’s report (see below) here.

Read Sean Ryan’s very fine Obituary in the Irish Independent.