Jack O'Reilly

Who is Jack O'Reilly?

Jack O'Reilly is a former Irish football player.

He joined Cork F.C. in 1935 as an old fashioned outside right. The following year he was a runner up in the FAI Cup Final to Shamrock Rovers. However shortly afterwards he became embroiled in controversy when it emerged that, together with Owen Madden, he had signed for Norwich City before playing in the cup final on April 19. When Cork F.C., who received no fee, protested over the moves, both O'Reilly and Madden were suspended by the FAI for three years.

Although he scored twice on his Norwich debut he was never a regular and returned to Cork in 1939 where he went onto win six League of Ireland championships and 2 FAI Cups. Played in a total of 5 Cup Finals scoring seven times. Scored twice in the 1941 FAI Cup final.

He won his two senior caps for Ireland in the space of a week in 1946.

He scored on his debut on June 16 in a 3-1 defeat to Portugal and seven days later won his only other cap in a memorable 1-0 win over Spain in Madrid.

After retiring from the game Jackie emigrated to Canada.