Fordsons Early years In 1921
Harry Buckle, a former
Ireland international, settled in Cork and began working for the
Ford Motor Company. Finding little or no association football activity in the city, Buckle founded Ford F.C. and then helped found the Cork-based South Munster League for the team to play in. In addition to playing and coaching with the new club, Buckle also served as president of the
Tipperary/
Limerick based – North Munster League and helped reform the
Munster Football Association. By 1922–23 Ford F.C. had become Fordsons, renamed after the
Fordson tractor, and the South Munster and North Munster leagues had merged to become the
Munster Senior League. Fordsons also won their first
Munster Senior Cup and in 1923–24 won their first Munster Senior League title. As a result, Fordsons qualified to represent the Munster Football Association in the
FAI Cup. Playing as Fordsons the club would win the
Munster Senior Cup four times, in 1929–30 winning it with a
reserve team. On 23 February 1924 Bill O'Hagan became the first Fordsons to win representative honours when he played for an
FAI XI in 3–0 defeat against
Celtic.
FAI Cup Fordsons made their
FAI Cup debut in
1922–23. After drawing
Rathmines Athletic in the first round they received a bye. In the quarter-finals they defeated
Dublin United 3–2 in an away game. Played against the background of the
Irish Civil War, travelling up to
Dublin for the semi-final against
Alton United proved hazardous. Fordsons train came under fire while passing near
Blarney. They subsequently lost this semi-final 4–2. However, in
1923–24 they would go one stage further. After receiving another bye in the first round, Fordsons knocked out
Jacobs and
St James's Gate before they lost to 1–0 to
Athlone Town in the final. In
1925–26 Fordsons reached the FAI Cup final for the second time. This time they defeated
Shamrock Rovers 3–2. Against the odds, Fordsons defeated Rovers in a sensational final. Fordsons had previously failed to score in nine outings against Rovers and had leaked goals with scorelines ranging from 7–0 to 3–0. Fordsons twice came from behind before beating Rovers. The final was best remembered for Rovers'
Bob Fullam withdrawing from a potential dangerous challenge with Bill O'Hagan.
League of Ireland Fordsons joined the
League of Ireland in
1924–25, replacing
Shelbourne United who withdrew from the league on 7 September 1924, the day after the competition officially started. Together with
Bray Unknowns, Fordsons became the second and third teams, after
Athlone Town, from outside of
County Dublin to join the league. They also became the first club to represent
Cork city in the League of Ireland. In their debut season Fordsons finished a respectable fourth. In
1925–26 they finished third and then achieved three more fourth-placed finishes in
1926–27,
1927–28 and
1929–30.
Cork F.C. Name change Sponsored by the
Ford Motor Company, unlike later
Cork teams in the League of Ireland, Fordsons did not have any financial difficulties. Even without the backing of Ford, they were reasonably self-sufficient, and regular top-four finishes provided healthy gate receipts. Despite this, at the end of the
1929–30 season, Fordsons were informed by the Ford management that they could continue only as a factory team and only compete in local leagues. As a result, the club parted company with Ford and changed their named to Cork Football Club.
League of Ireland In the
League of Ireland Cork F.C. continued were Fordsons left off. In
1931–32 and
1933–34 they runners-up. They also won the
1933–34 FAI Cup, defeating
St. James's Gate 2–1. However the
1934–35 season saw Cork F.C.'s form slump dramatically when they suffered the ignominy of having to apply for re-election after finishing in last position with only 10 points from 18 games. However the outstanding goal scoring performance of Jimmy Turnbull in
1935–36 saw Cork F.C. finish in third place in the league. They also reached the
1935–36 FAI Cup final. Turnbull scored an astonishing 68 goals including a record 37 league goals and a further 11 in the cup campaign. However the season ended in controversy for Cork F.C. when it was revealed that two members of the Cup final team –
Owen Madden and
Jack O'Reilly – had agreed to sign for
Norwich City. When Cork F.C., who received no fee, protested over the moves, both Madden and O'Reilly were suspended by the
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for three years. Having already lost two forwards the club subsequently lost a third when Turnbull signed for
Belfast Celtic after the Cork F.C. directors refused to pay him a £50 signing-on fee for the next season. This decision effectively marked the beginning of the end for Cork F.C. and in
1936–37 they finished 11th out of twelve teams. Without the draw of Turnbull, crowd attendances and gate receipts dropped and the club went into serious financial decline. In
1937–38 the club began to struggle to raise funds to travel to away games in
Dublin. Unable to travel they were forced to concede an away league game to
Shelbourne. The final straw came when a demoralised team, paying their own train fares, were defeated 3–0 by St James's Gate in a 1937–38
FAI Cup game. Shortly after on 8 February 1938 it was announced that Cork F.C. was going into voluntary liquidation. ==Home grounds==