Leitrim native to be posthumously awarded cap by IRFU for 1946 internationals

A Carrick-on-Shannon native who featured for Ireland but was not awarded a cap at the time for games which were not then recognised as international test matches is to be posthumously awarded a cap by the IRFU.

Dr Hugh Dolan, formerly of Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon is one of 12 players who featured for Ireland between 1946 and 1989 but were not awarded caps at the time.

Dr Hugh, a proud Leitrim man, attended Blackrock College and was on the First XV when still in Inter Cert, before going on to study medicine in UCD.

He played international matches in Lansdowne Road in 1946, representing UCD, and will now be honoured with an Ireland cap and enrolled in the official list of international players.

A special committee of the IRFU was set up to oversee the awarding of caps and decide on how best to recognise the players.

This involved a rigorous process examining the history of capped and uncapped games, identifying the players involved and contacting them and their families.

The 12 players will be honoured at a pre-match event at the Bank of Ireland Nations Series match against England on Saturday, August 19, in Aviva Stadium.

Dr Hugh Dolan practiced as a doctor in Roscrea, Co Tipperary before finishing his career at Blackrock, Co Louth where he was the Chief Medical Officer for Louth.

He had three brothers, Cecil and Dermot who became vets and Mickey who died at a young age.

Dr Hugh also had three sisters, Violet who is also deceased, and Joyce and Audrey who are both now living in Dublin.

His father, Hugh Senior was a veterinary surgeon in Carrick-on-Shannon.

BACKGROUND

Ireland has played 19 games against national sides where caps were not awarded by Ireland. However, in 14 of these games, caps were awarded by our opponents. In all, 12 players played in those 14 games and they will be presented with their international cap in recognition of this.

From a statistical point of view the players will receive their Irish International player number today as opposed to retrospectively going back and reordering every Irish player’s player number. Nor will the past caps and points records be adjusted for those games.

Ireland’s most recently capped player Joe McCarthy (v Australia in 2022) is Irish cap #1141, therefore the 12 individuals would be designated as Irish international player #1142 to #1153.

In 2018, the 112 women’s internationals who represented Ireland between 1993 to 2005, (the period prior to the IWRFU’s integration into the IRFU) were presented with caps at a ceremony at Aviva Stadium

IRFU President John Robinson said: “There was unanimous support from the IRFU Committee for this initiative which will give due recognition to these 12 players who represented Ireland in the amateur era.

“This is an important acknowledgement of their efforts as times have evolved and I know that this cap ceremony will bring great pride and recognition to the players themselves, their families and indeed to their clubs. I look forward to welcoming the players and their guests to Aviva Stadium in August.”

List of names, Clubs at the time, Year Capped & Ireland Cap Number:
Jack Belton (Old Belvedere) 1946 – #1142
Hugh Dolan (UCD) 1946 – #1143
Hugh Greer (NIFC) 1946 – #1144
Jack Guiney (Bective Rangers) 1946 – #1145
Des Thorpe (Old Belvedere) 1946 – #1146
Paul Traynor (Clontarf) 1952 – #1147
John Birch (Ballymena) 1970 – #1148
Frank O’Driscoll (UCD) 1970 – #1149
Leo Galvin (Athlone) 1973 – #1150
Emmet O’Rafferty (Wanderers) 1976 – #1151
Rab Brady (Ballymena) 1985 – #1152
Paul Clinch (Lansdowne) 1989 – #1153