Derry family has cup final medal returned after 49 years

A Derry family has had a blast from the past after a cup final winners’ medal was returned to them after almost half a century.

Raymond McGuinness, a former Derry City player and current physio at the club, met Galway United fan Michael Hutton when the two clubs met in the EA Sports League Cup recently. There the medal, from the 1968 Kennedy cup final in Moville, was returned to the McGuinness family, 49 years after Hutton received it from McGuinness’ father Jimmy.

A well-known junior footballer in the Northwest, Jimmy graced the local ranks with Derry City, Sligo Rovers, Crusaders and Finn Harps. He was also involved in the very popular summer cups towards the end of his career and it is there that the story of the cup final medal begins.

Raymond explains: “The story goes that in 1968 my dad played in a team called Village Celtic and they won the cup. My dad kept the medal but a year later he broke his leg while at Finn Harps. Michael Hutton, who was only a young lad, came to visit with his father John, who was a director at Finn Harps and my dad gave him the medal, and he’s had it ever since. He got in touch with me on Facebook and said it was about time that the family got the medal back and he presented it to me there at Galway.”

Far from being kept in an attic hundreds of miles down the road from its origins, a young Michael kept it pride of place with his football memorabilia. Hutton, now in his fifties, never forgot the moment when his favourite footballer gave him a winner’s medal. He recalls the day a young, star struck six-year old visited McGuinness at home.

“My dad, who was from Derry, was originally involved with Finn Harps when they set up in 1969,” he told the Derry News. “I used to blag along to the matches and when jimmy McGuinness signed, I took a shine to him. He was such a nice guy and he used to look after me at matches. Jimmy then broke his leg around November ’69 playing for Harps against Shamrock Rovers. I then remember going into Derry around January or February; my dad would have been relatively friendly with Jimmy so he called up to see him. Jimmy was my idol and so I went with him.

“While we were there I asked him what medals he had won and he took a medal out of his pocket and it was one he won in the 1968 Moville Cup. These days that might not seem like a big deal, but back then the summer cups were a big event. He gave it to me as a keepsake and I’ve had it for the last 47 years.”

Summer cups are now mainly a thing of the past in Derry, and while the Moville Cup may not be the most prestigious competition in football, even in its heyday, it still meant the world to Hutton, who admits that he always resolved to return it to its original home.

“I kind of always had it in my mind that I would give it back to the McGuinness family,” he explained. “I had never realised that Ray was Jimmy’s son, even though I’d known him. It was only when I realised who he was that I made contact with him and I told him about this medal and told him I would love to give it back to Jim, so we arranged to meet and we did so a few weeks ago when Derry were down playing Galway recently in the EA Sports League Cup on the Bank Holiday Monday.

“It’s made its way back home to Derry finally after 47 years. I kept it safe for many years because Jimmy was always my idol and we kept in touch with him for years afterwards.”