Club career

McElhinney also excelled on the soccer field and his early career consisting of playing with local teams including Derry City

Derry City F.C.

Derry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division...

, Limavady United

Limavady United

Limavady United F.C. is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in IFA Championship 1. The club, which comes from Limavady, County Londonderry, was formed in 1884 when Alexander F.C. amalgamated with another local club The Wanderers...

 and Dungiven Celtic, before earning a move to Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 club Celtic

Celtic F.C.

Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

. Unable to make a regular start at Parkhead

Parkhead

Parkhead is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road and Westmuir Street. Duke Street and Springfield Road also meet there, to form a turreted Edwardian five-way junction at Parkhead Cross...

 he returned to Ireland initially on loan to Finn Harps, and then spent some time in the USA with FC Berne and Chicago Sting

Chicago Sting

The Chicago Sting was an American professional soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from in the 1982-83 season and again from 1984 to 1988...

, before signing with Distillery. His robust style of defending brought the attentions of English clubs, and in August 1980 he made a £25,000 move to Bolton Wanderers.

McElhinney took some time to establish himself at Bolton, but their relegation to Division Three in 1983 gave McElhinney the opportunity to establish himself in the first-team in the wake of the departure of Mike Walsh

Mike Walsh

Mike Walsh may refer to:* Mick Walsh , Chairman of DEC - a UK charity umbrella group.* Mike Walsh , host of the Australian television program The Mike Walsh Show...

 and Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce

Samuel "Sam" Allardyce , nicknamed "Big Sam", is an English football manager and former professional player. In June 2011 he was appointed as manager of West Ham United....

. He retained his place until transferred to Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

 in a £30,000 deal in January 1985. The Pilgrims' fans quickly took to him, appreciating his rugged but fair style of play, and christened him 'Rambo'. In 1986 McElhinney captained the club's promotion to Division Two

Division Two

Division Two may refer to either:* Football League Two the current fourth tier of the English football league system* The Football League Second Division, the former second and later third tier of the English football league system...

, and proved a steadying influence as they finished in seventh place in their first season.

Injuries soon began to take their toll on McElhinney, though, and in August 1988 he made a cut-price £10,000 move to Peterborough United

Peterborough United F.C.

Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...

. He battled on gamely for three seasons with Posh, before joining the club's coaching staff. Later he returned to the playing field with non-League Corby Town, where he was also joint player-manager in the mid-1990s.

International career

While at Bolton Wanderers McElhinney figured in the plans of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland national football team

The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...

 manager, Billy Bingham

Billy Bingham

William Laurence "Billy" Bingham, MBE is a former international footballer and football manager. He is currently a scout for English Football League Championship side Burnley....

, who included him in a number of pre-1982 World Cup

1982 FIFA World Cup

The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July. The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final.-Host selection:...

 squads. It was not until November 1983 that he won his first cap however, against West Germany

Germany national football team

The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....

 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. Unperturbed by the situation, he was a rock as a famous 1-0 win was attained, completing a home and away double over the Germans. A regular in the team for the following year, McElhinney then helped Northern Ireland claim the last ever British Home Championship

British Home Championship

The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...

. After that he began to fall behind other players in the pecking order and was only an occasional squad member up to the 1986 World Cup. In total, McElhinney won 6 international caps between 1983 and 1986.

Management

McElhinney was appointed manager of Central Midlands League club Graham Street Prims

Graham Street Prims F.C.

Graham Street Prims Football Club is a football club based in Derby, England. They currently play in the East Midlands Counties League, having joined from the Central Midlands League at the end of the 2007-08 season....

 in the summer of 2002.
He left the club in December 2006 after a run of poor results.

External links

• Gerry McElhinney, Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
• McElhinney on Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
• GAA All-Star Teams from 1963 to 2004 - Irish News