Thomas Hanna Player Profile

Biography

Local centre forward Thomas Hanna enjoyed success in the Irish League and played in Ballymena’s first ever season in senior football before moving to Canada.

Born and raised in Harryville, Hanna’s breakthrough in football came in the early 1920’s at the town’s most prominent club of the time, Summerfield. By 1922, the teenager had established himself as a regular goalscorer for the Alliance League club.

His performances merited a move into senior football with Barn United in September 1925, and despite the Carrickfergus based club’s struggles at the foot of the Irish League during the 1925/1926 campaign, he proved to be a bright spark and his footballing ascent quickly continued in April 1926, as he was drafted into the Belfast Celtic team to play in the final of the Charity Cup against Glentoran.

Hanna quickly made his name as a “super-sub” scoring important goals for a dominant Celtic side as they won the Irish League title in the 1926/1927 season. He scored an impressive hat-trick against Glenavon as part of a run of seven goals in nine matches, but Celtic manager Austin Donnelly recruited experienced veteran Micky Hamill in the same position which curtailed regular starts at Celtic Park as the Hoops secured Irish League titles in both 1926/1927 and 1927/1928. Tom was also in the starting eleven for the 1927 County Antrim Shield final victory over Dunmurry at Solitude.

At the eve of the 1928/1929 season, unable to hold down a place at Celtic Park – Hanna made the move to Newry Town. The team struggled and despite earning regular football, it wasn’t until October in which he scored his first goal for his new club in a league game against Glenavon. This sparked a decent run of form for the forward who also bagged a goal against his hometown club, Ballymena, as the Border club fought to avoid the lower reaches of the league table.

By March 1929, Ballymena came calling to transfer the 25-year-old closer to home for the final stages of their debut season. He made his debut later than month in a City Cup tie at Coleraine the week before the historic Irish Cup Final victory against Belfast Celtic. Tom would only make two appearances during the remainder of the landmark season, but he will always have the honour of being one of only four local players to have participated that year (alongside John McNinch, David Cunning and John Morrow).

Appearances were limited for Hanna in the following season, as he made only two further appearances for the club following the arrival of Tom Kilpatrick from Scotland to play outside right. In his final game in the light blue of Ballymena he scored both goals in a 2-0 win against Ards in September 1929. This was also to be his final appearance in Irish League football, as in May 1930 he emigrated to Canada to start a new life in North America.

Thomas Hanna settled permanently in Canada and passed away in January 1972 in in Montreal, aged 68.

Career
(1921) Summerfield; (1925, September) Barn United; (Apr 1926) Belfast Celtic; (Aug 1928) Newry Town; (Mar 1929) Ballymena

Honours
(with Belfast Celtic)
Irish League: (winner) 1926/1927, 1927/1928
County Antrim Shield: (winner) 1926/1927;
Belfast Charity Cup: (winner) 1925/1926

Last updated: 11 November 2022