James Gilmour Player Profile

Biography

The curious case of Jimmy Gilmour, one of the most prolific Irish League strikers of his time that only played senior football for seven years and one season at Warden Street.

Born in the small Ayrshire village of Dreghorn in 1902, his notable football exploits were limited to junior football until the age of 23 years old, when he had begun to capture the attention of Scottish League clubs during the 1925/1926 campaign whilst scoring goals aplenty for Dreghorn Juniors.

It was during that same season he signed for Scottish Second Division side Queen of the South (in February 1926) and after showing early promise, he quickly transitioned into a key player for the Queens with 37 goals during his first full campaign in 1926/1927. This form swiftly caught the attention of English scouts, and in October 1927, he signed for Sheffield Wednesday, then a prominent club in the English First Division.

Despite the promise of Gilmour’s potential in leading the forward line, the move only lasted a month at Wednesday and failed to register a first team appearance, as by November he was back at Queen of the South for most of the remainder of the 1927/1928 campaign.

Gilmour surprisingly appeared across the Irish Sea for the final game of that season in May 1928, turning out in Coleraine colours for their City Cup game against Bangor, which resulted in two debut goals for the lively forward. Despite being touted as an English First Division talent only twelve months previously, he threw his lot in with the Bannsiders for the 1928/1929 season joining a host of Scottish talent and immediately repaid their faith with 48 goals in 43 appearances.

His goals lead to him being picked for the Irish League representative side that defeated the League of Ireland in March 1929, which included yet another debut goal. The following season the headlines still were filled of the goalscoring exploits of Coleraine’s Scottish star, with 34 in 37 matches during the 1929/1930 season. However, Gilmour caused controversy as he turned out (and scored!) in an end-of-season friendly game for Ballymena FC against Kilmarnock, without the permission of the Bannsiders.

James started the 1930/1931 season with Coleraine, but relationships strained – he eventually agreed a transfer to the Braidmen for a £100 fee, having scored a remarkable 88 goals in 90 games for Coleraine in two-and-a-half years.

Gilmour marked his debut with a winning goal against Distillery, as free-scoring Ballymena kept pace with the chasing pack for the Gibson Cup throughout the winter, but ultimately fell short and eventually finished fifth in the Irish League table, with the club’s highest points total to date. Jimmy also found himself centre-stage in the 1931 Irish Cup final in front of over 20,000 fans at the Oval, but it proved to be a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Linfield on the day, as he finished with a prolific return of 25 goals in 21 matches for the club.

The theme of the summer of 1931 at the Showgrounds was cost-cutting, as many of Ballymena’s key players failed to agree renewed terms at the Showgrounds, which included the Sky Blues dynamic front three of John Murphy, Jamie Shiels and Jimmy Gilmour – who combined to deliver 75 of the club’s 129 goals that season alone!

Strangely though, Gilmour failed to agree terms with another club until January 1932, when he reappeared in the Irish League with Ards. The now 30-year-old was still scoring regularly for the North Down side, who were languishing towards the bottom of the table – finishing twelfth from fourteen in both the 1931/1932 and 1932/1933 seasons in which Gilmour played at Castlereagh Park.

Upon his release from Ards in 1933, it was stated in the press that Gilmour returned to his native Scotland to live and play, but there were no further notes available on the continuation of his football career and life back home.

Career
Dreghorn Juniors; (Feb 1926) Queen of the South; (Oct 1927) Sheffield Wednesday; (Nov 1927) Queen of the South; (May 1928) Coleraine; (Nov 1930) Ballymena; (Jan 1932) Ards

Honours
(with Ballymena)
Irish Cup: (finalist) 1930/1931

International Honours
Irish League Representative (1 cap – 1929)