Lawrie Reilly

Matt Vallance
Tuesday 23 July 2013

Hibs and Scotland football legend;

Born: October 28, 1928;
Died: July 22, 2013.

LAWRIE Reilly, who has died aged 84, was the last surviving member of Hibernian's legendary Famous Five forward line of the post-Second World War decade that also included Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond.

Reilly's equalising goal, his second of the match, in the 1953 England v Scotland game at Wembley earned him the nickname Last-Minute Reilly. In the days when the biennial London trip was the summit of Scottish football, nobody did more for Scotland's cause under the twin towers than the Hibs centre forward.

The "baby" of the team, he scored the Scots' deciding third goal in the 3-1 win in 1949; bagged the go-ahead-goal in the 3-2 win in 1951; both goals in the 1953 game, which finished 2-2, then scored again in the 1955 game, which we don't dwell upon since Scotland lost 7-2, and made an unequalled fifth appearance at Wembley in 1957, when he won his 38th and last cap.

He also faced England at Hampden in 1952, when he scored Scotland's goal in a 2-1 defeat and again in 1956. Six goals in seven post-war appearances against the Auld Enemy marks him out as something special, while his overall Scotland strike rate of 22 goals in his 38 appearances placed him second to the legendary Hughie Gallacher in the all-time list when he retired.

Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish have since passed that total, but, Reilly's goals-per-game ratio of 0.58 is superior to both Law's and Dalglish's. He is undeniably Scotland's top post-war striker.

Reilly was born in Hearts "territory" in Gorgie, but he came from a Hibs family – his grandfather Barney had helped re-form Hibs in 1893 – and it was always his ambition to play for the club, one he realised when, aged just 16, Willie McCartney signed him from Edinburgh Thistle. He was then an apprentice painter, a part-time player.

Impressive form in the reserves saw him handed his first-team debut, at inside right, against Kilmarnock, at Rugby Park, on October 13, 1945. He soon turned full-time, when a change in the regulations meant he could play football and not lose the dispensation, which kept him out of National Service, that his apprenticeship gave him.

He was a Scottish League winner with Hibs in season 1947-48 and the following season he won the first of his 38 caps, against Wales in Cardiff. He won his second cap and scored his first Scotland goal at Wembley in April, 1949, as Scotland won 3-1 in "Jimmy Cowan's Match".

By the end of that season, he was a Scotland regular, in spite of the considerable threat from across the city of his contemporary and rival "King" Willie Bauld of Hearts.

With Celtic struggling, Hibs were Rangers' biggest rivals back then. Reilly added a further two back-to-back league titles to his honours board in 1951 and 1952, but, although Hibs played in two Scottish Cup finals during his 13 years with the club, he missed both, not being chosen for the 1947 loss to Aberdeen and all but retired when they faced Clyde in1958. He did play in the 1953 Coronation Cup Final, which Hibs lost to Celtic.

Of his Scotland contemporaries, only George Young (54 caps) and Bobby Evans (48 caps) played more times for the country; he was also the most-capped member of "The Famous Five" and is still Hibs' most-capped player. But, he never played in the World Cup finals, an attack of pleurisy keeping him sidelined in 1954 and he had retired, scoring against Rangers in his final game in April of that year, by the time of the 1958 World Cup Finals.

In all, he scored more than 200 goals in 300 club and international matches and was a member of the Hibs side which became the first Scottish club to play in European competition, in the first European Cup in season 1955-56.

He was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

He retired aged just 29, his final seasons compromised by problems which beset him after sustaining a knee injury against Northern Ireland in 1956. He had terrific speed. Some of his Scotland caps were won as a winger, and, although only 5ft 7in he was good in the air and was utterly fearless.

In retirement from football, he ran the Bowler's Rest pub near the club's ground, known to all football fans as simply Reilly's. He played golf and was a regular presence at Hibs games and functions right up until his final illness.

As a young man Reilly had flirted with boxing; he also enjoyed the then annual cricket matches between Hibernian and Leith Franklin. Even in his eighties, he had a real zest for life.

The great English winger Sir Tom Finney, a friend of Reilly's for more than 60 years said: "Lawrie is, without doubt, one of the greatest players Scotland has ever produced".

He married twice, firstly to Kitty, with whom he had one son Lawrance. He then re-married, to Iris, and acquired a step-son and step-daughter. His family survive him.

Taken from the Herald