Pat Convery

Water polo player Pat Convery was regarded as the greatest goalkeeper produced by Ireland. He made his international debut while playing for Belfast’s Victoria Swimming Club before a move to the newly formed Clonard club in 1922. He helped Clonard win the first of a record 28 Irish Senior Cup finals in 1924, when he also became the first Clonard member to appear at the Olympic Games when Ireland (then the Irish Free State) lost 4-2 to Czechoslovakia in the quarter-final after a first round bye.

The eventual captain of the Ulster provincial team, Convery went on to win many Irish Cup winners’ medals with the invincible Clonard team in the 1920s. Although he continued playing into his 40s, Convery also helped with the coaching and training of Ulster district teams. In the early 1930s, when working in Forfar, Scotland, he helped promote and develop water polo in the town. Convery was also a good footballer and played for St Paul’s Swifts before joining Irish League side Linfield.