Peter McDonald

Peter McDonald was born at Holles Street Hospital in Dublin, Ireland in 1924, one of six children that grew up in Bath Avenue, Ringsend in Dublin. He played football for several junior football clubs before moving into the League of Ireland where he played for two clubs, Bohemians, and Transport, from the mid to late 1940s. He was selected to play at the international level for his country twice, at junior level against Scotland in 1947 and then proudly representing Ireland at the 1948 Olympic Games in London in which they played Holland in the first round. He wore the number 7 jersey that day but unfortunately Ireland were beaten 3-1, which prompted an early exit to the tournament.

McDonald worked for Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE) on Irish railways for most of his working life from his early teenage years until his mid sixties when he retired in the 1980s. He was married to Margaret Downes in 1954, and they moved to Drumcondra in Dublin and had 3 children, Robert, Maeve and Patrick. Although during his career he played for Bohemians, McDonald was a big Shelbourne fan and after he retired from the railway he started helping out at the club doing work as a steward at matches and then with the maintenance of the pitch. After a few years he was made head groundsman at the Tolka Park stadium where Shelbourne play in the League of Ireland; he looked after the pitch for Shelbourne for over 10 years from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, where he was often commended for the excellent work he did and the high standard that he kept the pitch.

After his retirement as groundsman with Shelbourne, he still enjoyed attended all the Shelbourne games as a fan for the next several years until finally age started to catch up with him; as of 2021 he resided at a care home in Dublin. His youngest son, Patrick, still proudly keeps his dad’s Olympic memorabilia on display, including the jersey he wore in the match against Holland and his international cap.