John Minnock and the penalty that might’ve beaten AC Milan: 50 years on 

John Minnock and a friend were in the Nuts Corner public house in Athlone a few years back after watching Athlone Town play a game in the League of Ireland First Division. 

The pair were studying the horses and Minnock’s companion came upon a fancy. 

“Wait ‘til I put my glasses”, said Minnock. Two soldiers were in having a quiet pint beside Minnock and one quipped: “It’s a pity he hadn’t the glasses on when he took that penalty against AC Milan!”

It is a moment that will never leave Minnock: A missed penalty against AC Milan that could very well have given humble little Athlone Town a win over the mighty Italians.

Former Charlton Athletic player Minnock - father of former Finn Harps star Jonathan and a former Harps player himself -  was signed by Athlone, who paid £2,000 to bring him from England. 

On the final day of the 1974/75 season, Minnock smashed a free-kick past Cork Hibs to seal a 1-0 win for Athlone that saw them pip the Munster men to second place in the standings - and with it a ticket into the UEFA Cup.

Athlone were managed by Amby Fogarty, who was assisted by Letterkenny man Eunan ‘Busty’ Blake. In early ’76, Blake succeeded Fogarty as manager.

The UEFA Cup draw pitted them against Norwegian opposition, in the form of Valerengen. Goals from Eugene Davis (2) and Paul Martin handed them a 3-1 win at St Mel’s Park while Martin netted in Norway to secure a 1-1 draw.

Officials gathered in Zurich the following morning for the draw for the next round. Among possible opponents for Athlone were FC Porto, Liverpool, Roma, Lazio and Barcelona. But the ball pulled out opposite that of Athlone was the biggest name of all at the time - AC Milan.

The contrasts between the teams were startling. Athlone were accepted into the League of Ireland - along with Finn Harps, as it happens - in 1969, the year in which AC Milan won the European Cup.

In their first season in the League of Ireland, Athlone won a Leinster Senior Cup. 

Milan, though, were winning an Intercontinental Cup - which effectively meant they were Champions of the World. All of a sudden, little Athlone’s Leinster Senior Cup didn’t seem such a hot win.

Milan contested successive Cup Winners Cup finals in 1973 and ’74, winning it in ’73. Their goalkeeper was the legendary Enrico Albertosi, who won Serie A titles with Cagliari and AC Milan as well as a Cup Winners’ Cup with Fiorentina.

Athlone had an equally legendary figure in goal. Mick O’Brien rose to fame in 1974 when, during an FAI Cup semi final against Finn Harps at Oriel Park in Dundalk, he broke the crossbar with Athlone trailing 2-0. ‘Is there a carpenter in the ground?!’ wondered the PA announcer. Harps went on to win 5-0 and O’Brien got sent off for his trouble. The incident was featured on ITV’s ‘Big Match’ and on the BBC’s ‘Celebrity Sports Quiz’.

Three days before Athlone were to face Nereo Rocco’s Milan, they took on Cork Hibs in a League of Ireland clash. With time almost up, the sides were level at one-all when Athlone were awarded a penalty. 

John Minnock stepped up and drilled home the winner.

An Italian scout was in position at St Mel’s taking notes. He circled three words upon his notepad: ‘bottom left corner.’ 

Minnock was a native of Tullamore and in 1980 he played for a League of Ireland select on a tour to Argentina, where he played against Diego Maradona at the River Plate stadium in front of 75,000 fans. Maradona netted as Argentina won 1-0 and Minnock swapped jerseys with Daniel Passarella.

Milan, for their part, came to Athlone on the back of a 1-1 draw with Bologna. The Italians - for whom one Giovanni Trapattoni, later to become Republic of Ireland manager, was on the backroom team - arrived and were quite surprised and bemused when they got sight of St Mel’s. 

Half-an-hour into the game, on October 22, 1975, the unthinkable happened. Terry Daly burst into the box, but was caught late by Nevia Scala and the referee pointed to the spot.

“Pauric (Nicholson) would have taken the penalties, but he was out of the team for a while and we got a few so I took them,” Minnock remembered.

There was no debate where he would put it: ‘bottom left corner.’

“I just went with what I was used to. I felt confident enough,” Minnock said.

Albertosi dived low to his right and beat the ball away for a corner. Minnock cursed to the heavens.

He said: “They’d had a scout watching us playing the previous weekend. I’d got a penalty and had a habit of putting them to the ‘keeper’s right.  So, when it came to the kick against Milan, Albertosi was nearly down waiting on it. Now, I didn’t hit it great, but he saved it anyway.”

The game finished scoreless and two weeks later Athlone headed for Milan. They stayed in the Leonardo Da Vinci Hotel, where Bianca Jagger and Omar Sharif were patrons at the time.

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Athlone had plenty of support at the return leg as Minnock remembered later: “We thought there was only one chartered flight to the match and yet there was thousands of them shouting for us when we got there. They were Inter Milan fans!”

At the San Siro, Athlone held the Italians for another 63 minutes before Francisco Vincenzi eventually broke the deadlock. Two more from Romeo Benetti sealed Milan’s progression with a 3-0 win.

Athlone’s journey was over, but they never forget their memorable draw with the mighty AC Milan - nor the moment when Albertosi foiled Minnock from a kick that could have gunned down the Rossoneri.