Hunter Andy Image 1 Belfast Distillery 1905

Description

Belfast born outside right Andy Hunter played for junior clubs Woodvale and Linfield Swifts as well as the Royal Army Medical Corps before joining Belfast Distillery in August 1904, winning the Irish Cup with them in 1905, as well as the County Antrim Shield.

His first cap of 8 for Ireland followed when he played against Wales in a 2-2 draw at The Solitude, Belfast in March 1905, he scored his only goal in his final international, also against Wales, in a 3-2 Welsh victory at Grosvenor Park, Belfast in March 1909. He also won 7 Irish League representative caps between October 1906 and October 1911.

He won the Irish League with Distillery in 1905-06 and joined Belfast Celtic in May 1907, joining Glentoran in 1908 before moving to England to join First Division Sheffield Wednesday in March 1909. He made his Football League debut the same month at Manchester City, playing 8 times on the run in as Wednesday finished 5th in the 1908-09 League Championship, Hunter scoring his first goal for The Owls in a 2-1 win at Liverpool.

However having featured 3 times in early season games that September, he lost his place  and returned to Ireland for a further spell on loan at Distillery in the winter of 1909. He returned to Hillsborough in the spring of 1910, when he played in his final 3 games for Wednesday that April, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.  After 3 goals in 14 appearances he was released before he re-joined Glentoran in the summer of 1910, where he won the County Antrim Shield and the Charity Cup in 1911. Across his two spells at Distillery he scored 30 goals in 108 appearances, and with Glentoran he scored 25 goals in 63 appearances, retiring from football in 1912.