Thanks to Dave Rowntree for many of the player images after 1984.
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GERRY MCELHINNEY
Born: 19 September 1956
Came from: Bolton Wanderers Went to: Peterborough United
First game: 22 January 1985 Last game: 27 February 1988
Appearances: 107 (106/1) Goals: 3
Known affectionately to Argyle fans as Rambo, Francis Gerard McElhinney (or to give him his Gaelic name, Gearóid Mac Giolla Chainnigh) was an all-round sporting Ulsterman, excelling at Gaelic Football, Boxing and Association Football. He started his sporting career playing Gaelic football for Banagher GAC and representing Derry, winning the All-Star Award in the 1975 All-Ireland Championship - the youngest player to do so. Also excelling as an amateur boxer, Gerry won middleweight and light middleweight titles. Early on, his robust defending on the football field with Derry City, Limavady United and then Dungiven Celtic bought him to the attention of the 'other' Celtic, though he failed to make the grade at Parkhead, moving to Eire for a loan spell with Finn Harps. A period in America then followed, persuing both Gaelic & Association Football, most notably in the case of the latter, via a spell with Chicago Sting in the NASL before returning home to sign for Distillery in 1979.
McElhinney signed for Bolton Wanderers in 1980 and whilst he took some time to establish himself, he was noticed by Billy Bingham and won his first cap for Northern Ireland in 1983 in a stunning away win against West Germany. Winning 6 full caps, he was part of the victorious Northern Ireland team that won the last ever British Championship. A loan spell at Rochdale followed prior to moving to Plymouth in January 1985.
He quickly endeared himself to the Argyle faithful for his tough, uncompromising but fair play. Above all, he was brave; hardly a game would pass without a stoppage for a McElhinney injury, often to his head, but the Devonport End would chant him back to his feet with his nickname: Rambo! He was a natural leader and captained Dave Smith's promotion winning squad to Divison Two and 7th spot the following season.
Injuries started to take their toll though and a £10,000 move to Peterborough United followed, where he played on manfully for three seasons before joining the coaching staff and then finishing his career with Corby Town, where he was briefly joint player-manager.
McElhinney’s brother Eddie was briefly on Argyle's books but never made the first team.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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