Irish international Bobby Irvine was a thrilling inside right who illuminated Goodison through the 1920s.  A brilliant showman, he was the finest Ulsterman to ever play football according to one of his colleagues. ‘He was very good,’ recalled his teammate. ‘He was better than Georgie Best at dribbling the ball.  I’ve seen him bring it the length of the field beating man after man.’  High praise indeed.  And who would possibly argue with Dixie Dean?

Spotted playing for Dunrummy, Irvine was invited over to Merseyside for a trial in the summer of 1921.  The junior international impressed as a triallist in the annual Blues v Whites match, but returned to Ireland while a four way battle for his signature between Everton, Sunderland, Partick Thistle and Dundee was played out for his services. Everton prevailed with £500 securing his arrival.

Irvine’s forte was running with the ball at pace. His charges into enemy territory wreaked havoc and yielded him a healthy bounty of goals – 11 in his 26 games during the 1921/22 season. Not bad for a player immediately thrust into the hurly-burly of the First Division.

Initially he played as centre-forward as Everton struggled desperately for form. Their lack of potency during Irvine’s debut season almost led to relegation, but thereafter things improved. The arrival of Jack Cock midway through the 1922/23 season saw Irvine switch to his preferred inside forward position and flourish. With Wilf Chadwick and Cock, Irvine formed part of the most potent forward line in the First Division during the 1923/24 season.

International recognition had by then arrived for the forward and he would make 15 appearances for Ireland.  He attracted plenty of praise – Irvine ‘worked like a horse both in attack and defence’ was one verdict – but was not without critics either. Just as he could delight, so he could frustrate and he was often accused of over elaboration and not looking up. ‘He dribbled to excess at times and one moment ran into a full back full tilt,’ recalled one correspondent. ‘He displeases many by his habit, which he cannot seen to throw off, of over-dribbling,’ added the Liverpool Courier.

Irvine’s brush with greatness came with the arrival of Dixie Dean towards the end of the 1924/25 season. The centre forward became the fulcrum of the team, the dominant figure on and off the pitch. Along with his fellow inside forward Fred Kennedy, Irvine modified his game to allow Dean to flourish.  ‘It was noticeable that Everton's inside forwards, Kennedy and Irvine were inclined to hang back a few yards, and the forward line gained by this, in addition to which the men named could give help to a harassed defence,’ wrote Ernest ‘Bee’ Edwards of an early outing with Dean as the main man.

For two years Irvine helped Dean terrorise opposing defences and lined up alongside him as outside left on the opening day of the 1927/28 season.  Everton won 4-0 but Irvine succumbed  to injury. Ted Critchley took his place and Irvine struggled to find a way back in a team that was sweeping all comers. ‘Irvine's appearance at inside left in view of Weldon's illness brought a new touch to the leaders' side, and though the Irishman showed all its old-time skill in dribbling, he hardly fitted the new Everton pattern of play,’ recalled the Liverpool Courier of a rare appearance against Bury. Critchley, by contrast ‘played a smart game’.

Time was running out for Irvine and in March 1928 the Everton board sent a delegation to Scotland to coincide with the national team’s game against England in an effort to sell him to one of the Glaswegian giants. That deal never came off, but Portsmouth came in with a £3000 offer later that month.  Irvine had played nine league games, one too few for a League Championship medal at the end of that victorious season.

According to the Everton minute books the south coast club had difficulties meeting the second instalment of Irvine’s fee, which may have led to his unexpected switch to the Cheshire League, with Connah’s Quay, while still a full international.  He returned to Ireland in 1930 and made a belated return to English League football, with Watford, while in the veteran stage of his career.