It’s all of four decades ago since they did battle at the old Dalymount Park – and 40 years since Galway United’s first FAI Cup Final ended in heartbreaking defeat to a Shamrock Rovers side on their way to a domestic double – but the stars of both sides will gather again when the current incarnations of those clubs meet at Eamon Deacy Park in April.

It took a solitary goal from Noel Larkin to break Galway hearts but that side of Lally, Daly, Gardiner, Bonner, Nolan, Deacy, Mannion, McDonnell, Murphy, Cassidy and Glynn constituted one of the best sides in the history of the club – revered among fans of a certain vintage to this day.

Many of them are still regular visitors to Terryland Park, now called after Eamon Deacy, the one member of the team now gone, and others – like US-based Paul Murphy and Brian Gardiner, back living in Preston – are planning to come back for the reunion.

And while those heroes of the past remember a Dalymount Park day from April 1985, they will also be doing something to help some of their old colleagues who have been through tough times – thanks to the fledgling Irish Professional Footballers Benevolent Association.

Because Galway United are the first club in the League of Ireland to show their support for the new association by giving permission for a bucket collection to take place at their ground during a league match.

The Galway United members of the IPFBA – among them some of the stars of that FAI Cup Final team like Kevin Cassidy, John Mannion and Gerry Daly – will be seeking support from the current fan base, as they in turn help former team-mates and colleagues who are finding life tough.

The Association was set up by a couple of other League of Ireland legends, like Harry McCue and Martin Lawlor, chairman and secretary respectively, to look after former players from the recent and distant past who may be struggling with health and/or financial challenges, offering them access to services, funded by the players themselves.

They’ve already reaped the rewards of a Golf Classic in Limerick; there’s one coming up at Galway Bay Golf Club in Rinville later this year, and before that there’s a night in Dublin’s Vicar Street with the Three Wise Men, Johnny Giles, Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady, on April 28 – all to raise funds for the coffers.

One of the triggers for the IPFBA in the first instance was also one of the stars of that 1985 FAI Cup Final. Shamrock Rovers’ centre-half Jacko McDonagh suffered a life-changing stroke and now suffers from dementia.

He’s not the only former player to find life tough. Harry McCue did a quick ring-around of his old friends – to find up to 20 players with early onset dementia. And that’s the tip of the iceberg.

Others suffer in silence, in some cases because they spent their formative years playing football and missed out on the education that their peers were enjoying – and now they don’t have the skillset for life off the field of play.

And that’s where the Association wants to help. The money raised by the IPFBA will be confidentially distributed to those who need a hand, overseen by an independent assessor to ensure complete impartiality and transparency.

“We’re very grateful to Galway United’s board for allowing us to do this. We’re very proud that this marks the first sanctioned collection by a LOI club, and we hope it should help other clubs follow suit,” said Kevin Cassidy.

Pictured: Old friends…Kevin Cassidy, Martin Lawlor, Pat Byrne, Gerry Daly and John Mannion, all driving forces in the Irish Professional Footballers Benevolent Association.