In 1980 Glentoran manager Ronnie McFall was moulding together one of the greatest squads to ever grace Irish football. That summer he signed two new centre halfs in Alan Harrison and Trevor Erskine as well as 22 year old Jim Cleary from Portadown. Despite Glentoran sitting top of the Ulster Cup table, McFall wanted somebody to provide the crosses for Gary Blackledge up front. He completed the signing of Johnny Jameson from cross-city rivals Linfield. With Johnny 'Stumpy' Jamison still at the club the Glentoran faithful would sing 'There's only two Johnny Jami(e)sons!' at our new signings debut against Cliftonville. That season Glentoran were (and still are) the only Irish League side to finish a league campaign undefeated on way to the Gibson Cup. Jameson made 38 appearances and scored 9 goals in that debut season.
Jameson starred again in his second season making 42 appearances scoring 16 goals earning him a call-up to Billy Bingham's Northern Ireland squad for the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain.
However it was the 1982/83 season where Jameson secured legendary status at The Oval when he was the hero as Glentoran broke another Irish Cup famine. After a decade of disappointment the Irish Cup finally came back to the Oval in 1983. We got our cup campaign underway with an emphatic 4-nil victory over Ballymena Utd and followed that up with a 2-nil home win against Ballymoney Utd. The quarter-final draw wasn’t too kind; a trip to the Coleraine Showgrounds. But Glentoran had one of the most feared strikeforces in local football and two of them, Ron Manley & Gerry Mullan, added to Barney Bowers’ goal to see us through 3-2. The ‘big-two’ were kept apart in the semi-finals, Glentoran facing Ballyclare Comrades under the Windsor Park lights on a Friday evening. Cleary, Jameson & Manley were all on target in what turned out to be a comfortable 3-nil victory. Linfield were to defeat Ards the following day to set up a repeat of the 1973 final.
Windsor Park was once again the venue for the decider on Saturday 30th April 1983. Gerry Mullan gave Glentoran the lead but a Lindsay McKeown penalty levelled things up. Late on Johnny Jameson scored what we thought was a winner but the officials decided that he committed some kind of infringement and disallowed the goal. The replay took place at the Oval a week later. A large cockerel bedecked with red, green & black ribbons, strutted around the Oval prior to the kick-off. It was to prove a lucky mascot too! Two goals in quick succession by Johnny Jameson (30 & 33 mins) were decisive and although Martin McGaughey pulled one back 15 minutes from time there was to be no denying the Glens. The only downside of the day was the late dismissal of Jim Cleary but even that couldn't dampen the excitement in East Belfast. The Cup was back home.
1983 Final: Paterson; G. Neill, Connell, Keely, Harrison; Cleary, Jameson, Bowers, Manley, Mullan & D. Neill. Sub. Morrison for Bowers.
1983 Final Replay: Paterson; G. Neill, Connell, Keely, Harrison; Cleary, Jameson, Strain, Manley, Mullan & D. Neill. Sub. Morrison for Keely.
Johnny Jameson went on to play for Glentoran 498 times, injury being the only thing hampering him from overtaking Billy McCullough's then 555 record. He added 123 goals from midfield ranking him 17th on the all-time Glentoran charts. Jameson had a testimonial in 1994 against Derry City having announced his retirement. Johnny is still a regular at The Oval today and no doubt cheering on our future Cup Final heroes this weekend.
Jameson is not only one of Glentoran's greatest ever players, but he did it on the biggest stage in 1983 in the Irish Cup Final against Linfield. Johnny eases into our Cup Final Hero list.