Now Jimmy is to be further honoured back home in Northern Ireland, with his name being given to a new park in the village of Ballyskeagh, near Lisburn, where Jimmy was born in 1931.
The park of around 22 acres will be named the ‘Jimmy McIlroy Park’ following a suggestion from Alderman Ivan Davis from Lisburn City Council, a football supporter who recalls watching Jimmy Mac play for Northern Ireland, and the suggestion was backed unanimously by his council colleagues.
Tomorrow Jimmy will be back home in Ballyskeagh to open the park and of the news he said, “It is a huge honour and this will be the second time I have been immortalised by Lisburn after they named a leisure centre after me about five years ago.
“I feel rather embarrassed going back to the place where I grew up and being treated like a hero, in fact being asked to open the park is making me more nervous than when I took that penalty at Wembley for