The name of Mercer is familiar to all followers of the Fermanagh and Western Football League, as each year the League Champions are presented with the Mercer Cup, and indeed older fans still refer to the competition as the Mercer League. Mercer’s Jewellers are, of course, still trading in Enniskillen, and the name of TA Mercer is inscribed on the front of the famous old trophy.
 
 TA Mercer’s son Harry was almost certainly responsible for persuading the family firm to present the trophy in 1905 and he deserves to be remembered as much for that as for his prodigious football feats. His fame was assured when he became the first footballer from Fermanagh to be capped for Ireland after getting his football education in the county.
 
 Harry Mercer was a founding member of Enniskillen Corinthians and their first Secretary when the Fermanagh and South Tyrone League (later to become the Fermanagh and Western) was formed in 1904.
 
 Though he was only seventeen years old, newspaper reports record his scoring feats with the Corinthians “as the foremost centre forward in the district” and indeed his sporting prowess at athletics and hockey so it was no surprise when he swapped one blue shirt for another by signing for Linfield in 1906. When he left Enniskillen to work and study in the banking profession in Londonderry, a special social evening and dance were held in his honour in the Town Hall, and Viscount Corry, President of Corinthians, presented Mercer with a handsome gold medal, suitably engraved. (A replica of this medal is nowadays awarded to the players of Mercer Cup winning teams.)
 
 Harry Mercer played for in three consecutive title winning sides with Linfield. He made his debut as a 19 year-old outside right in September 1906 and in his first campaign scored twelve times in 25 appearances, to claim a first Irish League medal as well as a County Antrim Shield medal.
 
 As Mercer was an amateur, and could not receive payment, Linfield could not pay him for his services; instead, after an Irish Cup semi-final in Dublin in February 1907, he was presented with a “beautiful gold watch bearing on the outer case the initials of the recipient and a suitable inscription inside . . . the chairman referred in eulogistic terms to the many sterling qualities of Mr Mercer . . . he was a favourite with the Linfield officials, players and supporters . . . since Mr Mercer joined the club Linfield had lost only one match.”
 
 His good form continued through 1907/08 when he scored ten goals in 26 appearances, as Linfield retained the League and the Co Antrim Shield, and also won the City Cup.
 
 In February 1908, he won his Ireland cap, playing at centre forward against England before a crowd of 22,000 at Solitude.
 
 The 1908/09 season, in which he completed his hat trick of titles, proved to be Mercer's last with Linfield. It began with selection at right-half for the Irish League against the Football League in September. In November he played outside-right for the Irish Amateur team in a 5-1 defeat by England at Dalymount Park, thus becoming the first Linfield player to win Amateur international recognition.
 
 Although he did make a few appearances for Derry Celtic in 1910/11, Mercer’s first class career virtually ended at the young age of twenty-three when he was appointed to the post of Manager with his bank in Londonderry, and thus was unavailable due to Saturday opening. He occasionally returned to Enniskillen to guest for Corinthians in some of their Boxing Day or St Patrick’s Day friendlies.
 
 In his later years, Harry Mercer made regular visits to his home town, often with his young son Henry, who remembered walking through the town and making very slow progress because so many people wanted to stop and chat. He would take Henry to the Broadmeadow occasionally to see Corinthians, and they made regular visits to Windsor Park where he was still welcomed warmly.
 
 When Enniskillen Corinthians won the IFA Junior Cup in 1958, more than fifty years after Harry Mercer had played for them, he was a guest of honour at their Celebratory Banquet.
 
 I had the privilege of meeting Mr Henry Mercer before he died a few years ago – indeed Gordon Lee and I took him to a Northern Ireland International match at Windsor Park, his first visit in many years. Mr Mercer was very moved that someone was still interested in his father’s exploits after all this times, and I was very humbled when he and his son Stephen ensured that his memorabilia has come back to Fermanagh. I have taken charge of these wonderful items on behalf of the Association, and it is my intention to pass them on to the Fermanagh County Museum, as Mr Mercer wished.
 
 Harry Mercer was a local, national and international hero when Fermanagh was much more remote in a football context than it is now. The careers of our current crop of internationals are commendable, but Harry Mercer’s achievements a century ago are even more remarkable, and make him an eminently suitable inductee to the Hall of Fame.