Ernie McKay worked as a telegraph boy in Dublin’s GPO and played junior football (soccer) for Greenview. In 1916 he joined St. James’s Gate and played for them for 17 years, mainly as a halfback. In 1921-22 he helped St. James’s Gate win the League of Ireland and FAI Cup Double in the first year they were held. In addition to his 1924 Olympic appearance, McKay earned a junior cap when he played against Scotland’s juniors in 1920. He also received league honors for playing against the Welsh League three times. In the late 1950s McKay and his wife left Ireland after his retirement as a GPO superintendent, settling in Colchester, Essex, to be near their daughter. In 1986, Ernie generously sent one of his medals to the Sunday Independent to be passed on to a relative of Irish patriot Kevin Barry. He received the medal for playing in a match for the late Barry and inscribed on the back was “Kevin Barry Memorial Match 1923.”
Ireland