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Birth Date: 02/03/1979
Current Club: Retired - Shamrock Rovers LOI 2015 Previous Clubs: Blackburn, Chelsea, Newcastle, Fulham, Melbourne City Position: Left Wing/Forward Int'l Caps: 100 Int'l Goals: 8 First Int'l Cap: Czech Republic (25/03/98) Damien Duff became Leicester Celtic's first player to go on to play in the World Cup Finals in Japan, 2002. Damien first shone for the Republic of Ireland Under 20 side when Brian Kerr's team finished third in the World Youth Championships in Malaysia in 1997. Since then Duff has become an established international and a Premiership League winner on 2 consecutive occasions. He starred for Ireland in the World Cup in Japan 2002, playing in all of Ireland's games and scoring one goal. His profile increased again when Claudio Ranieri paid ST£17 million to bring him to Chelsea as part of his newly built team. Duff made his senior international debut against the Czech Republic in 1998 and has since become one of Ireland's most important players, playing in either attack or on the left wing. Damien spent three seasons at Chelsea before moving to Newcastle in the summer of 2006. He won two Premiership titles and one League Cup during his time at Chelsea. Following Newcastle's relegation to the Championship, he quickly returned to the Premiership with Fulham for the start of the 2009/10 Season, helping them to a runner's up spot in the UEFA Cup. |
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Richard Sadlier
Birth Date: 14/01/1979 Club: Retired (Ex Millwall) Position: Forward Int'l Goals: 0 Int'l Caps: 1 (-V- Russia, February 2002) Richard Sadlier was making a name for himself in the English First Division as one of the league's brightest young strikers until injury began to slow his progress. He was linked with a number of Premier League Clubs and was tipped to become Niall Quinn's replacement in the Irish National team until he was forced to accept that he would not be able to recover from his injuries, leading to his retirement from the game. Richard became Leicester Celtic's third player to earn Senior International recognition when he earned his sole cap against Russia in February 2002. In 2007 he was appointed to the board of St. Patrick's Athletic and also worked as a pundit for RTE's League of Ireland coverage. Richard resigned as CEO of St Pat's in November 2009 and is a regular on RTE's Premiership highlights show. |
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Barry Murphy
Current Club: Shamrock Rovers Birth Date: 08/06/85 Previous Club: St Patricks Athletic Position: Goalkeeper The young goalkeeper got his chance with Shamrock Rovers after the departure of first team goalkeeper Russell Payne to the USA. Although only 20 Barry put in a number of excellent performances giving Rovers hope of avoiding relegation in the 2005 eircom season. Unfortunately for Barry and for Shamrock Rovers an ankle problem meant that he missed the play-off when Rovers were relegated by Dublin City. After the arrival of Pat Scully as Rover's new manager, Barry signed a new contract with the Club. Barry's performances after getting his chance in the first team were so impressive that he became the first player to win both the main Player of the Year and the Young Player of the Year awards in the same season. Barry established himself as first choice goalkeeper at the club and played a key role as Rovers came 5th in the league in 2007, in which Barry kept 16 clean sheets in 29 league appearances. Barry reportedly turned down a new contract with Rovers at the end of the 2009 League of Ireland Season and was quickly snapped up by Bohemians for the start of the 2010 Season where he made his debut in a pre-season friendly against Athlone. |
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Barry Roche
Birth Date: 06/04/82 Current Club: Morecambe Previous Clubs: Chesterfield, Nottingham Forest Position: Goalkeeper Barry Roche was an ever present for Chesterfield where he signed from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2005 until he made the move to Morecambe FC in the Summer of 2008. Barry made a stunning debut for Forest when he came off the bench following the dismissal of Dave Beasant to save the resulting penalty kick, ensuring Forest held on to win the game against Crystal Palace. He then played at Hillsborough when Beasant was suspended and kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win. Barry moved on from Forest and signed for Chesterfield in the English League One. He had established himself as the first choice goalkeeper and played more then 140 games for Chesterfield before moving to join Morecambe FC where manager Sammy McIlroy quickly signed up Barry once he heard the keeper was available. Barry has also represented Ireland at Under 21 level. |
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John Coady
Birth Date: 25/08/1960 Clubs: Chelsea, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City, Monaghan United, Dundalk, Drogheda United, Home Farm Everton Position: Left Back/Left Midfielder Int'l Caps: 1 (Olympic Qualifier) Int'l Goals: 0 John Coady first played for Leicester Celtic in the early 1970s, before going on to have a hugely succesful career, playing in both Ireland and England. After Schoolboy football, he went on to play in the Leinster Senior League, having success in winning both the League and the Oscar Traynor trophy where he played in the same team as Paul McGrath. In 1982 he joined Shamrock Rovers where in four years he won four League titles and 2 winners and 1 runner-up FAI cup medals. In December 1986 he moved to Chelsea for £25,000, where he spent two seasons making just over 20 appearances. He scored on his Chelsea debut past David Seaman against QPR and played both Left Back and Left Midfield during his time there. After two seasons Coady returned to Derry City and won another League title and also the FAI and the League cup. He later rejoined Shamrock Rovers and also played with Monaghan Utd, Dundalk (another league title), Drogheda Utd, Home Farm Everton before spending his last season with Monaghan in 1997. He also won one cap for Ireland in the Olympic Games qualifiers. Other Honours included captaining the League in victories over Gothenburg and the League of Wales. John has since had a short spell coaching at Longford Town and has coached St. James' Athletic in the Leinster Senior League. |
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Paul Osam
Birth Date: 20/12/1967 Club: Retired - Irish U16 Schoolboy Manager Previous Clubs: St Patricks Athletic Position: Midfielder Paul Osam is one of the most famous and successful players to have graced the Eircom League. Paul won 6 league championships and 2 League Cups in an illustrious career which saw him named as both PFAI and Irish Soccer Writers Player of the Year in 1999. Paul captained St. Patrick's Athletic but in his last season his appearances were restricted due to injury. Paul began his senior career with St Pats in 1988 and his time at the club was only broken by a brief spell at Shamrock Rovers where he won a league winner's medal in the early 1990s. Paul retired from playing at the end of the 2004 eircom League season but remained involved in St. Pat's in a coaching role and has been involved with the U21 set-up. |
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John Lester
Birth Date: 05/08/82 Current Club: Sherrif Utd Previous Clubs: Everton, Bohemians, Monaghan United,Drogheda United, Waterford United, Limerick, Galway United, St Patrick's Athletic, Longford Town Position: Midfield John Lester was a team mate of Barry Roche for a highly successful Leicester Celtic team and attracted interest from a number of English clubs. He played for West Ham United in the famous Northern Ireland Milk Cup winning the Player of the Tournament award before Everton came in and he signed as a trainee for the Merseyside Club. After two seasons with Everton John returned to Ireland in June 2001 where he was quickly snapped up by Bohemians. He was capped previously at Under 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and Under 21 levels for Ireland. He made his League debut away to Galway United and was then loaned to Monaghan United, where he was voted on to the PFAI's First Division Team of the Season 2002/03. In January 2004 he signed for Drogheda United where he established himself in the first team. John was released from Drogheda United at the end of the 2004 eircom League season and then joined Waterford United. After an injury hit season, John moved to Limerick in 2006, where he did well before returning to the eircom Premier Division with Galway United in 2007. After two years with Galway, former international Jeff Kenna quickly snapped up Lester as one of his first signings after being appointed Manager of St. Pats. John stayed just one season with St. Pats before joining Longford Town in January 2010. |
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Mark Quinless
Birth Date: 28/07/75 Clubs: Drogheda United, St Patrick's Athletic, Longford Town Position: Midfield Mark was Drogheda United's longest serving player at the Club. He spent much of the 2004 eircom League season on loan to St. Patrick's Athletic before returning to Drogheda at the start of the 2005 campaign. He has also played with Longford Town in the eircom League and with Ballyfermot United in the Leinster Senior League. |
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Patrick Sullivan
Birth Date: 30/10/1982 Current Club: Longford Town Previous Clubs: Longford Town, Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers UCD, Cork City Position: Defence/Midfield Patrick was a member of the under 15 SFAI All Ireland Cup winning team. He was also a member of the DDSL Academy of Excellence where he played for their Schoolboy selection against Northern Ireland. Patrick joined UCD from Leicester Celtic where his impressive displays attracted the attention of a number of clubs. He joined Drogheda United at the start of the 2005 season, and after missing the start of the 2005 season with a viral infection Pat forced his way into the first team, making appearances at both right back and right midfield. The 2007 season saw Pat move to Longford Town, where he played most of the season at right back. It was an eventful season, which saw Longford lose out in their relegation battle on the last day of the season, and also lose the FAI Cup Final to Cork City in the RDS on 2nd December, 2007. Following Longford's relegation, Patrick was quickly snapped up by Cork City meaning he would play the 2008 season in the League of Ireland Premier Division. In 2009 following severe financial difficulty for Cork City, Patrick completed a move to Shamrock Rovers. |
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Aidan O'Keeffe Birth Date: 22/03/1982 Clubs: Drogheda United, Bohemians, St Patrick's Athletic, Kilkenny City, Dublin City Position: Forward Aidan O'Keeffe became Leicester Celtic's second player at St. Patrick's Athletic when he joined veteran Paul Osam at the club. He spent time in St. Pat's U21s before making progress in the First Team, and became the Club's top scorer in the 2004 eircom League season. Aidan joined Bohemians for the 2005 eircom League season before moving on to his last professional club, Drogheda United, for the 2007 eircom League season, where he helped Drogheda to win the Setanta Cup and League of Ireland Premier Division. Aidan has also played with Kilkenny City and Dublin City while on loan from St Pat's. Aidan retired from the professional game in November of 2008 to pursue a legal career and move to Canada with his girlfriend. |
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Mark Duggan
Birth Date: 22/09/86 Current Club: Retired Previous Clubs: Bohemians, Bray Wanderers Position: Midfielder Mark Duggan had been in the Bohemians Under 21 team before the 2006 season when he was included in several first team squads going on to make a number of appearances for the first team. Described by the Bohemians website as a hard-working central midfielder, Mark joined Bray Wanderers for the 2007 League of Ireland season where he established himself as a first team regular. Mark joined Drogheda United for the 2009 League of Ireland season but left in May 2009 after failing to establish himself in the first team. |
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Tadhg Purcell
Birth Date: 09/09/85 Current Club: Retired Previous Clubs: Shamrock Rovers, Kilkenny City, UCD, Darlington FC, Cork City Position: Forward Tadhg Purcell joined Shamrock Rovers from Kilkenny City in the start of the 2006 eircom League season, following manager Pat Scully who also made the same switch. Purcell was part of the very successful St. Benildus School team as a schoolboy. After a season on the fringes of the UCD first team in 2004, he signed for Kilkenny City at the beginning of the eircom League 2005 season, where he had an excellent season, helping Kilkenny in their climb up the table towards the end of the season. After narrowly losing out on the 2009 League of Ireland title, Tadhg left Shamrock Rovers by mutual consent in September 2009 before making the move to England where he joined Darlington FC, managed by former Ireland manager Steve Staunton in January 2010. Tadhg had a successful start to his career in England, scoring three goals in his first four games, making him the leading goalscorer for the season despite only joining the Club in January. Tadhg will be hoping to continue his goalscoring run as he attempts to help Darlington avoid relegation from League Two. |
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Brian Kelly
Clubs: Sporting Fingal, Longford Town, CYM Terenure Position: Defence/Midfield Brian Kelly joined Longford Town for the start of the 2008 League of Ireland season from CYM Terenure in Dublin. He made his debut against Waterford United in March 2008 when he came on as a substitute. After a season with Longford, Brian moved to Sporting Fingal for the 2009 Season, but was released by the club at the end of the Season. |
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Eric Miller
Birth Date: 23/09/75 International Rugby Player Clubs: Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Ulster Eric Miller had a hugely successful career in Rugby for Ireland and for his clubs, Leinster, Leicester Tigers and Ulster as both Number 8 and flanker. He was influential in Ireland winning its first under-21 level Triple Crown in 1996 and won his first Senior cap in 1996 against Italy. Miller played in the first three Five-Nations matches and had a stunning tour of South Africa with the Lions in 1997. He won 148 caps for Leinster and represented Ireland at the 1999 and 2003 World Cups. Miller announced at the end of January 2005 that he would retire from professional rugby at the end of the season aged 30 after 13 seasons as a professional. After retiring from Rugby, Miller again took up Gaelic Football with Ballyboden St. Enda's and on 5th December 2006 made his debut for Dublin when he played against Louth and scored three points. Miller also works in the media, including writing a rugby column for the Evening Herald. |
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David Gillick
Birth Date: 09/07/83 International track and field athlete David Gillick is an Irish international track and field athlete, specialising in the 400 metres. He won the European Indoor Championship in 2005 and 2007, setting a new Irish Indoor record of 45.52 seconds in the 2007 final. The win in 2005 was Ireland's First gold medal in a sprinting event in 75 years, underlining what a great acheievement this was. In 2007, David set a time of 45.91s at an indoor event in Dusseldorf which made him the world leader over 400 metres indoors and again set a new Irish Record, previously held by Belfast's Paul McKee. In March 2007, he successfully defended his European Indoor title, setting a new Irish record of 45.52s in the process. On June 9, 2007 he ran 45.23 seconds over 400m in Geneva to set a new Irish outdoor record. His achievements include 2 gold medals in European Indoor Championships and a bronze medal in the World Indoor Championship. |
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Scott Evans
Birth Date: 26/09/87 International Badminton Player Scott Evans is an Irish professional badminton player. As of 2008 he is the highest ranked Irish player and participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has won the Irish National Badminton Championships for three of the last four years in 2005, 2007 and 2008. His participation in the 2008 Summer Olympic games was the first time Ireland were represented by a male athlete in Badminton. Scott currently plays for Gentofte BC in Denmark. |
Ray Cosgrove & John McNally
Also congratulations to Ray Cosgrove and Johnny McNally who have been successful for Dublin in Gaelic Football. Both played a key role in Dublin winning the Leinster Championship in 2002.
Left: Ray Cosgrove in action for Dublin in 2002 when he was named as one of The Vodafone All-Stars and ended up as top scorer in the All-Ireland with an excellent total of 6-23.
Right: Johnny McNally in his club colours for Ballinteer St. John's
Also congratulations to Ray Cosgrove and Johnny McNally who have been successful for Dublin in Gaelic Football. Both played a key role in Dublin winning the Leinster Championship in 2002.
Left: Ray Cosgrove in action for Dublin in 2002 when he was named as one of The Vodafone All-Stars and ended up as top scorer in the All-Ireland with an excellent total of 6-23.
Right: Johnny McNally in his club colours for Ballinteer St. John's
