William Michael Dennehy (born 17 February 1987) is an Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager of Irish side Kerry FC. He was a left-sided

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but also played on the right wing. He is the older brother of

Darren Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from ...

who is a former Irish

Playing career

Dennehy was a talented underage player in both soccer and

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

. In the latter sport, he won the 2004

Munster Minor Football Championship The Munster Minor Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Munster in Ireland. It is ...

with the

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

minor team and also played with the

Austin Stacks Austin Stacks is a hurling and Gaelic football club based in Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Founded in 1917, the club has more All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals and GAA All-Stars than any other Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA ...

club in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

. He attended Irish language primary and secondary schools and is fluent in the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

. Dennehy began his soccer playing career at local club Tralee Dynamos until the club disbanded and he joined Kingdom Boys. There, Dennehy was called into the Shelbourne team. After trials with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Dennehy was brought to Sunderland by

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

after the midfielder impressed during a trial at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

. He signed for the Black Cats in January 2005. Dennehy did not make a first-team appearance for Sunderland, but was a reserve and youth player at the club, and was given the squad number 34 for the 2006–07 season. On 22 November 2007, Dennehy made the move from

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunder ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, joining

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

on a one-month deal. There, he made his first ever league appearance on 5 December against Rochdale. After a further 6 appearances in June 2008, Dennehy was released by Sunderland. On 27 August 2008, Dennehy signed for League of Ireland side Derry City. After just a few months, however, he opted to uproot and join

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

, signing a two-year contract with the club on 27 January 2009. On 25 January 2010, Dennehy moved from Cork City to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

. He scored on his debut in a preseason friendly at

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

. He scored his first league goal for the Hoops on 9 April. In 2010 and 2011 he won the League of Ireland championship with Shamrock Rovers. He also won the Setanta Cup in 2011 and played in the Europa League group stages netting against PAOK in November 2011: In 2011, he was club top scorer (in all competitions) with 16 goals. On 13 November 2013 Dennehy was released by Shamrock Rovers and 13 days later he rejoined Cork City and would be part of John Caulfield's squad for the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season alongside his brother

Darren Dennehy Darren Dennehy (born 21 September 1988) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish former Association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender for Everton F.C., Everton, Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City, Hereford United ...

. After 2 successive seasons as runners up in the league to

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

, as well as 2015 FAI Cup runners up to the same opposition, it was announced that Dennehy would not remain at Cork for the 2016 season. On 9 December 2015, Dennehy signed for

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

club

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

, along with younger brother Darren. Dennehy scored on his debut for Pats on 20 February 2016 in a 3–1 loss away to

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

in the Leinster Senior Cup.

International career

Dennehy has played at U17, U18, U19, U21 and U23 levels for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

making his U21 debut in February 2007. He made his U23 debut in May 2010. Has part of the winning team in the Under-19 International La Manga Tournament in Spain in 2006.

Management

In December 2022, he was named as the manager of newly founded

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

team Kerry F.C..

Career statistics

''Professional appearances''

Honours

Club

;Shamrock Rovers *

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

(2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

(1):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of I ...

(2):

* Leinster Senior Cup (2): 2012,

;St Patrick's Athletic *

(1):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual

* Shamrock Rovers Young Player of the Year (1): 2010

Gaelic Football

;Kerry GAA *

(1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dennehy, Billy 1987 births Living people Austin Stacks Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Sportspeople from Tralee Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Accrington Stanley F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland men's under-23 international footballers Association footballers from County Kerry Expatriate men's footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers English Football League players Tralee Dynamos A.F.C. players Men's association football wingers