David Byrne (28 April 1905 – 1 May 1990) was 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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Nicknamed Babby as he was the youngest of 11 and born in

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 ...

, he joined

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 ...

in 1926 and had four spells at

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developers ...

. He also played for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, Shelbourne, Sheffield United,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

and

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

. Byrne won three senior caps for the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

making a scoring debut as a Shels player on 20 April 1929 in a 4–0 friendly win against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

. As a Rovers player he played against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the same venue on 13 December 1931. His last cap was as a Coleraine player in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

, also at Dalymount, on 25 February 1934. He was top scorer in the League with 17 goals when Rovers went unbeaten capturing their third League Championship in 1926–27. This was his and the club's first season at

. He was Rovers' top scorer the following season and in his second spell in 1929–30 and 1930–31. In between, he had a spell with Shelbourne where he again finished top scorer with 15 goals in their second League winning season. He won four

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

medals in a row scoring in the finals in 1930, the 1931 replay, the 1933 final and replay. In all he scored 85 League and 13 FAI Cup goals for the Hoops. He is the sixth-highest goalscorer in Rovers' history. He was the last surviving member of the 1931–32 double winners. He was also the first League of Ireland player to transfer to Manchester United and the first League of Ireland player to score 100 league goals. He transferred to Sheffield United in October 1932. Despite impressing he was released due to economic pressures and returned to Milltown the following month. He joined Manchester United in September 1933 with fellow Irish player

Billy Behan William Behan (8 August 1911 – 12 November 1991) was an Irish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Manchester United during the 1930s. He made his Rovers debut on 8 February 1931 in a 5–1 win over B ...

– the pair were the club's first Irish players for more than a decade. He scored on his debut for Manchester United on 21 October 1933 and scored a total of three goals in four league appearances. He also scored on his debut for Bradford City. Byrne is the only player to be capped for Ireland while playing for Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. He was surprisingly small (5 feet 5 inches in height) in an era of big centre forwards, yet he was a prolific goalscorer. He was fast, effective in the air as well as on the ground, and forced goalkeepers to make mistakes.

Honours

;Shamrock Rovers * League of Ireland 3 ** 1926–27, 1931–32 *

4 ** 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 * League of Ireland Shield 1 ** 1926–27 * Leinster Senior Cup 3 ** 1929, 1930, 1933 *

LFA President's Cup The LFA President's Cup was an association football cup competition featuring League of Ireland clubs affiliated to the Leinster Football Association. It was played for between 1930 and 2002. It was a ''de facto'' national super cup and on twent ...

2 ** 1929–30, 1933–34 ;Shelbourne * League of Ireland 1 ** 1928–29 ;Individual * League of Ireland Top Scorer: ** 1926–27

References

;Bibliography *''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins () * Shels – A Grand Old Team to Know by Christopher Sands (9-780952-470717)

External links

Great Big Little Man
;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, David 1905 births 1990 deaths Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Irish Free State international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Larne F.C. players League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Irish Free State association footballers Association football forwards