Derek Pender (born 2 October 1983) is an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and 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 full-back for the League of Ireland clubs Shelbourne, Dublin City,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

Managerial career

Early career

Upon his retirement from playing for Bohemian F.C. in League of Ireland after the 2019 season, Pender joined the club's youth academy as the U17 manager on 7 January 2020. He lifted the league trophy after his side comfortably beat

2—0 in the final. On 1 February 2021 Bohemians announced that Pender was promoted to a first team role as player development coach.

Club career

Early years

Pender played schoolboy football from u17s to u19s with

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa *Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zim ...

, a club based in the North Dublin neighbourhood of Fairvew. At Belvedere he was team-mates and friends with future Republic of Ireland international

Wes Hoolahan Wesley Patrick Hoolahan (born 20 May 1982) is an Irish professional footballer who most recently played as an attacking midfielder for League One club Cambridge United. Hoolahan began his playing career with Shelbourne and has previously playe ...

. His senior football career began in 2003 with

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

outfit Shelbourne, for whom he made occasional appearances in cup competitions. He was sent on loan to Dundalk in August 2004 for the rest of the season. At the end of the 2004 season he signed for

Dermot Keely Dermot Keely (born 8 March 1954) is an Irish former manager and player. He was a schoolteacher by profession. Family Keely's family have played League of Ireland football at various levels. His late father Peter Keely played for Shelbourne., hi ...

's Dublin City. Pender would make 30 appearances for ''the Vikings'' in 2005 as the club won promotion to the Premier Division after a tense play-off victory over

, but midway through 2006 the club folded. He then signed for Tallaght-based Shamrock Rovers, making his debut for the club in a 2-2 draw away to Monaghan United on 1 September 2006. By the end of the 2006 season, Pender had won the First Division title, making nine appearances and scoring once as ''the Hoops'' returned to the top tier. He made a further 17 appearances in 2007 but at the end of the season, he signed for Wicklow outfit

Bray Wanderers

Pender was a regular in the Bray defence for the next two seasons, making 53 appearances for ''the Seagulls'' before signing for Pete Mahon at Inchicore-based

in December 2009.

St Patrick's Athletic

Derek made 59 league appearances for St Pats over the following two seasons and quickly became a fans' favourite with his tough tackling, no-nonsense approach. In January 2012 he moved across the city to sign for Aaron Callaghan at

Phibsboro Phibsborough (; ), also spelled Phibsboro, is a mixed commercial and residential neighbourhood on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. The Bradogue River crosses the area in a culvert, and the Royal Canal passes through its northern reaches, not ...

-based

Bohemians

Pender played 23 league games, scoring once, for Bohemians in the 2012 season as they finished sixth. He followed this up with another 30 appearances in 2013 season as Bohemians ended up in tenth. He re-signed for Bohemians for the 2014 season and made 28 league appearances, primarily at right-back. New boss

Keith Long Keith Long (born 14 November 1973) is an Irish football manager and former footballer. He was most recently the manager of League of Ireland Premier Division team Bohemians Long is a former Bray Wanderers player, assistant manager and was ...

named Pender as captain for the 2015 season, a position he has held ever since. He made 13 league appearances in the first fourteen games before an injury ruled him out for the rest of the season. ''Bohs'' went on to finish fifth, just missing out on European football. Recovered from injury, Derek missed just three of Bohemians' 33 league games in 2016 season. In October 2017 Derek signed on for the 2018 season in which he played 19 times, scoring once. He would also captain Bohemians in the two matches of their 2018-19 Scottish Challenge Cup run. On 16 July 2019, Pender received a one-match ban along with UCD goalkeeper Conor Kearns after both were punished for violent conduct during a match in which ''the Students'' had beaten Bohemians 1-0.

International career

Pender has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-age level. In May 2008, his former manager at Shelbourne,

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland titles ...

called him up to the Republic of Ireland Under 23 side for a tie against Northern Ireland in the Challenge Trophy.

Coaching Career

His first steps in management came when he took over the

Under 17 side, guiding them to the

League of Ireland U17 Division The League of Ireland U17 Division is the under-17 division of the League of Ireland. Like the Premier Division, the First Division and the National U19 League the National U17 League is currently sponsored by SSE Airtricity and as a result i ...

in 2020. Pender was named as interim manager of

on 30 August 2022 following the sacking of

Honours

Player

Shamrock Rovers * League of Ireland First Division:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Individual * Bohemian's Player of the Year: 2014

Manager

Bohemians U17 *

: 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pender, Derek 1983 births Living people Association football defenders Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Association footballers from County Dublin Bohemian F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players Bohemian F.C. managers