Eamonn "Chick" Deacy (1 October 1958 – 13 February 2012) was a professional footballer from Galway, Ireland. After a trial at Clyde Deacy made an impressive League of Ireland debut for

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

away to Shelbourne at

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. Racin ...

on 14 December 1975. His only win in Sligo's colours came 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 ...

on 4 January 1976. The next month he faced Geoff Hurst at Turners Cross. His debut game for his home town club was in the

FAI League 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 ...

on 5 September 1976. In his third League Cup game against Sligo Rovers, he was sent off. Deacy made his debut for Limerick on 28 November 1976 at Flower Lodge. At the end of the season, he was on the losing side in the

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 ...

Final. However, in his last game for the Shannonsiders he won the Munster Senior Cup. Deacy scored

Galway Rovers Galway United Football Club ( Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland First Division. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the 1930s. They ...

first goal in the League of Ireland on 2 October 1977. The 21-year-old full back left Galway Rovers for Aston Villa in February 1979, after writing 12 letters to the club requesting a trial. He went on to have an unforgettable five years at the club, during which time they won the League Championship, European Cup and European Super Cup. He was one of only 14 players used by Ron Saunders in the 1980–81 league-winning season, making enough appearances (11 in all, including six starts) to win a medal (he was Villa's number 12 on 19 occasions that season). He made one appearance for Villa in European competition against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in the

1982–83 European Cup The 1982–83 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the first time by Hamburg, who beat Juventus 1–0 in the final at Athens' Olympic Stadium. It was the first time since 1976 that the trophy did not go to a club from E ...

. He had a brief loan spell at Derby, where he played five games, before rejecting an offer of a new two-year deal from Villa to return home to Galway. Deacy's first game back in the Maroon was in a League of Ireland Cup tie against Finn Harps on 2 September 1984. His last League of Ireland game was also in Harold's Cross on St Patrick's Day 1991 away to St Patrick's Athletic. He won 4 caps 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 ...

. He also played for the

amateur team that qualified for the 1978 UEFA Amateur Cup. He died following a heart attack on 13 February 2012.

Terryland Park Eamonn Deacy Park, formerly known as Terryland Park, is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in the Terryland district of Galway. It is owned by the Galway Football Association and is the home ground of both Galway ...

was renamed Eamonn Deacy Park in honour of Chick A testimonial was held on 18 August at Eamonn Deacy Park.

Honours

;Galway United *

(1): 1991 *

(1): 1985–86 ;Limerick * Munster Senior Cup (1): 1977 ;Aston Villa *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

(1): 1980–81 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

(1):

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

(shared) *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

(1):

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

(1):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deacy, Eamon Republic of Ireland association footballers Men's association football fullbacks Association footballers from County Galway League of Ireland players English Football League players Limerick F.C. players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players Sligo Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Galway United F.C. managers 1958 births 2012 deaths Republic of Ireland association football managers