Felix Healy (born 27 September 1955 as Patrick Joseph Healy) is a former

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

international

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 ...

and singer who played for Coleraine and then became a football manager. He has also worked as a media pundit and is currently part of the management team at First Division club

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

, taking on the role of

Director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

alongside manager Peter Hutton. Starting his career at Sligo Rovers, he signed with Distillery in 1976. In 1978, he transferred to

, before moving to England to play for Port Vale later that year. He returned to his homeland two years later to play for Coleraine. After seven years with the club he moved on to Derry City. In 1993, he returned to Coleraine as player-manager, before leaving his post and ending his playing career in 1994. He then four years in charge at Derry City. In 1982, he won four caps for

. Healy settled into a quiet retirement, becoming a very popular local musician around Derry City and

Inishowen Inishowen () is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland. The Inishowen peninsula includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head. The Grianan of Aileach, a ringfort ...

Club career

Healy began his career in the Sligo Rovers first-team as a teenager, before he transferred to Distillery in 1976. The club were suffering and without a ground and Healy did not even spend a full season with the club as results continually went against them. In March 1977 he was back in the

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 use ...

with

. He matured as a player with Harps, his impressive performances helped to bring home runners-up medals in the League of Ireland and Tyler All-Ireland Cup. In October 1978, English club Port Vale paid £8,000 for his services. He played two seasons of Fourth Division football before returning across the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

, after being signed by Coleraine manager Victor Hunter in July 1980. His form with the "Bannsiders" during the 1981–82 campaign brought the club to the verge of an Irish League and Cup double, before they lost out to Linfield on both fronts. The disappointment was eased by an

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

award, and a call-up to the

squad. His continued good form with Coleraine over the following seasons brought Healy an

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

winner's medal and another

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

final appearance, though his successful

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

proved to not be enough to prevent

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 ...

winning the 1986 final by a 2–1 scoreline. During his time at Coleraine he played in eight European ties, scoring on two separate occasions in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in September 1983 and September 1986 against Sparta Rotterdam and

FC Stahl Brandenburg BSG Stahl Brandenburg is a German association football club based in Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg. History The club was formed in 1950 as ''BSG Einheit Brandenburg'' and played its earliest seasons in the II division of East German foo ...

. In 1987, Healy moved to his hometown club, Derry City, where he won a clean-sweep of League Championship, FAI Cup (where he scored the only goal in the final) and

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 ...

, (a domestic treble) in 1988–89; the club's first major honours since their days in the Irish League, over twenty years earlier. He also scored Derry's first ever goal in the Premier Division on 20 September 1987. He scored 38 goals in 162 total appearances for his home town club.

International career

Healy made his international debut in an experimental line-up which drew with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in the British Home Championship, and won his second

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

the following month as Northern Ireland finished their

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

preparations in the worst of fashions, with a 3–0 defeat by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Healy did enough to impress

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move ...

, who included him in the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

squad for Spain. He played once at the finals, coming on as substitute for

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

in a 1–1 draw with Honduras. In doing so he became the first and so far only Irish League player to play in a World Cup Finals match. He won his fourth and final cap in the first post-World Cup game, Northern Ireland losing 2–0 in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He was a regular choice for the Irish League, and he won three caps – in a 3–3 draw with

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburm ...

(representing the

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

) in 1982, and twice against the

, a 4–0 win (in which he scored) in 1984 and a 2–1 defeat in 1986.

Management career

In October 1993 Healy returned to Coleraine as player-manager, taking over from

Willie McFaul William Stewart McFaul (born 1 October 1943), known as Willie or Iam McFaul, is a Northern Irish former football player and now coach. He spent most of his career with Newcastle United. McFaul was born in Coleraine. He joined Newcastle Unit ...

and back to Derry as manager in December 1994. In a little under four seasons in charge at the

Brandywell Stadium The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium ( ga, Tobar an Fhíoruisce ) is a municipal football stadium with an adjoining greyhound racing track in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporari ...

, Healy led Derry to League and FAI Cup successes, before resigning in 1998. Healy remained outside football until becoming a surprise appointment as Finn Harps boss in May 2004. Lifting the club out of the doldrums, his first season at

Finn Park Finn Park ( ga, Páirc na Finne) is a football stadium in Ballybofey, Ireland. The home ground of League of Ireland team Finn Harps, it has a 'safe capacity' of 4,200 with 351 seats. Facilities The ground is in a relatively dilapidated condit ...

saw the club promoted as champions of the First Division. However the club struggled to make an impact in the Premier League the following season and he was sacked in July 2005.

Other work

Whilst playing in Northern Ireland, Healy served a four-year apprenticeship as a butcher, and spent his nights as a club singer. He appeared as a football pundit on

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

and as Station Manager for Drive105.3FM, also acting as a sports reporter for local network, Channel 9. He once starred in a local production of '' Grease'' and sang numerous club-songs for Derry during his time there.

Personal life

Healy has three children; Alan, Georgina and Patrick. Patrick was a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for Derry City in the 1989 FAI Cup final when Felix scored the winning goal.

Career statistics

Honours

As a player

Individual * Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year: 1981–82 *

: 1981–82 Coleraine *

: 1986, 1987 *

runner-up: 1982,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

Derry City * League of Ireland Premier Division: 1988–89 * FAI Cup:

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

; runner-up:

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

; runner-up:

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

As a manager

Derry City * League of Ireland Premier Division: 1996–97 * FAI Cup:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Finn Harps *

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 ...

: 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Felix 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Derry (city) Association footballers from Northern Ireland Expatriate association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Irish League representative players League of Ireland XI players Association football midfielders Association football forwards Sligo Rovers F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Derry City F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland NIFL Premiership players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Ulster Footballers of the Year Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year Football managers from Northern Ireland Derry City F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Musicians from Derry (city)