Frederick William Kiernan (7 July 1919 – December 1981) was an Irish professional

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

in the 1940s and 1950s.

Playing career

He was 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 ...

and his first senior club was Shelbourne, though he initially played as a youth with Drumcondra. With Shelbourne, he came close to a clean sweep of honours in the 1943–44 season, winning the League and Shield and losing out 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 ...

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. In the summer of 1945, he transferred to play for

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 ...

. After three seasons with Dundalk, he moved to

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 ...

where he played just one season (1948–49). He was then signed by Shamrock Rovers coach

Paddy Coad Paddy Coad (14 April 1920 – 8 March 1992) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a forward for Waterford, Glenavon, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland. Although known, primarily, as a maker of goals, Coad scored 126 goals in the ...

. At 5 ft 8in he was unusually small for a goalkeeper but, according to Holley & Chalk's "In That Number", "he had tremendous agility, which went a long way in compensating".

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

recognised his talents, and in May 1951 he made his international debut against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

) and before May was out he had added a second cap (v.

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

). Later that year at the age of 32, he joined

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 ...

for a then record League of Ireland fee for a goalkeeper of £4,500. By October 1951 he had made his Southampton debut in the

Football League Division Two The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

against Hull City. Over the next 5 seasons he made 136 League and Cup appearances with the Saints and added another three Irish caps to his collection. During his time at The Dell, he contested John Christie for the goalkeeper's jersey. In January 1954 he unsuccessfully applied for the manager's post at Peterborough United. He was almost 37 years of age when he played his last game for the Saints against Norwich City in April 1956 and the following July he moved to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

. He retired from active playing in 1958, before returning to

, where he spent a brief period coaching with A.C. Delco.

Honours

Shelbourne * League of Ireland champions: 1943–44 * League of Ireland Shield winners: 1943–44 Shamrock Rovers * League of Ireland Shield winners: 1949–50

References

External links

International career details from soccerscene.ie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiernan, Fred 1919 births 1981 deaths Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland association footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers Shelbourne F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Association football goalkeepers League of Ireland players Dundalk F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Drumcondra F.C. players