Joe Hanrahan (born 21 March 1964 in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

) is 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 during the 1980s and 1990s. He picked up many honours, including 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 ...

in 1983–84 and was named

PFAI Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Players' Young Player of the Year (often called the PFAI Players' Young Player of the Year, the PFAI Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) award is given to the footb ...

in the same year. He played for UCD in the

1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1984–85 season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Everton F.C., Everton in the final against SK Rapid Wien, Rapid Wien. Everton also won the English Football League that season and would therefore have entered ...

narrowly being beaten by Everton in a two-legged tie as Everton went on to win the competition, with Hanrahan nearly scoring the equaliser in the second leg.

Career

Hanrahan came from a sporting family – his father had played

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

for Limerick and three of his brothers (

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, Gary and Dave) played 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 us ...

. He played schoolboy football with local side Vereker Clements earning five schoolboy caps for Ireland and soon attracted interest from cross-channel in the shape of

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Despite this interest from Wolves, Hanrahan decided to sign for UCD where he spent four productive years. He made his

debut on 10 September 1981 at

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

The highlight of his time at Belfield was the 1983–84 season where he picked up an

winners medal, scoring "after a mazy dribble" in the replay as UCD beat

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 ...

2–1. His form was noticed by his fellow professionals and he was voted

PFAI The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland (PFAI) is the representative body for professional and semi-professional footballers in Republic of Ireland. Players from all nationalities in the League of Ireland are represented, not just Iri ...

Young Player of the Year. He also gained Inter-League and Under-21 representative honours during that season. He captained the Ireland youth team that qualified for the 1982 European Championships in Finland, but was unavailable for the finals because of university examinations. The FAI Cup win qualified UCD for the 1985 Cup Winners' Cup. Drawn against English club Everton in the first round, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

match preview picked out Hanrahan as a player to watch. A goalless draw at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...

was followed by Everton scraping through 1–0 in the return leg at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

; Everton "went on to win the competition but they wouldn't have done had a late Joe Hanrahan shot in the second leg been a few inches lower", as

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

, who played for Everton in that match, remembered 23 years later: "in the last minute a lad called Joe Hanrahan had a chance and if he'd have stuck it in we'd have been out" on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

. In August 1985, after scoring five goals in four trial games he signed for

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 ...

. He played in friendlies ahead of the 1986–87 season, but never made the breakthrough. Unsettled after two years without a competitive appearance, and despite speculation about a £40,000 transfer to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, Hanrahan's contract was cancelled and he returned to Ireland. He signed for

in 1987 and after five goals in 27 games in the clubs infamous reign at Tolka Park, he moved to his hometown club

Limerick City Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 c ...

in 1988 under the management of Billy Hamilton. They finished third in the league that season but Hamilton left during the 1989–90 season and Limerick never challenged. Hanrahan was on the move again in 1990 where Jim McLaughlin took him up north to Derry City. He won two

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 ...

medals at the club, scoring in the 91 final against his old club Limerick. He played 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 ...

,A one-horse race as Derry widen the gap
''The Irish Times''. 1 March 1997. until they released him in summer 1997. He then joined

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 ...

alongside his more talented brother Peter, a move which caused some surprise because of his age and reputation for being injury-prone although he did well, and also played for

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. ( ga, Cumann Peile Mhuineacháin Aontaithe) is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Ulster Senior League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to pl ...

before retiring.

Honours

Club

;UCD *

: 1984 ;Derry City *

: 1990–91, 1991–92 ;Dundalk *

: 1994–95

Individual

: 1983–84

References

External links

''Joe Hanrahan in 'Soccer Players' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanrahan, Joe Association footballers from Limerick (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football forwards League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players University College Dublin A.F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers 1964 births Living people Monaghan United F.C. players