Kieron Brady (born 17 September 1971) is a former 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 for
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
and
Doncaster Rovers. Born in Scotland, he made four appearances for the
Republic of Ireland U21 national team.
Club career
Sunderland
Brady was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. He made his debut coming on as a substitute for
Paul Hardyman
Paul George Hardyman (born 11 May 1964 in Portsmouth) is an English former footballer and coach. He was a left-back for Portsmouth, Sunderland, Bristol Rovers, Barnet, Wycombe and Slough Town.
He is currently Academy manager and assistant coach ...
in a 3–1 win against
Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
at
Roker Park on 18 November 1989. Brady's full debut came in a 2–2 draw with
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 ...
at Roker Park on 30 December 1989.
Brady's first goal, a spectacular overhead kick, for Sunderland came in a man of the match performance against
West Ham United in a 4–3 victory at Roker Park on 24 March 1990. He went on to score his only other goal of that season seven days later in a 1–0 away victory at
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
claiming a crucial three points as Sunderland went on to win promotion.
Brady featured 14 times in the top flight, scoring twice, once against
Chelsea and once against
Crystal Palace. Following Sunderland's relegation he went on to make 12 further appearances – eight in the league – finding the net three times.
Brady played in the 3rd, 5th and 6th rounds of Sunderland's 1992
F.A. Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competiti ...
run. His final appearance for The Black Cats was on 11 April 1992 as he came off the bench to replace
Peter Davenport in a 2–1 defeat at Roker Park to
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...
.
Doncaster Rovers
Brady joined
Doncaster Rovers on loan in 1992. His first game was on 23 October 1992 in a 2–1 victory over
Hereford United
Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...
in which he scored a penalty, He went on to play a total of four times for Doncaster Rovers in the
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
scoring three times, including the only goal in a 1–0 victory on 7 November 1992 against
Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...
at
Glanford Park making him an instant hit with the fans.
Retirement
Brady was forced to retire from football in 1993, at age 22, due to a rare medical condition. He suffered from popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, a condition in which calf muscles press on the artery that runs behind the knee. He initially experienced minor leg pains before he was aware of the condition. He sued his former club, club's manager, and club's therapist for failing to send him to a specialist physician earlier. The court found no liability.
International career
Born in Scotland, Brady represented the
Republic of Ireland national U21 team at international level, a total of four times. He made his International debut on 13 November 1990 at
Turners Cross, Cork replacing
Mark Kelly
Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician, former astronaut, and United States Navy captain who has served as the junior United States senator from Arizona since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he was electe ...
against England in the 77th minute. Brady made his first International start on 30 April 1991 against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
at
Oriel Park, Dundalk. He went on to represent the Republic on six occasions, half of them as substitute.
Brady played in three qualifiers in the
campaign and in the
1990 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship
The 1990 UEFA European Under-18 Championship final tournament was held in Hungary. It also served as the European qualification for the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament:
*
*
* (host, ...
as well as the
1991 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIFA ...
held in Portugal.
Career statistics
Club
References
External links
Interview with Kieron BradyRoker Report Interview with Brady
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Kieron
1971 births
Living people
Republic of Ireland men's association footballers
Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers
Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers
Sunderland A.F.C. players
Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
English Football League players
Men's association football midfielders