Liam Dunne (born 1 September 1971) is an Irish former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player.

Senior career

As a midfielder, he played for

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 ...

in 1990 and broke into the first team, making his league debut against Derry City on 2 September of that year. It was not long before he was snapped up by

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

,of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

(SPL
ST JOHNSTONE : 1946/47 - 2007/08
Newcastle Fans. after he impressed at 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 ...

for Ireland. This proved to be a shrewd move by Manager

Alex Totten Alex Totten (born 12 February 1946) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Playing career Growing up in Dennyloanhead, Stirlingshire, he signed for Liverpool straight from school in 1960 before signing for top division Dundee bac ...

as Dunne certainly impressed while he was there. But in the 1992/93 season Alex Totten was sacked and new manager John McClelland didn't see young Dunne in his plans for the future. So next season Bohemians manager

Eamonn Gregg Eamonn Gregg (born 28 March 1953 in Dublin) was an Irish football player during the 1970s and 1980s. Playing career He played for Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, VfB Lübeck, Dundalk, St Patrick's Athletic and Kilkenny City during his career. He ...

brought him back to

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

Crusaders

But Dunne did not settle back in Phibsborough and was soon sent on Loan to

Crusaders FC Crusaders Football Club is a professional Northern Ireland, Northern Irish association football, football club, playing in the NIFL Premiership, highest level of the Irish League. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays ...

of Northern Ireland for his first spell at the club. Dunne impressed at Seaview playing well and scoring regularly under manager Roy Walker. He then made his move permanent to Crusaders. He helped "Crues" to 2 consecutive IPA Premiership Titles in 1994 & 1995. He often turned out for the IFA XI which is for the best players in the

IFA Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

. Crusaders won the league in 1993/94 and in 1994-95. Dunne the tried a move to

Portadown FC Portadown Football Club is a professional, Northern Ireland, Northern Irish association football, football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was formed in 1887 as a junior team seeking to participate in the Mid-Ulster Cup, even ...

but did not work out because of an argument with the manager. Dunne then went to

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 ...

where, in 2002 he won the FAI Ford Cup. It was a short successful spell for Dunne at Dundalk as he was linking up with players like

James Keddy James Keddy (born 26 March 1973) is an Irish football coach and former player who is currently manager at Wexford FC. Career Keddy made his League of Ireland debut for Home Farm on 13 October 1991. He joined UCD in 1994 and his other clubs ...

. But in 2005 Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter whom Dunne had played with for Crusaders came calling for him to come back to Seaview. It was an offer Dunne could not refuse. But by now "Crues" were in the second tier of Irish Football and were chasing promotion and they achieved it by winning the

IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

in the 2005-06 season. They had also won the

Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...

that year. Crusaders went on to finish 6th in the

next season with experienced players such as Dunne and Jeff Spiers combining with younger players such as

Colin Coates Colin Victor Coates, (born 4 April 1946) is a former ice speed skater from Australia, who represented his native country in a record six consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1968 in Grenoble, France. Skating career Coates competed in six ...

and

David Rainey David "Puck" Rainey (born 1968) is an American reality television personality who gained fame as a cast member on '' The Real World: San Francisco'' in 1994. A bicycle messenger during the show's shooting, he became notorious as the second ''Rea ...

for a good season. But for Dunne this was to be his last game as he retired after the 2006-07 season.

Honours

While at Seaview Dunne won 2 Irish Leagues, 1

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Nort ...

, The Gold Cup and

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 ...

for Dundalk, the

, The IFA Intermediate League and the George Wilson Cup. Dunne also won 4 caps for the Republic of Ireland U21 Team.

After Football

Now Dunne lives in his hometown

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 works as a plumber. He has three children Jack, Sam and Kate. Both Sam and Jack are promising Footballers Jack playing for Home Farm FC and Sam playing fo
St Pauls Artane

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Liam 1971 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers League of Ireland players Scottish Football League players NIFL Premiership players Bohemian F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Portadown F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Stella Maris F.C. players Belvedere F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Association footballers from County Dublin