Malachy Martin Donaghy (born 13 September 1957 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

) 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 le ...

who played for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and

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 ...

Career

Club career

The current Northern Ireland Under-19 coach, originally from West

, began his football career as a goalkeeper with little-known

Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the ...

League side team St. Agnes', before moving on to play as an outfield player for works team Post Office Social Club. After barely six months, he was on the move again, this time joining Amateur League side Cromac Albion, where his blossoming talent was spotted by then Larne boss Brian Halliday. Donaghy's rapid rise in the game continued when, after just 20 matches with the Inver Park club, he was transferred to

in June 1978 for a fee of £20 000. He spent 10 years at Luton Town, overseeing the most successful era of their history to date. He collected a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title winner's medal in 1982, enabling him to experience First Division football for the first time yet. He helped Luton retain their First Division status, and was a key part of the team that finished a club record high of seventh in the 1986–87 season. In 1987–88, he helped Luton win their first major trophy as they achieved a shock 3–2 win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the

1988 Football League Cup Final The 1988 Football League Cup Final (also known as the Littlewoods Challenge Cup Final for sponsorship reasons) was an association football match between Luton Town and Arsenal on 24 April 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match ...

. In October 1988, Donaghy departed from

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, includ ...

in a £650,000 move to his boyhood heroes

. It was at the time a big risk for

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

to pay out a large sum of money for a 31-year-old, but Donaghy repaid the United manager's faith in him with some consistent performances in not only his favoured central defensive position but also as a full-back. Immediately after joining United, Donaghy was the club's first-choice left-back for the 1988–89 season, missing only the League Cup game for which he was cup-tied. However, his opportunities were limited in the 1989–90 season, and he was unable to make even the substitutes bench for the

1990 FA Cup Final The 1990 FA Cup Final was a football match played to determine to winners of the 1989–90 FA Cup. It was contested by Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The match finished 3–3 after extra time. Bryan R ...

triumph over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. However, he did make the substitutes bench for the European Cup Winners' Cup triumph in 1990–91. United were First Division runners-up in 1991–92 and won their first-ever League Cup, but Donaghy's first-team chances continued to be restricted and he was also left out of the side that beat

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the League Cup final. His next move was in August 1992 when, just a month short of his 35th birthday,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

manager

Ian Porterfield John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...

paid £100,000 for his services. Donaghy helped Chelsea finish 11th in the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

season and helped them reach the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

in 1993–94, although he did not make the squad for the team that lost 4–0 to

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

-winners Manchester United. At the end of that season, Donaghy announced his retirement from club football. He made his final appearance for Northern Ireland against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in June 1994, three months before his 37th birthday. Shortly after his playing career ended, Donaghy returned to the province with his family and after a brief spell as manager at

Newry Town Newry City Football Club was a Northern Irish association football, football club founded in 1918 and dissolved in 2012. It was based in Newry, County Down and played its home matches at The Showgrounds (Newry), the Showgrounds. Club colours we ...

, he had stints as a coach with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

and as a Youth Development Officer back on his home patch with

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football Club is an intermediate football club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal Celtic Park. Club co ...

. In 2000, he was appointed to his present position as coach for the Northern Ireland Under-19 team. His son Ciaran currently plays for

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as ...

International career

The first of his 91

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

came in May 1980 at Windsor Park in the 1–0 Home International Championship victory over Scotland. He further enhanced his reputation during the 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals. In the former tournament, he played in four of Northern Ireland's five games. He was sent off after 60 minutes of the famous 1–0 win over Spain in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, for the offence of shoving Spain's

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, i ...

, but returned for Northern Ireland's final match, the 4–1 defeat by France in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Honours

Club

;Luton Town *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1987–88 ;Manchester United *

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

: 1990–91 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

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 Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

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 Phil ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Donaghy, Mal 1957 births Association football defenders Association footballers from Northern Ireland Chelsea F.C. players Football managers from Northern Ireland Larne F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Living people Luton Town F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Northern Ireland international footballers Association footballers from Belfast Premier League players English Football League players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Outfield association footballers who played in goal