Patrick Joseph Christopher "Paddy" Roche (born 4 January 1951) is an Irish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper. 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 ...

, Roche started his career with Shelbourne with whom he won the first of his eight full international caps. During his time with Shelbourne he made 100 League of Ireland appearances and scored one league goal. He was on the losing side in the 1973

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 as they lost to

Cork Hibernians Cork Hibernians F.C. were an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1957 and 1976 and, from 1962, played their home games at Flower Lodge. In 1971, they were League of Ireland champions. History The ...

in a replay. He transferred to

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 ...

in 1973 for a fee of £15,000. Roche made 46 league appearances for United, largely playing second-fiddle to

Alex Stepney Alexander Cyril Stepney (born 18 September 1942) is an English former footballer who was Manchester United's goalkeeper when they became the first English club to win the European Cup. Early career Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Stepney had unsucce ...

and then Gary Bailey. In 1982, he transferred to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, before joining Halifax Town two years later. He moved on in 1989 after 184

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

appearances for the Shaymen, briefly spending time with Chester City as cover for

Billy Stewart William Larry Stewart II (March 24, 1937 – January 17, 1970) was an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist who was popular during the 1960s. Biography Stewart was 12 years old when he began singing with his younger brothers Johnny, James ...

. However, he left after failing to make any first-team appearances for the Cheshire side. Once retired, he returned to Halifax to take on a role coaching youngsters for their Football in the Community scheme. Roche's brother Willie played for

St. Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

and his nephew Paul played for

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. Roche played 8 games for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

, keeping three clean sheets.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Paddy 1951 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin Men's association football goalkeepers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-23 international footballers Shelbourne F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players