Patrick Joseph Byrne (born 15 May 1956, in Dublin) 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 ...

player and manager.

Playing career

Club

A central midfielder, Byrne's playing career started with

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 ...

, his debut coming against

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 ...

on 25 August 1974 in a LFA President's Cup Final. He made 162 appearances in all competitions for Bohemians (98 in the league, 10 in European competition) and won 2 League of Ireland titles and 1

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 ...

before he moved to the US in 1978, for a year with the

Philadelphia Fury The Philadelphia Fury was an American soccer team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that last competed in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). The club formerly competed in the American Soccer League and is currently owned ...

of the North American Soccer League. At the Fury he played alongside fellow Irishmen Fran O'Brien and Eddie Byrne, appearing in eighteen matches plus one play-off game and scoring three goals. Byrne's teammates also included Alan Ball, Peter Osgood and Johnny Giles, while he played against the likes of Rodney Marsh, Carlos Alberto,

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

, Giorgio Chinaglia and

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

. He returned to Europe in 1979, playing for Leicester City in England until 1981, then Heart of Midlothian in Scotland until 1983. While playing for Hearts he was based in Dublin, and would regularly commute to Scotland for weekend fixtures. When this became too much of a burden, he was granted a free transfer and joined League of Ireland side

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 ...

, where he won four league titles in a row and the

three times between 1984 and 1987. He was the club's Player of the Year in 1984–85 and also picked up the

SWAI Personality of the Year The Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Personality of the Year is an annual award for the person considered to have made the most positive impact on the domestic League of Ireland season. Instigated in 1961 - when Drumcondra's Dan McCaffrey w ...

award for that season. He made seven appearances for Rovers in European competition.

International

In April 1983, Byrne played for the League of Ireland XI U21s against their Italian League counterparts who included Roberto Mancini and

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currently ...

in their team. During this time with Shamrock Rovers he also won eight full international caps for the Republic of Ireland, three inter-league caps, scoring once, and played in two

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

qualifiers.

Management career

Byrne retired from playing at the end of the 1987–88 season when he was appointed as player-manager of Shelbourne. By 1992, he had guided the club to their first League of Ireland title in thirty years and the following year, he guided them to their first

success in thirty years, when they beat Dundalk 1–0 in the final at Lansdowne Road. In the Cup Winners' Cup that autumn, Byrne brought Shelbourne their first European victory since 1964 when they knocked out Ukrainian club

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

3–2 on aggregate. He was sacked along with his assistant Jim McLaughlin shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by Eoin Hand. Byrne became player-manager of

St James's Gate St. James's Gate, located off the south quays of Dublin, on James's Street, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrimage from Dublin to Santiag ...

in February 1994 before he came back to Shamrock Rovers to manage the club for the 1996–97 season. He later managed

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

to promotion to the

Premier Division Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of gov ...

. In September 2006, he became an official Shamrock Rovers Legend.

Honours

As a player

* League of Ireland: 6 **

– 1974–75, 1977–78 **

– 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

: 4 **

1976 **

1985, 1986, 1987 * League of Ireland Cup: 1 **

1975 * Leinster Senior Cup: 3 **

1974/75, 1975/76 **

1984/85 * LFA President's Cup: 2 **

1974/75 **

1984/85 * Football League Second DivisionFrom 1992 the second tier of English football was known as

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. Since 2004 it has been known as the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

. **

Leicester City F.C. Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home mat ...

1979/80 *

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

: 1 **

– 1983/84 * SWAI Personality of the Year: 1 **

– 1984/85 * SRFC Player of the Year: 1 **

– 1984/85

As a manager

* League of Ireland: 1 ** Shelbourne 1992 *

: 1 ** Shelbourne 1993 * SWAI Personality of the Year ** Shelbourne – 1991/92

References

;Sources * ''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins () {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Pat Living people 1956 births Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Association football midfielders Bohemian F.C. players Republic of Ireland football managers League of Ireland managers League of Ireland players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Philadelphia Fury (1978–1980) players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. managers Shelbourne F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. managers Cobh Ramblers F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Scottish Football League players Leicester City F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland XI players Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers St James's Gate F.C. players St James's Gate F.C. managers