Paul Peter Byrne (born 30 June 1972 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 ...

) 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, who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

during the 1990s and 2000s.

Club career

Early career

Paul grew up in Bluebell and played for

Bluebell United Bluebell, Bluebells, or Bluebelle may refer to: Plants * genus ''Hyacinthoides'' ** Common bluebell ('' H. non-scripta'') ** Spanish bluebell ('' H. hispanica'') ** Italian bluebell ('' H. italica'') * genus ''Muscari'' (perhaps more commonly kn ...

as a child before being recruited by

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

. He made his league debut as a 16-year-old against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

alongside the likes of Ray Houghton. Byrne played 30 or so games for Oxford but moved to

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 ...

where he spent 6 months in the reserve team under George Armstrong without making a first team appearance.

Bangor

He moved to Northern Ireland and signed for Bangor in the Irish League. He entered Bangor folklore by scoring the winner against Ards in the 1993

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

Final. This was his 21st goal that season.

Celtic

This sort of form attracted Liam Brady who took him to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and gave him his debut on 6 October 1993 as a substitute against

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 ...

.Football Heroes
/ref> He made 28 league appearances in 2 seasons at Celtic and scored 4 goals including two of them in the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

derby. He went out on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion and scored once in 8 appearances for them before returning to Celtic.

Southend United

In August 1995 he left Celtic and signed for Ronnie Whelan's Southend United side for a fee of £80,000. He began well initially at Southend and impressing

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

enough for them to make a £750,000 bid for him.The Scotsman
/ref> It was downhill from then on for Paul at the club and they were relegated at the end of his 2nd season at Roots Hall.

Glenavon

Paul returned to Northern Ireland again and signed for

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

where he won another

winners medal.

Bohemians

After playing a few reserve games for Shelbourne, Paul signed 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 January 1999. Bohs had a disastrous season and only escaped relegation by beating Cobh Ramblers in a relegation play-off. The following season was a different story as Bohs challenged Shelbourne all the way before fading away and finishing 3rd. They also reached the

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 under the captaincy of Byrne but lost 1–0 to Shels.

Philadelphia

With Byrne's contract having expired at

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 ...

, he went off to America for the summer months and played in Philadelphia.

St Patrick's Athletic

He returned to Ireland in time for the beginning of the 2000/01 season and signed for home town club

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 ...

Back to Bohemians

He only spent a few months at Richmond Park before Roddy Collins came calling again and Paul returned to Bohs just before the transfer deadline. He scored with his first touch on his return (a 20-yard free kick) in a 2–2 draw with

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

in February 2001. Byrne went on to play a big part as Bohs won the league title, their first in 23 years. A week later, they completed the Double by winning the

but Byrne didn't take part due to being cup-tied for playing in an earlier round for St. Pats. Collins controversially departed in the wake of their success and Pete Mahon became the new man in charge. After getting to the 2nd round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifiers, they had a disastrous run of league form which cost Mahon his job. Stephen Kenny came in and Byrne was in and out of the side. Byrne played in the

final that season but once again finished on the losing side as

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 ...

won 2–1. Kenny had a clear-out of players after that and Byrne was surplus to requirements.

Later career

He went on to play for

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 ...

St James' Gate.and

Houston Hurricanes FC Celtic FC America is an American soccer club based in Houston, Texas. Originally known as Houston Hurricanes FC, the club was established in December 1992 when owner Brendan Keyes announced he was moving his Galveston Pirate SC franchise to Hous ...

Boxscorenews
/ref>

Management career

2009 Hemel Hempstead Town FC 2023 Golden Port AFC

International career

He was capped at Under-15, Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-21 level and "B" level for Ireland and was included in numerous full international squad but never made an appearance. Byrne played in two qualifiers in the

1990 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship qualifying This article features the 1990 UEFA European Under-18 Championship qualifying stage. Matches were played 1988 through 1990. Eight group winners qualified for the main tournament in Hungary. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 ...

campaign and in the

1990 UEFA European Under-18 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 ...

Legacy and awards

One of the most talented players to have come out of Ireland in the last 25 years, he will be remembered for his time at Celtic and Bohemians. He often appears in the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Masters Football for his former club

alongside other legends such as Paul McStay and Tom Boyd. Paul has won

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 ...

PFA Player of the Year and

Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year The Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year (often called the NIFWA Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the IFA Premiership. It is one of two ass ...

in 1993 while playing for Bangor F.C.

Honours

* League of Ireland: 1 ** Bohemians – 2001 *

: 1 ** Bangor F.C. – 1992–93 *

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 ...

: 1 ** Bangor F.C. – 1992–93

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Paul Arsenal F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Bohemian F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players Kilkenny City A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Shelbourne F.C. players Southend United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Living people 1972 births Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year St James's Gate F.C. players Association footballers from County Dublin Bluebell United F.C. players Men's association football midfielders