Rory Dwyer (1932 – 19 November 2022) was an Irish

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 for Shelbourne in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

Career

Brought up in

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchicore railway works (b ...

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 ...

, Dwyer played his schoolboy football with St. Finbarrs in

Drimnagh Drimnagh () is a suburb in Dublin, Ireland to the south of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordered by the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12. History Early to mediaeval Drimna ...

, under Gerry Doyle. He won a schoolboy cap against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Dwyer signed for Shelbourne in 1951 for a fee of £3 a week and a £1 win bonus. His debut season saw him score a club record of 40 goals across all competitions. Dwyer was part of Shelbourne's

-winning team in 1953. He also earned a call-up to the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

for an international against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, however, a miscommunication resulted in him missing the match. A recurring cartilage issue resulted in Dwyer's career coming to an end in 1957.

Personal life and death

Dwyer's day job was as a refrigerator mechanic. After his forced retirement from playing, he concentrated on

pitch and putt Pitch and putt is an amateur sport very similar to, and derived from, golf, where the hole length is typically up to and just 2–3 clubs are typically used. The game was organised and developed in Ireland during the early 20th century, befor ...

, playing in Erin's Isle in

Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway, and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is to the north. Finglas lies mainly in the posta ...

. Dwyer died on 19 November 2022, at the age of 89.

Honours

;Shelbourne *

: 1952–53

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwyer, Rory 1932 births 2022 deaths Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Association footballers from Dublin (city) League of Ireland players Shelbourne F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Men's association football forwards