Seamus Heath (born 6 December 1961) is a Northern Irish former association football

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 ...

and coach who was most recently manager of

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

club

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional Association football, football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men ...

. Heath was an archetypal

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

appearing for several clubs during the course of his career. He subsequently carved out a successful career in coaching.

Playing career

Heath began his career at amateur club Cromac Albion where for a time he roomed with future Northern Ireland international

Mal Donaghy Malachy Martin Donaghy (born 13 September 1957 in Belfast) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Luton Town and Manchester United. Career Club career The current Northern Ireland Under-19 coach, originally from W ...

.Old pals link up to Rec United dream
/ref> In April 1979 he joined

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 ...

side

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 ...

although Heath did not make any league appearances for the club and in April 1982 joined Lincoln City on loan. He spent the 1983–84 season at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and then played for

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

before returning to Northern Ireland with

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

in October 1986.Marshall Gillespie, ''The Northern Ireland Football Yearbook 1996/97'', UTV Books, 1996, p. 190 Soon afterwards Heath moved to Finland to play for

Bollklubben-46 Bollklubben-46 (abbreviated BK-46) is a sports club from Karis, Raseborg in Finland. The club was formed in 1946 and the main activities covered are football and handball with large junior sections in both disciplines. BK-46 men's first team ...

and subsequently played for a number of other clubs in the country. In October 1989 he joined

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

although the following summer Heath returned to Bollklubben-46. He rejoined Glentoran in October 1990. Heath signed for

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

in July 1992. He moved to

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 ...

side

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

in August 1994. He returned to the

Irish Football League Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 ...

in August 1995.

Coaching

Heath served as youth development officer at

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 ...

and until 2005 combined this with a wider role as one of 23

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

(IFA) youth development officers. In this capacity he also served as assistant manager of the Northern Ireland under-19 team.Doing the Busy-Ness; Heath is best man to fix up old Rec.
/ref> In January 2006 Heath was appointed manager of Kilmore Recreation. Heath would return to the IFA around 2007 as a "Grassroots Development Officer" for the Down district. As of 2011 Heath remains in position with the IFA. He has also turned out for the Northern Ireland over 45s in veterans matches. On 28 March 2018, Heath was announced as manager of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

club

due to former manager Neville Powell's pro licence expiring.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Seamus 1961 births Living people English Football League players Luton Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Portadown F.C. players Veikkausliiga players Glentoran F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players League of Ireland players Derry City F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Association football managers from Northern Ireland Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Aberystwyth Town F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers Men's association football midfielders Bollklubben-46 players