Stephen Henderson (born 2 January 1966) is 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 ...

coach and former player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is currently manager of

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

side

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

Personal life

Stephen comes from a goalkeeping family. His father, Paddy, was a

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 ...

goalkeeper, as was his brother

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

. His younger brother Wayne was a

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

international goalkeeper and Stephen's son,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

, has made over 200 appearances at club level in England

Career

Following a long playing career that started at Shelbourne in 1984 and included

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 ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

, St James's Gate,

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

and

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

, Henderson spent four years as the goalkeeping coach at

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

. Between 1996 and 2000 Henderson played a total of 117 games for Ards which included 2 appearances in the

1997 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1997 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by three French teams -- Lyon, Bastia, and Auxerre. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. Qualified teams Group stage Group 1 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group 2 ...

, 91 in 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 ...

. However, when the manager's job at neighbouring

became available in 2004 he became the first member of his family to become a senior manager. He made his managerial bow at

Finn Park Finn Park ( ga, Páirc na Finne) is a football stadium in Ballybofey, Ireland. The home ground of League of Ireland team Finn Harps, it has a 'safe capacity' of 4,200 with 351 seats. Facilities The ground is in a relatively dilapidated condit ...

on 4 September. He guided the club to third place in the First Division table in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, their highest league placing since 1999, and fourth place the following season before delivering the club their first ever piece of silverware when he guided Cobh Ramblers to the First Division title in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. Cobh were relegated in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

from the Premier Division and Henderson took up the manager's post at Waterford United in December 2008. He led the club to the final of the League Cup and the semi-finals of the FAI Cup in 2009, and to the promotion play-offs the following season. However, after an indifferent start to the following season, in May 2011 Henderson was sacked by the Blues. In October 2015, he re-joined

on new three-year contract and the following season he guided Ramblers to Munster Senior Cup victory and a third-place league finish. Ramblers reached the final of the EA Sports Cup in 2018 when they lost 3-1 to Derry City in a game played in Derry. With the side struggling in the league, Henderson left Cobh in June 2019. He immediately became Head of Youth Development at Shelbourne in a position he held until April 2021. On 24 November 2022, Henderson made his return to first-team management when he was appointed manager of

Honours

As a manager

;Cobh Ramblers *

(1):

*Munster Senior Cup 2016

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Stephen 1966 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland association footballers League of Ireland players Association football goalkeepers Shelbourne F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Cobh Ramblers F.C. players Ards F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players Waterford F.C. managers NIFL Premiership players Stella Maris F.C. players St James's Gate F.C. players Republic of Ireland football managers

Step Step(s) or STEP may refer to: Common meanings * Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase * Walking * Dance move * Military step, or march ** Marching Arts Films and television * Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong * Step (film), ' ...