Anthony Brendan Byrne (2 February 1946 – 13 June 2016) was an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He won a total of 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland and during his career from 1963 to 1978 played for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

and Newport County. He was originally a midfield player who switched to

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and he had a career total of 229 league games scoring 4 goals.

Early life

He was born in

Rathdowney Rathdowney or Rathdowny () is a town in southwest County Laois, Ireland. It lies some 32 km southwest of Portlaoise in the Irish Midlands, at the point where the R433 regional road from Abbeyleix to Templemore is crossed by the R435 fro ...

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

, Ireland, on 2 February 1946. His early sporting background was in hurling before he emigrated to London with his parents at the age of 12.

Playing career

He began his career as a footballer at Millwall, where he was originally a midfield player before switching to left-back. After only one appearance for Millwall, he was signed by Ted Bates for Southampton for a fee of £8,000 in August 1964. Although he made his Saints debut in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

in January 1965, Byrne took a long time to break into the Southampton first team, mainly because of a broken leg sustained in a reserve team match in April 1966. He eventually overcame this setback to make his league debut on 18 April 1967 in front of a 54,921 crowd at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

as relegation-threatened Saints went down 3–0 to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He was slightly built for a defender and "although quick and diligent, he struggled to carve a permanent niche in Southampton's notoriously robust rearguard". His best season with The Saints was 1969–70, in which he made 35 league appearances, playing in defence alongside

Joe Kirkup Joseph Robert Kirkup (born 17 December 1939) is an English former professional footballer who played as a full-back in the Football League for West Ham United, Chelsea and Southampton. Playing career Kirkup played junior football with West Ha ...

and John McGrath, as Saints again fought to avoid relegation. He scored his first league goal in the final match of the season in a 1–1 draw against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. Having given away Derby's 88th-minute goal after a poor back-pass, Byrne quickly turned from villain to hero as he slotted in a bobbling ball in the 90th minute in a dramatic climax to the season. He stayed at The Dell for ten years during which time he made a total of 114 first team appearances and won 14 Irish caps. In August 1974 he moved to

to join former Saints' colleague

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English retired footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made over 800 appearances (a club record) in 18 seasons with the club. H ...

for three seasons before finishing his career with Newport County. Amazingly his Irish international debut in October 1969 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 ...

against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

was the first time he had kicked a ball in his native land because he had emigrated to London with his parents at the age of 12 and, until then, had played only

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

. After retiring from football, he worked as a foreman at

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

golf course before working as a builder for EC Joseph & Sons LTD in Hereford. He died on 13 June 2016, aged 70.

References

External links

Republic of Ireland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Tony 1946 births 2016 deaths Association footballers from County Laois Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers English Football League players Hereford United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Association football fullbacks