Tony Cousins (born 25 August 1969 in The Liberties) is an Irish football coach and former player. He is head coach of Shamrock Rovers U17's. Cousins was involved in full-time football from the age of sixteen when he joined English club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, where he spent two years. Throughout his career he played for

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 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

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 'Th ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers and Bray Wanderers. He is the first cousin of

Tommy Dunne Tomás Dunne (born 21 May 1974) is an Irish hurling coach and former player who is from Toomevara, County Tipperary in Ireland. He is the current coach of the Tipperary senior hurling team. Dunne enjoyed a distinguished playing career with To ...

Playing career

He made his League of Ireland debut for Dundalk at

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

on 25 September 1988. After two years at

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey F ...

, during which he shared the PFAI Young Player of the Year Award in 1989/90, he signed for Liverpool. Due to injury he failed to make a single first team appearance before getting a free transfer to Middlesbrough at the end of the 1992/93 season. After 3 appearances for Hereford he came home to sign for Bohemians where he scored 22 goals in 83 league games over three seasons. He signed for Shamrock Rovers in the summer of 1996, making his debut in a preseason friendly against Heart of Midlothian. His first of many goals for the Hoops came in a friendly win against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. Three weeks later, he scored his first competitive goal in a 2–2 draw against Shelbourne in the

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

. His first league goal came against Bray Wanderers on 13 September 1996. In his first season with Shamrock Rovers he was the joint top goalscorer in the League of Ireland Premier Division, winning Player of the Month in February 1997. The following season, he was the team's top goalscorer with 15 league goals. During the six years he played with Rovers he scored 46 goals in 145 league appearances and a total of 65 goals in 190 appearances, including one goal in two appearances in European competition. Having completed his time with Shamrock Rovers, he spent one season with Bray Wanderers before retiring. Cousins was capped six times by the Irish Under 21 team at the start of his career, scoring four goals.

Coaching career

Tony Cousins was appointed U-21 coach at Shamrock Rovers before becoming assistant to Liam Buckley in 2003. In February 2005, he was appointed assistant coach at

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

. He became coach of Galway United in 2006, where he stayed for two seasons. He was removed from his position in March 2008, following a home defeat to Shamrock Rovers. He replaced John Ryan as coach of

Kildare County Kildare County F.C. ( ga, Cumann Peile Chontae Chill Dara) was an Irish association football club based in Newbridge, County Kildare. Between 2002–03 and 2009 they played in the League of Ireland First Division. During this time they also e ...

on 24 October 2008 for the remainder of the 2008 season. Tony Cousins was appointed

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 ...

manager in December 2009. He resigned as manager in August 2016 after 209 league games in charge. In his time at the club, Cousins improved the side's fortunes each season as the Town finished 9th, 6th, 3rd and 2nd in his first four seasons in the First Division. This period included promotion play-off defeats to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

and Bray Wanderers in successive seasons. In his 5th season in charge, Cousins eventually led the Town to their first ever league title in senior football as they were crowned 2014 First Division champions. A memorable 5–0 home victory against Shamrock Rovers B, before over 2000 spectators, secured the title. The 2015 season saw the Town back in the top flight of Irish football for the first time since 2007. Cousins led the side to a highly commendable 6th-place finish and an FAI Cup semi-final appearance. The following season proved more difficult however as Longford sat rooted to the bottom of the division before Cousins' decision to step down on 13 August 2016.

Honours

** Dundalk F.C. – 1989/90 *

FAI Super Cup The FAI Super Cup was an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland. It was played for between 1998 and 2001. It was a pre-season tournament played in the summer before the regular League of Ireland season bega ...

** Shamrock Rovers – 1998 * Leinster Senior Cup ** Shamrock Rovers – 1997 *

PFAI Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Players' Young Player of the Year (often called the PFAI Players' Young Player of the Year, the PFAI Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) award is given to the footb ...

** Dundalk F.C. – 1989/90 * SRFC Player of the Year: ** Shamrock Rovers – 1996/97

Managerial Honours

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 ...

** Longford Town F.C. - 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Tony Chelsea F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players English Football League players Bohemian F.C. players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Shamrock Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Dundalk F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Longford Town F.C. managers 1969 births Living people League of Ireland XI players Galway United F.C. managers Belvedere F.C. players Kildare County F.C. managers Association football forwards Republic of Ireland football managers