Stephen Henderson (born 2 January 1966) is an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Personal life

Stephen comes from a goalkeeping family. His father,

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

, was a

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

goalkeeper, as was his brother

Dave Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

. His younger brother Wayne was a

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

international goalkeeper and Stephen's son,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

, has made over 200 appearances at club level in England

Career

Henderson played underage football with

Stella Maris F.C. Stella Maris Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin. Founded in 1943, the club caters for over 350 children, ranging in age from 5 to 18 yea ...

before joining Shelbourne in the summer of 1984. He made his debut for Shels in a League Cup match against Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds on 8 September 1985. His League debut followed in October when he played in a 3–0 defeat to Dundalk at

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a Greyhound racing in Ireland, greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Bord na gCon, Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars ...

. He followed Billy Hamilton from

Limerick F.C. Limerick Football Club was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick Football Club was founded ...

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, Lisburn. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Nor ...

in 1992 before going on to play for St James's Gate,

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) 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. Colman's Park. The club's colours are clare ...

Ards Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

and

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is 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. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

. Henderson then spent four years as the goalkeeping coach at

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

. Between 1996 and 1998 Henderson played for Ards including 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 ...

against

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

where he conceded against

Stéphane Guivarc'h Stéphane Pierre Yves Guivarc'h (born 6 September 1970) is a French former professional footballer who played as striker. He featured in the France squad that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. His early career was spent in France with ...

and

FC Lausanne-Sport Football Club Lausanne-Sport is a Swiss Association football, football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport compete in the top-tier Swiss Super League after being promoted in the 2022–23 Swiss Challeng ...

. 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 () is a football stadium in Ballybofey, County Donegal in Ireland. The home ground of League of Ireland team Finn Harps, it has a 'safe capacity' of 4,200 with 351 seats. The first recorded Finn Harps game in Finn Park was in May 1954 ...

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

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, 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 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. Cobh were relegated in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

. Longford finished in eighth place of ten teams at the end of the 2023

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

season. The following season began very poorly with the side bottom of the table and winless after eight games when Henderson departed as manager on 13 April 2024.

Honours

As a manager

;Cobh Ramblers *

(1):

*Munster Senior Cup 2016

References

Irish Football Handbook 1994-95 ISBN 0951798731

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Stephen 1966 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers League of Ireland players Men's 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 association football managers Step 20th-century Irish sportsmen