Liam Coyle

Liam Coyle (born 21 May 1968 in Derry) was a Northern Irish footballer who plied his trade with Derry City of the League of Ireland from 1988 until 2003. He is remembered for scoring a hat-trick on his Derry debut against Cobh Ramblers on 6 November, 1988.

Club career

After playing for Finn Harps F.C. Coyle became a firm fan-favourite at the Brandywell among the Derry City faithful. One of the club's most gifted players ever, he was a target of Manchester United and Sven-Göran Eriksson at Benfica during his early years until a serious knee injury hampered any potential move and almost brought his career to an end at the age of 21. After the injury, Coyle temporarily retired from the game, but kick-started his career again at Omagh Town and Coleraine before returning to his home city's club. In 1995 he left Derry for Glentoran during an unsettled spell, but returned once again the following season after winning an Irish Cup winning medal.

Since the entry of the club into League of Ireland football, Coyle is Derry's top scorer with 112 goals to his name after 390 competitive appearances, including one in his final ever game for the club, a relegation play-off against arch rivals Finn Harps.He was truly gifted.

International career

Like his father, Fay, who also played with Derry, Coyle played internationally for Northern Ireland. He appeared in the green jersey on one occasion against Chile in 1989.

Bibliography

*

cite paper |author=Liam Coyle|title=Born to Play|publisher=Four Courts Press Ltd|date=10/03/2002

He also played with the rep Ireland when he was 17.

External links

* [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html Coyle on Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats]