Felix Healy

Patrick Joseph ("Felix") Healy (born 27 September 1955) is a former Northern Irish footballer.

Healy, an accomplished midfielder or striker, possessed an impressive passing ability. After emerging in the Sligo Rovers first-team as a teenager, displaying a coolness on the ball which belied his young age, he transferred to homeless Distillery, a club suffering the most turbulent period in their history, in 1976. Healy did not even spend a full season with the club as results continually went against them, and in March 1977 he was back in the League of Ireland with Finn Harps.

Some impressive form with Harps brought runners-up medals in the League of Ireland and Tyler All-Ireland Cup, and in October 1978 an £8,000 move to Port Vale. After two seasons of Division Four football, Healy returned across the Irish Sea, signing with Coleraine in July 1980. His form with the Bannsiders during the 1981-82 campaign brought the club to the verge of an Irish League and Cup double, before they lost out to Linfield on both fronts. The disappointment was no doubt eased by an 'Ulster Player of the Year' award, and a call-up to the Northern Ireland squad. [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2006/11/northern-irelands-award-winners.html]

Healy made his international debut in an experimental line-up which drew with Scotland in the British Home Championship, and won his second cap the following month as Northern Ireland finished their World Cup preparations in the worst of fashions, with a 3-0 defeat by Wales. Healy did enough to impress Billy Bingham, who included him in the 1982 World Cup squad for Spain. He played once at the finals, coming on as substitute for Martin O'Neill in a 1-1 draw with Honduras. He won his fourth and final cap in the first post-World Cup game, Northern Ireland losing 2-0 in Austria.

His continued good form with Coleraine over the following seasons brought Healy two Ulster Cup winner’s medals and another Irish Cup final appearance, although his penalty strike not enough to prevent Glentoran winning the 1986 final by a 2-1 scoreline. Healy was also a regular choice for the Irish League, and he won three caps – in a 3-3 draw with OFK Belgrade (representing the Yugoslav League) in 1982, and twice against the League of Ireland, a 4-0 win (in which he scored) in 1984 and a 2-1 defeat in 1986.

In 1987, and despite being past his thirtieth birthday, Healy moved to his hometown club, Derry City. He was to become a Derry legend, helping them to a clean-sweep of League Championship, FAI Cup and FAI League Cup, (a domestic treble) in 1988-89; the club’s first major honours since their days in the Irish League, over 20 years earlier. In October 1993 Healy returned to Coleraine as player-manager, taking over from Iam McFaul, and back to Derry as manager in December 1994 [http://www.derrycityfc.net/club/managers/] . In a little under four seasons in charge at the Brandywell, Healy led Derry to League and FAI Cup successes, before resigning in 1998. Healy remained outside football until becoming a surprise appointment as Finn Harps boss. Lifting the club out of the doldrums, his first season at Finn Park brought long-awaited promotion, as champions of the First Division, but as the club struggled to make an impact in the Premier League he was sacked in July 2005 and replaced by Anthony Gorman.

Healy, as well as having appeared as a football pundit on RTÉ television and acting as a sports reporter for local network, Channel 9, was also renowned for having a considerable and impressive vocal range. He once starred in a local production of "Grease" and sang numerous club-songs for Derry during his time there.

Felix has 3 children named Alan, Georgina and Patrick who later went on to mascot Derry in the 1989 FAI Cup final when Felix scored the winning goal.

References

External links

* [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/search/label/WC1982 Healy on Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats]
* [http://derrycityfc.net/history/legends/fhealy.php Felix Healy - Derry City Legends]