Liam Buckley

Football player infobox
playername = Liam Buckley
fullname = Liam Buckley


height =
weight =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|04|14
cityofbirth = Dublin
countryofbirth = Republic of Ireland
position = Striker
years = 1978-1979
1979-1981
1981-1982
1982-1984
1984-1986
1986-1987
1987-1989
1989-1992
1992-1997
1997
1997-1998
clubs = Shelbourne F.C.
Shamrock Rovers F.C.
Vancouver Whitecaps
Shamrock Rovers
K.S.V. Waregem
Racing de Santander
FC Montreux-Sports
Shamrock Rovers
St Patrick's Athletic FC
Sligo Rovers
Athlone Town F.C.
caps(goals) = ? (?)
? (66)
8 (2)
? (?)
25 (5)
29 (4)
? (?)
13 (1)
? (?)
? (?)
? (?)
nationalyears = 1979-1980
1981
1984
nationalteam = League of Ireland
Republic of Ireland U21
Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) =2 (0)
1 (0)
2 (0)
manageryears = 1997-1998
1998-1999
2000-2002
2002-2004
2008-
managerclubs = Athlone Town F.C.
St Patrick's Athletic FC
Athlone Town F.C.
Shamrock Rovers
Sporting Fingal
ntupdate =
pcupdate =

Liam Buckley (born April 14 1960 in Dublin), is an Irish former professional football player and manager, and current manager of Sporting Fingal, a new club playing in the FAI First Division of the FAI League of Ireland.

Liam began his League of Ireland career with Shelbourne F.C. and signed for Shamrock Rovers as a full time player in the 1979 close season. He scored his first goal for the Hoops against his former club at Milltown on 21 October 1979 and he went on to score another seven league goals that season.

On 30 April 1980 he represented the League of Ireland against Argentina at the River Plate Stadium where Diego Maradona scored in a 1-0 defeat.

Represented his country at U21 level in 1981.

Following a spell with Vancouver Whitecaps in the 1981/82 season he finished as Rovers' top scorer with 21 goals and while the following season was a disappointment he still ended up as top goalscorer at Milltown. The 1983/84 season ended in triumph as Rovers won their first League title in twenty years. Liam had scored 13 League goals before he broke his collar-bone against Waterford at Milltown on the 26th of February. However he returned to action less than six weeks later to score the winner in the FAI Cup semi final replay against Shelbourne.

He made 5 appearances in European competition for the Hoops.

Liam was capped at full international level against Poland and in July was transferred to Belgian club K.S.V. Waregem (4451). While there he gained his second international cap against Mexico. With Waregem he reached the UEFA Cup semi final in 1986. He made 25 league appearances, scoring 5 goals.

He was transferred to Racing de Santander on loan for the 1986/87 season and made his debut at the Camp Nou on the 30th of August. It's a game he fondly remembers: "Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes were making their debut for FC Barcelona and there I was making my debut for Santander. There was a crowd of around ninety thousand and the atmosphere was tremendous and although they beat us 2-0 I think that occasion is the highlight of my career" [1] . He later moved to FC Montreux-Sports (November 1987/89) where he spent two seasons.

He came home and signed for Rovers again in 1989 but injuries prevented him from establishing a regular first team place. In his final season in the Hoops in 1991/92 he scored once in eleven appearances.

He then transferred to St. Patrick's Athletic where he went on to win the League in 1996 as assistant to Brian Kerr. Kerr left in December 1996 after a decade at Richmond Park to take up the position of technical director at the Football Association of Ireland.

When he wasn't offered the managers job Liam left Pats in February 1997 to move to Sligo for the rest of that season and later went on to become player-manager at Athlone Town F.C. whom he guided to the FAI Cup semi final in 1998 in his first season in charge.

After guiding Pats to the League in 1998 Pat Dolan stepped down after one game of the 1998/99 season and appointed Buckley as manager. Pats walked away with the league but 2 humiliating defeats in Europe followed by indifferent domestic form saw Buckley sacked in December 1999 [http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/1231/sport.html] .

He then had another spell as Athlone's manager before being appointed Shamrock Rovers manager in April 2002 [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2002/0425/breaking51.htm] .

In his first season he guided Rovers to the FAI Cup Final and 3rd spot thus ensuring European football again after the UEFA Cup losses to Djurgårdens IF.

Famous wins over Odra Wodzisław saw Rovers become the first Irish side to win home and away since he himself had played and scored against Fram Reykjavik in 1982 [http://www.shamrockrovers.ie/europeanresults.php] .

However Rovers form dropped alarmingly after the UEFA Intertoto Cup games and a seventh place finish had the fans worried. In the 2004 season with practically a new team Rovers again struggled and Liam was sacked in September 2004 [http://www.rte.ie/sport/2004/0907/shamrockrovers.html] .

In 2008 Liam took on the role of manager of Sporting Fingal a brand new team that were awarded a licence to play in the league of Ireland first Division.

Honours

As a player

* League of Ireland Championship: 2
** Shamrock Rovers 1983/84
** St. Patrick's Athletic 1995/96

* Leinster Senior Cup (football): 1
** Shamrock Rovers 1982

As a manager

*League of Ireland Championship: 1
** St. Patrick's Athletic 1998/99

References

1. Shamrock Rovers programme 08/09/89.