Tony Byrne (footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Tony Byrne


fullname = Anthony Brendan Byrne
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1946|2|2|df=y
cityofbirth = Rathdowney
countryofbirth = Ireland
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height = height|ft=5|in=7
nickname =
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Left-back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1963–1964
1966–1974
1974–1977
1977–1979
clubs = Millwall
Southampton
Hereford United
Newport County
Trowbridge Town
caps(goals) = 01 0(0)
93 0(3)
55 0(0)
80 0(1)
manageryears =
managerclubs =
nationalyears = 1969–1973
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 014 0(0)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Anthony Brendan Byrne is an Irish former professional football player. He was born in Rathdowney, County Laois in the Republic of Ireland on 2 February 1946. He won a total of 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland and during his career from 1963 to 1978 played for Millwall, Southampton, Hereford United and Newport County. He was originally a midfield player who switched to left-back and he had a career total of 229 league games scoring 4 goals.

Playing career

After only one appearance for Millwall he was signed by Ted Bates for Southampton for a fee of £8,000 in August 1964. Although he made his Saints debut in an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace in January 1965, Byrne took a long time to break into the Southampton first team, mainly because of a broken leg sustained in a reserve team match in April 1966. He eventually overcame this setback to make his league debut on 18 April 1967 in front of a 54,921 crowd at Old Trafford as relegation-threatened Saints went down 3–0 to Manchester United. He was slightly built for a defender and "although quick and diligent, he struggled to carve a permanent niche in Southampton's notoriously robust rearguard". [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992|pages=p.58| id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3]

His best season with The Saints was 1969-70, in which he made 35 league appearances, playing in defence alongside Joe Kirkup and John McGrath, as Saints again fought to avoid relegation. He scored his first league goal in the final match of the season in a 1–1 draw against Derby County. Having given away Derby's 88th minute goal after a poor back-pass, Byrne quickly turned from villain to hero as he slotted in a bobbling ball in the 90th minute in a dramatic climax to the season. [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC | publisher=Hagiology | year=2003|pages=p.106 | id=ISBN 0-9534474-3-X]

He stayed at The Dell for ten years during which time he made a total of 114 first team appearances and won 14 Irish caps.

In August 1974 he moved to Hereford United to join former Saints' colleague Terry Paine for three seasons before finishing his career with Newport County.

Amazingly his Irish international debut in October 1969 in Dublin against Denmark was the first time he had kicked a ball in his native land because he had emigrated to London with his parents at the age of 12 and, until then, had played only hurling.

After retiring from football, he worked as a foreman at Hereford golf course before working as a builder.

References

External links

* [http://soccerscene.ie/sssenior/player.php?id=162 Republic of Ireland profile]