On This Day in the LOI – 14th April 14th April 1920: Paddy Coad was born on this day. Paddy was an Irish former football player and manager who played as a forward for Waterford, Glenavon, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland. Although known, primarily, as a
On This Day in the LOI – 14th April
14th April 1920: Paddy Coad was born on this day. Paddy was an Irish former football player and manager who played as a forward for Waterford, Glenavon, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland. Although known, primarily, as a maker of goals, Coad scored 126 goals in the League of Ireland to be ranked 24th on the all-time list and he scored a record number of 41 FAI Cup goals. In 1946–47 he was top goalscorer in the League of Ireland. As a player-coach, he guided Rovers to three League of Ireland titles and two FAI Cups, and a host of other Cup competitions and the team became known as Coad’s Colts. He had earlier won three FAI Cup medals as a player (1944, 1945 and 1948) bringing to four the number that he won as a player. He missed the 1955 Final due to injury. He returned to Waterford in 1960 and was manager when they won their first league title in 1965/66 season. As an international, Coad was awarded 11 caps between 1946 and 1952, scoring three goals and also earned 26 League of Ireland representative team caps. He was the winner of the PFAI Merit Award in 1983. He died on 8th March 1992 at the age of 71 years.
14th April 1960: Liam Buckley was born on this day in Dublin. A true League of Ireland legend as a player and manager, Buckley has had an incredible career. After starting at Shelbourne, he moved to Shamrock Rovers in 1979 and scored 20 goals for the club in two seasons. Buckley impressed and signed for Vancouver Whitecaps in 1981 for a short period. He moved back to Rovers later in the year before he moved to Europe with K.S.V. Waregem in Belgium in 1984 playing for them in a UEFA Cup semi-final against FC Cologne. Buckley also played with Racing de Santander in Spain and FC Montreux-Sports in Switzerland before he moved back to Ireland in 1989. He went on to play for a further nine years with Shamrock Rovers, St. Patrick's Athletic, Sligo Rovers and Athlone Town. Buckley moved into management in his final playing spell at Athlone Town and has had a hugely successful management career with St. Patrick's Athletic, Shamrock Rovers, Sporting Fingal and Sligo Rovers. As a player and manager, he has won four Premier Division titles, two FAI Cups and two League Cups. He won two caps for the Republic of Ireland in 1984 against Poland and Mexico and played four times for a League of Ireland XI.
14th April 1977: Stephen Grant was born on this day in Birr, Co. Offaly. Grant started his career at Athlone Town as a youth player before moving to Sunderland and then and went on to play for Shamrock Rovers, Stockport County, Burnley, Finn Harps, Waterford United, Boston Bulldogs, Galway United and Shelbourne. He retired in 2004 at the age of 27 to concentrate on his career as a professional golfer. He also made four appearances for the Republic of Ireland U-21 side. He is currently ranked 2089th in the Official World Golf Ranking list.
14th April 1977: Trevor Molloy was born on this day in Dublin. Molloy had a fantastic League of Ireland career after he started out at Shamrock Rovers in 1996. He moved onto Athlone Town but his career really took off at St. Patrick's Athletic during a three-year spell after he signed in 1997. Molloy finished top scorer in the league in the 1998/99 title-winning season and went on to sign for Bohemians in 2000. His form attracted the attention of Carlisle United in 2002 but he moved back to Ireland shortly after. A huge Shamrock Rovers fan, he moved to Rovers in 2003 and made over 110 appearances for the club, scoring over 25 goals. He also played for Motherwell, St. Patrick's Athletic and Glenavon. He won three Under 21 caps and won a bronze medal with the Republic of Ireland at the 1997 World Youth Championships played in Malaysia.
