Former Ireland international Liam Tuohy dies aged 83

Dubliner played for and managed Ireland as well as Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers

Liam Tuohy with the FAI Hall of Fame Award in 2003. Photo: Andrew Paton/Inpho
Liam Tuohy with the FAI Hall of Fame Award in 2003. Photo: Andrew Paton/Inpho

Former Ireland international Liam Tuohy died on Saturday afternoon at the age of 83.

The Dubliner won eight caps for the national team before being appointed manager between 1971 and 1973.

He scored Ireland’s first goal in the history of the European Championships competition in a Dalymount Park encounter with Czechoslovakia in April 1959.

As a player he was a talented winger who emerged with a famous Shamrock Rovers team of the 1950s then had a three year spell at Newcastle United before returning to Shamrock Rovers for the final six years of his playing career. The Hoops side which won the FAI Cup six years running from 1964-69 was honoured in 2007 for their remarkable achievement.

READ SOME MORE

His playing career saw him win numerous honours including four league titles with Rovers and eight FAI Cups in total. In the later part of his football career Tuohy was director of football at Home Farm FC and oversaw the famous schoolboy club’s development of numerous underage internationals.

Touhy initially became player-manager of Rovers then had a year with Dundalk before taking the national team job. He combined this with another stint with Shamrock Rovers then had further spells with Dublin University and Shelbourne before going on to great success with the Republic of Ireland underage sides.

He was the first man to coach an Ireland team at a World Cup having led the Ireland side to the World Youth Cup tournament in the USSR in 1985. He was assisted by Brian Kerr and Noel O’Reilly (RIP).

The FAI acknowledged Tuohy’s contribution to the game in 2010 by dedicating a display cabinet to the Ringsend native at the FAI HQ at the National Sports Campus.