Liam Buckley
Personal information
Full name	Liam Buckley
Date of birth	14 April 1960 (1960-04-14) (age 49)
Place of birth	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Playing position	Striker
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1978-1979 1979-1981 1981 1981-1984 1984-1986 1986-1987 1987-1989 1989-1992 1992-1997 1997 1997-1998	Shelbourne Shamrock Rovers Vancouver Whitecaps Shamrock Rovers K.S.V. Waregem Racing de Santander FC Montreux-Sports Shamrock Rovers St Patrick's Athletic Sligo Rovers Athlone Town	? (8) ? (20) 8 (2) ? (46) 25 (5) 29 (4) ? (?) 13 (1) 55 (11) 5 (0) ? (?)
National team
1979-1984 1981 1984	League of Ireland Republic of Ireland U21 Republic of Ireland	4 (0) 1 (0) 2 (0)
Teams managed
1997-1998 1998-1999 2000-2002 2002-2004 2008-	Athlone Town F.C. St Patrick's Athletic FC Athlone Town F.C. Shamrock Rovers Sporting Fingal
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

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

[edit] Career

[edit] Player

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 had a trial in Hanover. While the following season was a disappointment he still ended up as top goalscorer at Milltown and guested for St Patrick's Athletic in a friendly with Manchester United [1]. 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.

[edit] Manager

Liam was to guide Athlone to the FAI Cup semi final in 1998 in his first season as player-manager.

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.^[1]

He then had another spell as Athlone's manager before being appointed Shamrock Rovers manager in April 2002.^[2]

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 [2].

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.^[3]

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. They finished a creditable 3rd in their first season in senior football. In their second season in 2009, Buckley guided Fingal to promotion through the play offs,^[4] and capped off a superb campaign by also winning the FAI Cup.^[5]

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a player

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

• Leinster Senior Cup
  • Shamrock Rovers - 1982

• Player of the Year: 2
  • Shamrock Rovers - 1981/82, 1982/83

[edit] As a manager

• League of Ireland
  • St. Patrick's Athletic 1998/99

• FAI Cup
  • Sporting Fingal 2009

[edit] References

1. Shamrock Rovers programme 08/09/89.