Rene Patrick Gilmartin (born 31 May 1987) is an Irish professional football coach and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who is the goalkeeping coach at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

. He has previously appeared in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, Yeovil Town,

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

and

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

, and has also played for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

side

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

. Gilmartin has played international football for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

at under-19 and under-21 levels.

Career

Having previous played for Malahide United and St. Kevin's Boys, Gilmartin joined English League One side

in the summer of 2005. He made his Walsall debut on 17 September 2005 in a 3–2 home defeat to Chesterfield, and played two further first-team matches that season. He also made his international debut for Republic of Ireland under-19s in February 2006. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Gilmartin's contract was extended, with Walsall taking up one-year option. After signing, Gilmartin said he expected to fight for the first choice goalkeeper ahead of a new season. Gilmartin did not feature for Walsall over the next two seasons, but played for Republic of Ireland under-21s in 2007, and completed his UEFA B coaching licence in April 2008. During 2007, he joined

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

and

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

, in order to gain first team experience. In May 2008 Gilmartin signed another new 12-month contract. During the 2008–09 season, in which he made 12 appearances, Gilmartin said he would consider leaving the club if first choice goalkeeper

Clayton Ince Clayton Ince CM (born 13 July 1972) is a Trinidadian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and had lengthy spells in the English Football League at Crewe Alexandra and Walsall. He is his country's most capped goalkeeper wit ...

stayed on. Ultimately, he signed another new 12-month contract at the end of the season. In the 2009–10 season, Gilmartin replaced Ince as a first choice goalkeeper. He credited the club's goalkeeping coach, Mick Kearns, for helping him improve as a player. In October 2009, he suffered a hamstring injury that would keep him out for three to four weeks. Despite the injury, Gilmartin played 24 times in 2009–10 season. Gilmartin was offered a new contract by Walsall on 10 May 2010, but joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

on 1 July 2010. He made his debut in a League Cup first round tie away to

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a 3–0 Watford win. Gilmartin struggled to displace

Scott Loach Scott James Loach (born 27 May 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Loach played for Ipswich Town, Watford and Hartlepool United. He had also spent loan spells with non-League Stafford Rangers and Y ...

as Watford's goalkeeper during the 2010–11 season, but did play in all four of the club's cup games. He also won the club's community ambassador prize at the end of season awards. Gilmartin displaced Loach to make his full league debut on 27 September 2011, in a 2–1 home victory over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. He started the following game, a 3–0 defeat at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, before Loach returned to the side. On 23 November 2011, Gilmartin was sent out on loan to League One side Yeovil Town until 3 January 2012. He returned to Watford on 19 January 2012, having made eight appearances for Yeovil. In February 2012 he joined League Two side

on loan as back up to Michael Kuipers, following an injury to Scott Shearer. On 3 May 2012, Gilmartin was one of four players to be released by Watford after their contracts expired.Smith, Frank (3 May 2012)
"Watford confirm release of quintet"
''Watford Observer''. Retrieved 3 May 2012. Gilmartin signed a two-year contract with League Two side

in July 2012, and made 16 appearances in all competitions. He was transfer-listed by manager John Sheridan at the end of the 2012–13 season, and left the club by mutual consent in June 2013. Gilmartin returned to Dublin in July, having signed an 18-month contract with

side

. He made his Pats' debut later that month in a Dublin derby at

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

in the

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

. He made his league debut the following season, on 2 June 2014 against

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

, when he came on as a half-time substitute for the injured Brendan Clarke. He continued Clarke's work and kept a clean sheet as Pats won 6–0. In total, he made 10 appearances for the Saints, with nine coming in cup competitions. Gilmartin returned to English football by re-signing with

on a one-year deal on 25 August 2014 as a back-up to

Heurelho Gomes Heurelho da Silva Gomes (born 15 February 1981) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He played for Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur and Watfor ...

and Jonathan Bond, two years after he first left the club. He signed a new two-year contract in June 2015 as the club approached their first season back in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Alongside his playing career with Watford he commentates on the club's away games for

BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According ...

, is taking further coaching qualifications and has taken training sessions for the club's academy. He left Watford at the end of the 2016–17 season. Following his release from Watford, Gilmartin signed for League Two club

as a player-coach. He made his debut for Colchester in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

against Reading U23 on 29 August. Gilmartin rejected the offer of a new contract in July 2019 and signed for

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

as a player with some Junior Coaching responsibilities.

Coaching career

Gilmartin began his coaching career whilst still a player at Bristol City, coaching the club's under-23 side. On 7 November 2019, it was announced that Gilmartin had taken up a role as goalkeeping coach for the Republic of Ireland under-21s under their new manager Stephen Kenny. On 1 June 2021, Gilmartin was appointed assistant manager of

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. When

John McGreal John Leslie McGreal (born 2 June 1972) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is currently an U21s coach at Ipswich Town. He began his career at Tranmere Rovers, making his debut in the 1991–92 season. He beca ...

was named interim manager of

in December 2021, Gilmartin joined his coaching team as an interim coach, having previously been McGreal's assistant manager at Swindon. Later that month, following the appointment of

Kieran McKenna Kieran McKenna (born 14 May 1986) is a professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of club Ipswich Town F.C., Ipswich Town. Born in England, McKenna was raised in Nor ...

, Gilmartin was named first-team goalkeeping coach at Ipswich.

Career statistics

Personal life

Gilmartin married his wife Emma Nugent in the summer of 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmartin, Rene 1987 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Walsall F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Watford F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players Swindon Town F.C. non-playing staff Ipswich Town F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century Irish sportsmen