Joseph "Jody" Byrne (born 30 April 1963) is an Irish retired footballer who played in the League of Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s. After playing for Cambridge Boys he moved to

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

where he was an understudy to Richie Blackmore. He did make his debut, keeping a clean sheet, at Finn Harps on 13 February 1983. He made a total of 2 appearances for Dundalk keeping 2 clean sheets in his 2 years there. In April 1983 he played for the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

U21s against their Italian League counterparts who included Roberto Mancini and

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currently ...

in their team. In May 1983, Jim McLaughlin brought Byrne to Shamrock Rovers and at Milltown he went to win four League medals and the FAI Cup three times. In his 7 years at Rovers Byrne played 196 league games keeping 76 clean sheets. He played 302 competitive games altogether including 8 games in the

European Champion Clubs' Cup The European Champion Clubs' Cup, also known as Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens, or simply the European Cup, is a trophy awarded annually by UEFA to the football club that wins the UEFA Champions League. The competition in its older format ...

keeping 2 clean sheets. He was Player of the Year on two occasions in 1986/87 and 1988/89 Shamrock Rovers#Player of the Year Award recipients. He was everpresent for two consecutive seasons: 1987/88 and 1988/89. In 1990, he moved to Shelbourne where he helped the Reds to their first league title in 30 years in 1992 and their first FAI Cup success in thirty years in 1993. He got sent off after only 27 seconds on St Patrick's Day 1992!. He then had spells at Cork City and Dundalk again.

Honours

Club

;Shamrock Rovers * League of Ireland /

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

(4): 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87 *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

(3): 1985, 1986, 1987 * LFA President's Cup (2): 1984-85, 1987–88 *

Dublin City Cup The Dublin City Cup is a defunct Irish football tournament which was played for by all League of Ireland sides (and not just those from Dublin city as the name suggests). It ran from 1933 and ran uninterrupted until 1973. In the 1975–76 se ...

(1): 1983-84 ;Shelbourne *

(1): 1991-92 *

(1): 1993 ;Dundalk *

(1): 1994-95

Individual

* Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year (2): 1986-87, 1988–89

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Jody 1963 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers League of Ireland players Dundalk F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Shelbourne F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland XI players Association footballers from Dublin (city)