Patrick Joseph O'Beirne (15 June 1900 – 1980) was an Irish 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 ...

who played as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. During a career spanning more than ten years, he played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Stalybridge Celtic,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, in addition to spells with several non-league clubs. Outside of football, O'Beirne served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and worked in the printing industry.

Biography

Joseph Patrick O'Beirne was born on 15 June 1900 in the town of

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in south-east Ireland. He moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England with his family when he was young and grew up in the city, continuing to live there for the rest of his life, where he married Edith, his wife. They had a daughter called Patricia Ann. In his late teens, O'Beirne served in the

Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

of the

. After retiring from professional football, he was employed as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random ...

for the Daily Mail and was also an Air Raid Precautions warden during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He died in Manchester in the summer of 1980, at the age of 80.

Football career

O'Beirne played football for the Welch Regiment while in the Army, before joining local club Norman Athletic in 1920. A year later, he joined

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

side Stalybridge Celtic on amateur terms, making one first-team appearance in the 1921–22 season. He was awarded a professional contract in March 1922 and played a further nine league matches in the following campaign. In August 1923, O'Beirne was signed on a free transfer by Football League First Division outfit

. He made his debut for the club on 15 September 1923, replacing Albert Freeman, who had played in the previous two matches, in the goalless draw away at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He appeared in the next three league games, and scored his first competitive goal in the

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is a football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Football Associatio ...

tie against Manchester City on 15 October 1922. He then spent over four months out of the team, unable to oust regular inside-left Benny Cross. O'Beirne was reinstated to the starting line-up for the 2–2 draw with Manchester City on 16 February 1923, but subsequently returned to the reserves for the remainder of the season.Simpson, p. 165 In the close season of 1924, O'Beirne moved to Third Division North club

for a fee of £150. He played his first league game for the club on 30 August 1924, in the 0–1 loss to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. He was a regular in the starting line-up throughout the opening weeks of the campaign, and was one of five goalscorers in the 7–1 win against Durham City at Seedhill on 16 September 1924.Dykes, p. 78 O'Beirne netted the only goal of the game as Nelson defeated Lincoln City two weeks later. He scored the final goal in the 4–1 defeat of Winsford United in the Fifth Qualifying Round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 29 November 1924. Towards the middle of the season, he played several matches in an unfamiliar

outside-left Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

position before being dropped from the side following the 1–1 draw with

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

on 3 January 1925. O'Beirne was selected for the 0–2 loss away at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

on 14 March 1925, which proved to be his final league appearance for Nelson. In December 1925, he was sent on loan to

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

side

Middlewich Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595 ...

until the end of the 1925–26 season. O'Beirne then spent two years out of football before joining Cheshire outfit Congleton Town in the summer of 1928. He signed for Manchester Central two seasons later, before re-joining Stalybridge Celtic in 1931. He retired from playing football in 1932 to work in the printing industry. He also worked as a scout for Manchester City, until the 1970’s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obeirne, Joseph 1900 births Association football forwards Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Nelson F.C. players Congleton Town F.C. players English Football League players 1980 deaths Republic of Ireland association footballers Irish association footballers (before 1923) Association footballers from County Waterford Manchester Central F.C. players 20th-century British Army personnel Welch Regiment soldiers Civil Defence Service personnel