Gary Rogers (born 25 September 1981) is an Irish 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, making 735 appearances in all competitions during his career. Rogers was also called up to the

Republic of Ireland national football team The Republic of Ireland Men's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The team made their debut at the Ir ...

. He also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

for and coached the Meath county team, and has also coached the

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

and

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

county teams.

Playing career

Shelbourne

Rogers played with St Francis when he was younger and was spotted by

Dermot Keely Dermot Keely (born 8 March 1954) is an Irish former manager and player. He was a schoolteacher by profession. Family Keely's family have played League of Ireland football at various levels. His late father Peter Keely played for Shelbourne., h ...

and was brought to the Shelbourne youth team. While with the youth team, he had a trial at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

. He did not get a contract and upon his return he never made a first-team appearance for Shelbourne. He played for St Francis in the First Division for one season in 2000–01.

Drogheda United

At the age of 19 he moved to

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 ...

. He was a regular in the first team helping the club to promotion to the top flight in his first season and was the main factor in the Drogheda brilliant defensive record. He picked up his first FAI medal when he was part of the Drogheda FAI Cup winning squad in 2005.

Dublin City & Bray Wanderers

Disappointed with a lack of first-team appearances, he joined Dermot Keely's Dublin City in December 2005. However six months into his contract Dublin City pulled out of the League of Ireland and Rogers was without a club. He subsequently signed for

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

. He stayed at Bray until the start of the 2007 season.

Galway United

Rogers signed for

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

in February 2007, who were newly promoted to the Premier Division. Upon his signing, manager Tony Cousins said of Rogers: "Gary is a top class goalkeeper, has a lot of experience in the League of Ireland and I'm delighted to add a player of his ability to the team." Rogers became the first-choice goalkeeper and helped the Tribesmen stay up in his first season with the club. However, Cousins was sacked at the start of the 2008 season. New manager

Jeff Kenna Jeffrey Jude Kenna (born 27 August 1970) is an Irish football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1989 until 2009, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City. He was ...

came in April and Galway's form improved in the latter part of the season, and clean sheets against

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

and UCD, who were both subsequently relegated, helped the Tribesmen stay up.

St Patrick's Athletic

Rogers followed Jeff Kenna to Dublin 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 ...

at the beginning of the 2009 season. Saints goalkeeper Barry Ryan moved in the opposite direction vacating the goalkeepers' jersey. Kenna was sacked after a poor start with the club. Rogers remained at the club for the following season under Pete Mahon and was voted Player of the Month for March 2010 having kept clean sheets in the opening five games if the season. Rogers was part of the League of Ireland XI side that played Manchester United in the opening game at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

. Rogers was voted by the

Ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

group the 'Shed End Invincibles' as their Player of the Year. He re-signed for the Saints on 30 November 2010. Rogers was part of St. Patrick's European run in 2009, which saw the club reach the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

play-off round keeping clean sheets against Valletta F.C. and

FC Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara () is a Russian professional football club based in Samara that plays in the Russian Premier League. In 2004, they finished third in the Russian Premier League. History Krylia Sovetov was founded in Kuybyshev (now Sama ...

. Two years later Pats again played 3 rounds in the

2011–12 UEFA Europa League The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with ...

where he kept clean sheets against

Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja (, ), commonly known as ÍBV, is an Icelandic multi-sports district association from Vestmannaeyjar off the south coast of Iceland. It was founded in 1903 as Knattspyrnufélag Vestmannaeyja by Björgúlfur Ólafss ...

and

FC Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter (), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( ), is a professional football club based in Karagandy, Kazakhstan. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992, but fell of to t ...

. Gary made his 100th appearance for the Saints against Dundalk on 13 June 2011.

Sligo Rovers

In December 2011 Rogers signed for Sligo Rovers and has established himself as the club's number 1. He helped the club to a first league title in 35 years in 2012 playing every league game until after the title was secured. 2013 saw him play Champions League football for the first time as Rovers were beaten by Molde of Norway. He kept a career best 26 clean sheets during the season.

Dundalk

Rogers signed for Dundalk in November 2014. In his first season, he won both the Premier Division and the FAI Cup. He also appeared in the qualifying rounds of the

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were th ...

as Dundalk went out to

BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; , ''BATE Barysaw,'' ), commonly referred to as BATE or BATE Borisov, is a Belarusian professional football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusian Premier League, of which the ...

. He was part of the Dundalk side that made Irish footballing history by reaching the play-off round of the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

side

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, dropping into the group stages of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

as a result. He went on to become a big part of following league campaigns, picking up league medals in 2018 and 2019.

Retirement

In December 2020, after the 2020 League of Ireland season, Rogers announced his retirement from football after a 21-year career. His last game was against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

of the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. Rogers holds the record for most appearances in European competition for an Irish domestic player (54).

International career

In May 2016, Rogers was added to 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. ...

squad for their friendly against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

as back-up due to the unavailability of

Keiren Westwood Keiren Westwood (born 23 October 1984) is a former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Crewe Alexandra. He is now goalkeeping coach for The New Saints and runs the Keiren Westwood Goalkeeper Academy. Born in England, he ...

and David Forde. He was again called up by

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

for a friendly with

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifier against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Coaching career

Rogers was ratified as

goalkeeping coach of the Meath county team in 2018. He has also served in similar roles with the

and

county teams. In January 2021, he was confirmed as goalkeeping coach of the Monaghan county team. In June 2021, following his retirement from football, Rogers returned to his former club

as a goalkeeping coach In August 2023, he returned to the Cavan goalkeeping coach role.

Personal life

Rogers is a native of

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. He grew up playing Gaelic football for his local club, St Ultan's. A three-month ban following an altercation with a referee playing for St Ultan's resulted in him deciding to concentrate on a football career at the age of 17. When his then League of Ireland club, Dublin City, went out of existence in 2006, Rogers returned to playing Gaelic football and appeared in two

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

games for

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, before being offered a contract at

and deciding to resume his professional football career. Gary's uncle Liam Devine scored for Dundalk against Linfield and Hibs of Malta in the

1979–80 European Cup The 1979–80 European Cup was the 25th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won by holders Nottingham Forest in the final against Hamburg. The winning goal was scored by John Robertson, who d ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Drogheda United *

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

(1): 2001–02 *

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

(1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

;St Patrick's Athletic * Leinster Senior Cup (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

;Sligo Rovers *

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

(1):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football (soccer), football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from ...

(1):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;Dundalk *

(4):

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

(3):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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 ...

(2):

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

(2):

* Leinster Senior Cup (1):

* Champions Cup (1):

Sources

* ''DUFC A Claret and Blue History'' by Brian Whelan (2010)

References

External links

FAI Stats Portal Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Gary 1981 births Living people Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football goalkeeping coaches Meath inter-county Gaelic footballers People from Navan Cavan county football team non-playing personnel Meath county football team non-playing personnel Monaghan county football team non-playing personnel Westmeath county football team non-playing personnel Association footballers from County Meath Shelbourne F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players Men's association football goalkeepers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers St Francis F.C. players 21st-century Irish sportsmen