Liam Buckley (born 14 April 1960), is an Irish former professional footballer. He made two appearances for the Republic of Ireland national football team. He was most recently the manager of

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 ...

club

Sligo Rovers FC Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

Playing career

Buckley began his League of Ireland career with Shelbourne and signed for

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

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. Buckley played for the Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team 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 at

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

. While the following season was a disappointment he still ended up as top goalscorer at Milltown and guested for

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

in a friendly with

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

. 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 it ...

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. The 1983–84 season ended in triumph as Rovers won their first League title in twenty years. Buckley had scored 13 League goals before he broke his collar-bone against Waterford at Milltown on 26 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 five appearances in European competition for the Hoops. Buckley was capped at full international level against Poland and in July was transferred to Belgian club

K.S.V. Waregem Koninklijke Sportvereniging Waregem was a Belgian football club that existed between 1925 and 2001. It played three spells at the highest level in the Belgian football league system each separated by a single season at the second level: from ...

(4451). While there he gained his second international cap against Mexico. With Waregem he reached the semi finals of the

1985–86 UEFA Cup The 1985–86 UEFA Cup was the 15th season of the UEFA Cup, an annual club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by Real Madrid, who beat 1. FC Köln 5–3 on aggregate in the final. It was the first season in which English clubs were ...

. He made 25 league appearances, scoring five goals. He was transferred to Racing de Santander on loan for the 1986–87 season and made his debut at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

on 30 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". 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 St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

where he went on to win the League in 1996 as an assistant coach. After a decade at Richmond Park, manager Brian Kerr left in December 1996 to take up the position of technical director at the Football Association of Ireland. Buckley wasn't offered the managers job at Pats and he left the club in February 1997 to move to Sligo for the rest of that season and later went on to become player-manager at

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

Management career

Buckley guided Athlone to the

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 ...

semi final in 1998 in his first season as player-manager. After guiding St. Pat's to the League in 1998

Pat Dolan Patrick Dolan (born 20 September 1967 in Galway, Ireland) is a former football player, manager, and executive. He is also a former soccer analyst on RTÉ Sport. He is currently a FIFA-registered players' agenand has represented a number of p ...

stepped down after one game of the 1998/99 season and appointed Buckley as manager. Pats retained their league title but two bad defeats in Europe followed by indifferent domestic form saw Buckley sacked in December 1999. He then had another spell as Athlone's manager before being appointed Shamrock Rovers manager in April 2002. 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

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in 1982. However Rovers form dropped alarmingly after the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

games and a seventh-place finish had the fans worried. In the 2004 season with practically a new team Rovers again struggled and Buckley was sacked in September 2004. In 2008 Buckley 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, and capped off a superb campaign by also winning the

. In January 2010 he was awarded the SWAI Personality of the Year. Buckley was appointed St.Patrick's Athletic manager for the 2012 season on 2 December 2011. In his first season back at the club, with his side playing some of the best football the club had seen since his own playing days at the club, he guided the Saints to 3rd place in the League of Ireland (only six points off 1st place), Runners-Up in the

and through two rounds in the UEFA Europa League to make it to the Third Qualifying Round (knocked out by German giants

). In September 2018 Liam Buckley resigned from St.Patrick's Athletic after a 3-1 loss to

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

. He took over as manager of

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

in October 2018. Buckley left the club by mutual consent on 22 May 2022 after securing qualification to European football in back to back seasons in his final 2 years at the club. In total he took charge of 118 games with the club.

Honours

As a player

* League of Ireland: 2 **

– 1983–84 **

– 1995–96 * Leinster Senior Cup **

– 1982 * Dublin City Cup **

– 1983–84 * Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year: 2 **

– 1981–82, 1982–83

As a manager

: 2 **

– 1998–99 **

–

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

: 2 ** Sporting Fingal –

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

–

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* League of Ireland Cup: 2 **

–

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

–

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

FAI President's Cup The President of Ireland's Cup, also known simply as the President's Cup, is an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland football league system. It is a one-off match between the winners of the previous season' ...

: 1 **

–

* Leinster Senior Cup: 1 **

–

SWAI Personality of the Year The Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Personality of the Year is an annual award for the person considered to have made the most positive impact on the domestic League of Ireland season. Instigated in 1961 - when Drumcondra's Dan McCaffrey w ...

: 2 ** Sporting Fingal –

–

*Phillips Sports Manager of the Month: 1 **

– October 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Liam 1960 births Living people Association football forwards Belgian Pro League players Shelbourne F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. managers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. managers Shamrock Rovers F.C. managers Sporting Fingal F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate soccer players in Canada K.S.V. Waregem players League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Irish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Irish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Irish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Irish expatriate sportspeople in Spain La Liga players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Association footballers from Dublin (city) Racing de Santander players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players League of Ireland XI players Republic of Ireland football managers