Liam Donoghue (born September 1974) is an Irish sportsman who plays

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

with his local club

Clarinbridge Clarinbridge or Clarenbridge () is a village in south County Galway, Ireland. It is on the mouth of the Clarin River at the end of Dunbulcaun Bay, which is the easternmost part of Galway Bay. The village is 13 km south-east of Galway cit ...

. He played at senior level for the Galway county team from 2003 until 2006.

Early life

Liam Donoghue was born in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

in 1974. Educated at Killeeneen National School and Athenry Vocational School.

Playing career

Club

Donoghue plays his club

with

. He won numerous underage titles at club level, an All Ireland Minor medal in 1992 and was sub goalkeeper on the U-21 All Ireland winning team of 1993. Captained Clarinbridge in their inaugural Senior County Final appearance in 1997, and was man of the match when they won their first ever

Galway Senior Hurling Championship The Galway Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Brooks Galway Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Galway County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the ...

title against Athenry in 2001. Later that year Donoghue won a

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

club hurling title, however, his side were defeated by Birr in the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

club final. All-Ireland glory finally arrived in 2011 when Clarinbridge won county and club All-Ireland honours, defeating Oloughlin Gaels on St. Patricks in Croke Park.

Inter-county

After his involvement in the successful minor and U-21 teams of the early 1990s, it was expected that he would be an automatic choice to join the Galway senior team. However, the goalkeeping position went to Morgan Darcy. Donoghue turned to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

after this. He played with Kiltulla F.C. and helped the team reach the quarter-finals of the

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvie ...

. Over the course of the whole season Donoghue scored a remarkable forty goals. He later joined

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 ...

and, although he never played in the

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 ...

, he regularly lined out in the Connacht Senior League. In 2001, Donoghue joined the Galway senior hurling panel, and was sub goalkeeper when Tipperary defeated Galway in the All-Ireland SHC final of that year. In 2003, Donoghue returned to the

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

senior team as the first-choice goalkeeper. He Won a National League Title in 2004, and was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 2005, steering his native-county to an All-Ireland SHC final showdown with

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

; however, Galway lost the game by four points. He was named team captain again for the 2006 team. New manager

Ger Loughnane Gerard "Ger" Loughnane (born 27 January 1953) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a right wing-back for the Clare senior team. Born in Feakle, County Clare, Loughnane first played competitive hurling whilst at school in St. Flannan's ...

dropped Donoghue from the Galway panel in 2007. He was joint manager with Liam Coleman of the county's camogie team for the

2008 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final The 2008 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final was the 77th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 2008 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship, an inter-county camogie tournament for the top teams in Ireland. Cork won their th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donoghue, Liam 1974 births Living people Camogie managers Clarinbridge hurlers Galway inter-county hurlers Connacht inter-provincial hurlers Hurling goalkeepers Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players Association footballers from County Galway Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football players not categorized by position