Maurice Michael George Swan (born 27 September 1938) is an Irish former professional footballer. He was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Swan was a goalkeeper who first played with Drumcondra in his native city before moving to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in 1960. Maurice was the youngest player to ever play in the League of Ireland for many years, and at the time of writing, is still the youngest goalkeeper to debut in the League of Ireland, at the age of 15, saving a penalty on his debut. After Cardiff City, where he played in the old Division 1, he moved to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in 1963 for a fee of £5,000 and had a successful spell there with the highlight being the 1965–66 season as City won the Third Division championship and reached the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

quarter-final. Hull City were defeated by Chelsea after a second-round replay. After leaving Hull after playing 103 games for them, Swan went back to Ireland to play for

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

in 1968. He won his only international cap for 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 ...

on 18 May 1960 when he replaced Noel Dwyer at half time in a 4–1 defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. Swan also went on to play for Finn Harps before retiring in the early 1970s. His well-known football-playing nephews are

Tony McDonnell Anthony "Tony" McDonnell (born 10 February 1976, in Dublin) is a retired football player for Irish side, UCD. McDonnell would spend the entirety of his career with UCD, becoming the club's record longest serving player in history. A former S ...

and

Derek Swan Derek Anthony Swan (born 24 October 1966) is an Irish former footballer who played as a forward. He played for Home Farm, Bohemians, Port Vale, FC Wageningen, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, Glentoran and UCD. Club career Swan began his career wi ...

- and Ryan Swan who played for Bohemians. His brother Tony Swan also played in goal in the League of Ireland for Bohemians, Drogheda and Athlone during the same time as Maurice. After his professional playing career ended, Swan started a career in the Irish film industry as an electrician, eventually becoming one of Ireland's most successful head electricians, or gaffer, on many TV productions, commercials, music videos, films, and documentaries.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1684299/ All three of his children, Jeannette, Sean and Niall, played in Tolka Park, the legendary home of Drumcondra FC, in cup finals for the Drumcondra amateur and junior sides of the 1980s and 1990s. His Son Niall started a football company in the U.S. In 2002. Maurice is an avid golfer and a West Ham United fan.

Honours

Hull City * Third Division: 1965–66

References

External links

Profile from sporthull.co.uk
* * Maurice Swan in goal: see 1m:44 secs, Hull City FC vs Chelsea 1966 FA Cup Replay: * Swan in actio

* Drums warm up for game V Atletico Madrid 1958. Swan is 3rd from right

* Team photo: Swan is goalkeepe

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Maurice Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Hull City A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players 1938 births Living people English Football League players League of Ireland players Men's association football goalkeepers Drumcondra F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Association footballers from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish sportsmen