Paddy Coad (14 April 1920 – 8 March 1992) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a forward for

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 ...

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

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 ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Although known, primarily, as a maker of goals, Coad scored 126 goals in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

and a further 41 in 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 ...

. In 1946–47, he was top goalscorer in the League of Ireland. As a player manager, he also guided Shamrock Rovers to three League of Ireland titles and two FAI Cups, before he returned to Waterford and guided them to their first league title in 1966. He was appointed manager of

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

in September 1967.

Early years

Coad was educated at De La Salle school in Stephen Street in

and first distinguished himself as a sportsman playing

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

and table tennis. He was even

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

champion at the latter sport. He also began to play football with Corinthians, a local junior club based in Lower Yellow Road area of

. He was soon spotted by

, making his

debut in 1937 while still only 17. He then moved to Irish Football League club

but returned to Waterford after the start of 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was a member of the

team that finished as a runners up to Cork United in both the League of Ireland and the

. Waterford could have won the league title, but their players refused to turn up for a play-off game against Cork after a dispute over bonus payments.

Shamrock Rovers

Coad signed for

in 1942 and made his debut against Brideville in the FAI Cup on 8 February. During his early seasons with the club played alongside Peter Farrell, Tommy Eglington, Jimmy McAlinden and

Tommy Breen Tommy Breen (27 April 1912 – 1 March 1988) was an Irish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for, among others, Belfast Celtic, Manchester United, Linfield and Shamrock Rovers. Breen was a dual international and played for both Ireland t ...

. He also helped Rovers win the

three times. In November 1949, after the untimely death of Jimmy Dunne, Coad reluctantly accepted the position of player manager. He brought in many young players, including Liam Tuohy, and the team became known as ''Coad's Colts''. The Colts won 19 trophies between 1954 and 1959. Under the guidance of Coad, Rovers won three

titles and the

twice. In 1957 they also made their debut in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Despite losing 9–2 on aggregate to

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 ...

, Coad at the age of 37, dominated the away game at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

. He made 2 appearances in the

Waterford

Coad returned home to manage the Blues in 1960. In the

1965–66 League of Ireland Statistics of League of Ireland in the 1965/1966 season. Overview It was contested by 12 teams, and Waterford won the championship. Final classification Results Top scorers {{DEFAULTSORT:1965-66 League of Ireland League of Ireland se ...

season Waterford won the Championship for the first time. Coad reflected on his legacy: "To bring the first title to my native Waterford leaves everything else in the shade."

Irish international

Between 1946 and 1952, Coad also made 11 appearances and scored 3 goals for

. He made his debut on 30 September 1946 in a 1–0 defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. On 2 March 1947, he scored his first goal for Ireland in a 3–2 win against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. During this game Coad also set up both of Ireland's other goals for

Davy Walsh David Joseph Walsh (28 April 1923 – 14 March 2016), commonly referred to as Davy Walsh or Dave Walsh, was an Irish footballer who played as a centre forward for, among others, Linfield, West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa. Walsh was a dua ...

. On 22 May 1949, he scored the only goal, a penalty, in a 1–0 win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

. His third goal for Ireland came on 30 May 1951 in 3–2 away win over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Ireland were 2–0 down until Peter Farrell and Alf Ringstead levelled the score. Then in the 82nd minute Coad scored from 20 yards to win the game. Coad played his last game for Ireland in a 6–0 away defeat against

on 1 June 1952. Paddy's brother Seamus was also capped himself for Ireland and both Seamus' sons Gary and Nigel Coad were also capped at under age level thus continuing the family tradition Paddy started all those years previously. He won the Texaco Hall of Fame Award in 1981 and the PFAI Merit Award in 1983.

Other information

The Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year trophy is named after Paddy Coad. Paddy's wife, Kathleen, was the daughter of the then Rovers chairman, Joe Cunningham. His brother, Seamus, played for Waterford in the late 1960s and managed them in the 1990s. Seamus' sons Gary Coad and Nigel Coad continued the family name by lining out for the Blues under their father before both going on to win many trophies locally. Amazingly, both Gary and Nigel became only the third set of second generation brothers to play together for Waterford, following Paddy and Seamus, the Hales and Fitzgeralds. In 2012, Seamus' grandson, Conor, became the latest Coad to play for

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

. As of 2015 Coad is twenty second in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 126 league goals.

Honours

* League of Ireland Top Scorer - 1946–47

International

Sources

* ''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins () * ''Gods Vs Mortals: Irish Clubs in Europe a Front Row Seat at 10 of the Greatest Games'' by Paul Keane ()

References

External links

Ireland (FAI) stats Coad and Shamrock Rovers history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coad, Paddy 1920 births 1992 deaths Association footballers from County Waterford League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers Waterford F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. managers Waterford F.C. managers Limerick F.C. managers Republic of Ireland football managers League of Ireland managers League of Ireland XI players Association football forwards