Seamus Heath (born 6 December 1961) is a Northern Irish former association football

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and coach who was most recently manager of

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

club Aberystwyth Town. Heath was an archetypal

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

appearing for several clubs during the course of his career. He subsequently carved out a successful career in coaching.

Playing career

Heath began his career at amateur club Cromac Albion where for a time he roomed with future Northern Ireland international

Mal Donaghy Malachy Martin Donaghy (born 13 September 1957 in Belfast) is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Luton Town and Manchester United. Career Club career Originally from West Belfast, began his football career as a g ...

.Old pals link up to Rec United dream
/ref> In April 1979 he joined

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

although Heath did not make any league appearances for the club and in April 1982 joined Lincoln City on loan. He spent the 1983–84 season at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

and then played for

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

before returning to Northern Ireland with

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

in October 1986.Marshall Gillespie, ''The Northern Ireland Football Yearbook 1996/97'', UTV Books, 1996, p. 190 Soon afterwards Heath moved to Finland to play for

Bollklubben-46 Bollklubben-46 (abbreviated BK-46) is a sports club from Karis, Raseborg in Finland. The club was formed in 1946 and the main activities covered are football and handball with large junior sections in both disciplines. BK-46 men's first team ...

and subsequently played for a number of other clubs in the country. In October 1989 he joined

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

although the following summer Heath returned to Bollklubben-46. He rejoined Glentoran in October 1990. Heath signed for

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in July 1992. He moved to

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 ...

side Derry City in August 1994. He returned to the

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

in August 1995.

Coaching

Heath served as youth development officer at Glenavon and until 2005 combined this with a wider role as one of 23

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...

(IFA) youth development officers. In this capacity he also served as assistant manager of the Northern Ireland under-19 team.Doing the Busy-Ness; Heath is best man to fix up old Rec.
/ref> In January 2006 Heath was appointed manager of Kilmore Recreation. Heath would return to the IFA around 2007 as a "Grassroots Development Officer" for the Down district. As of 2011 Heath remains in position with the IFA. He has also turned out for the Northern Ireland over 45s in veterans matches. On 28 March 2018, Heath was announced as manager of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

club Aberystwyth Town due to former manager Neville Powell's pro licence expiring.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Seamus 1961 births Living people English Football League players Luton Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Portadown F.C. players Veikkausliiga players Glentoran F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players League of Ireland players Derry City F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Association football managers from Northern Ireland Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Aberystwyth Town F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers Men's association football midfielders Bollklubben-46 players