Tony Cousins (born 25 August 1969) is an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. He is head coach of Shamrock Rovers U17s. Cousins was involved in full-time football from the age of sixteen when he joined English club Chelsea, where he spent two years. Throughout his career he played 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 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

and

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

. He is the first cousin of Tommy Dunne.

Playing career

He made his League of Ireland debut for Dundalk at

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

on 25 September 1988. After two years at

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey ...

, during which he shared the PFAI Young Player of the Year Award in 1989/90, he signed for Liverpool. Due to injury he failed to make a single first team appearance before getting a free transfer to Middlesbrough at the end of the 1992/93 season. After 3 appearances for Hereford he came home to sign for Bohemians where he scored 22 goals in 83 league games over three seasons. He signed for

in the summer of 1996, making his debut in a preseason friendly against Heart of Midlothian. His first of many goals for the Hoops came in a friendly win against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

. Three weeks later, he scored his first competitive goal in a 2–2 draw against Shelbourne in the

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

. His first league goal came against

on 13 September 1996. In his first season with Shamrock Rovers he was the joint top goalscorer in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

, winning Player of the Month in February 1997. The following season, he was the team's top goalscorer with 15 league goals. During the six years he played with Rovers he scored 46 goals in 145 league appearances and a total of 65 goals in 190 appearances, including one goal in two appearances in European competition. Having completed his time with Shamrock Rovers, he spent one season with Bray Wanderers before retiring. Cousins was capped six times by the Irish Under 21 team at the start of his career, scoring four goals.

Coaching career

Tony Cousins was appointed U-21 coach at Shamrock Rovers before becoming assistant to

Liam Buckley Liam Buckley (born 14 April 1960), is an Irish former professional footballer and manager. During his playing career he made two appearances for the Republic of Ireland national team. Playing career Buckley began his League of Ireland career wi ...

in 2003. In February 2005, he was appointed assistant coach at

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

. He became coach of Galway United in 2006, where he stayed for two seasons. He was removed from his position in March 2008, following a home defeat to Shamrock Rovers. He replaced John Ryan as coach of Kildare County on 24 October 2008 for the remainder of the 2008 season. Tony Cousins was appointed

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

manager in December 2009. He resigned as manager in August 2016 after 209 league games in charge. In his time at the club, Cousins improved the side's fortunes each season as the Town finished 9th, 6th, 3rd and 2nd in his first four seasons in the First Division. This period included promotion play-off defeats to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

and

in successive seasons. In his 5th season in charge, Cousins eventually led the Town to their first ever league title in senior football as they were crowned 2014 First Division champions. A memorable 5–0 home victory against Shamrock Rovers B, before over 2000 spectators, secured the title. The 2015 season saw the Town back in the top flight of Irish football for the first time since 2007. Cousins led the side to a highly commendable 6th-place finish and an

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

semi-final appearance. The following season proved more difficult however as Longford sat rooted to the bottom of the division before Cousins' decision to step down on 13 August 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Tony Chelsea F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players English Football League players Bohemian F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Shamrock Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Dundalk F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Longford Town F.C. managers 1969 births Living people League of Ireland XI players Galway United F.C. managers Belvedere F.C. players Kildare County F.C. managers Men's association football forwards Republic of Ireland association football managers Association footballers from Dublin (city) Shamrock Rovers F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century Irish sportsmen