Colin Healy

Colin Healy

Healy playing for Cork City in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Colin Healy [1]
Date of birth	(1980-03-14) 14 March 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Cork, Ireland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) [2]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1997	Ballincollig and Wilton United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–2003	Celtic	30	(1)
2002–2003	→ Coventry City (loan)	17	(2)
2003–2006	Sunderland	20	(0)
2006	Livingston	9	(2)
2006–2007	Barnsley	8	(0)
2006	→ Bradford City (loan)	2	(0)
2007–2009	Cork City	62	(2)
2009–2011	Ipswich Town	20	(2)
2010	→ Falkirk (loan)	19	(1)
2012–2017	Cork City	110	(5)
Total		297	(15)
International career
1998–1999	Republic of Ireland U18
2002–2003	Republic of Ireland	13	(1)
Managerial career
2020–2023	Cork City
2023–	Republic of Ireland women (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is an Irish football manager and former player. ^[3] He was appointed manager of Cork City F.C. in late 2020, ^[4] and held the post until May 2023. ^[5]

He started his senior career at Celtic, spending five years with the Scottish club before joining English side Sunderland in 2003, where he spent three years. He returned to Scotland in 2006 to sign for Livingston. After a short spell with Livingston he returned to England to join Barnsley. After leaving Barnsley in 2007, he joined Irish side Cork City, where he spent two years before joining English side Ipswich Town. He spent two years with Ipswich before returning to the Republic of Ireland to sign for former club Cork City. Healy represented the Republic of Ireland at youth and senior level. He made his senior debut for his country in 2002, going on to win 13 caps, scoring once.

Club career

Early career

Healy was born in Ballincollig, County Cork. He came from a sporting family, with his grandfather Paddy Healy having been a Gaelic footballer and hurler who won All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship medals with the Cork inter-county football and hurling teams respectively in 1945 and 1946. ^[6] Healy played local soccer with Ballincollig and then Wilton United. He attended the FAS/FAI course in Cork run by former Celtic and Cork City midfielder Mike Conroy and from here he was taken to Celtic Park. He would go on to score three goals for Celtic, his first coming in a league game against Dundee in February 2000. ^[7] His other two goals came in Scottish League Cup ties against Hearts and Stirling Albion. ^{[8] [9]} With Celtic he won a Scottish League Cup medal, playing in the team that beat Kilmarnock 3–0 at Hampden on 18 March 2001. ^[10]

Sunderland

Sunderland signed Healy from Celtic in 2003. In December 2003 he broke his leg in a match against a former loan club, Coventry City after a challenge by Moroccan international Youssef Safri.

In October 2004, he broke his leg again soon after resuming training with Sunderland, after a tackle from then manager Mick McCarthy. In January 2006, it was announced that Healy's contract with Sunderland had expired, and the midfielder left the club.

Livingston and Barnsley

Healy joined SPL club Livingston on 10 March 2006 until the end of the season. On 10 August 2006 Healy signed a one-year contract with Barnsley. Having made only 10 appearances for Barnsley, he had his contract cancelled by mutual consent.

Cork City and FIFA case

On 20 February 2007 he signed a two-year contract with hometown League of Ireland club Cork City, alongside former international colleague Gareth Farrelly. FIFA ruled both players to be unable to play for the club, citing a rule forbidding players from transferring between clubs more than twice in a 12-month period between July and June. FIFA rejected appeals made by both players. On 1 July 2007 both Healy and Gareth Farrelly became eligible to play for Cork City. On this date, they both played for the club's under-21 team against Lifford of Ennis, Co Clare, winning the game 2–0.

Healy made his full Cork City debut against Bohemians when they were beaten in extra time in the Eircom League Cup Quarter Final held at Dalymount Park on 3 July 2007.

Healy signed a two-year contract for Cork in 2009. In April 2009, Healy scored his first goal for Cork at Tallaght Stadium. ^[11]

Ipswich Town

On 16 July 2009, it was confirmed that Cork City had accepted a £100,000 bid from Hartlepool United to take Healy and fellow Cork City teammate Denis Behan to Victoria Park, Hartlepool. However, five days later, Hartlepool United manager Chris Turner confirmed that the deal had not happened due to late interest from Ipswich Town. Healy subsequently signed for Ipswich for an undisclosed fee. In January 2010, he signed on-loan with Scottish Premier League club Falkirk. ^[12] At Falkirk he scored once against Aberdeen. ^[13]

Returning to Ipswich from the on-loan spell in Scotland, during the League Cup Semi-Final 2011 first leg win by Ipswich Town over Arsenal, ^[14] it was commented that "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy". ^[15] In February 2011 Healy scored his first goal for Ipswich against Doncaster Rovers. ^[16] His contract was terminated by mutual consent in November 2011. ^[17]

Return to Cork City

In 2013, Healy returned to Cork City on a three-year deal. His most memorable moment came against St Patrick's Athletic in 2014 when he scored a late over head kick against a fellow title rival. He and Cork finished runners up behind Dundalk for three years in a row and Healy lost the 2015 FAI Cup to Dundalk before finally winning a trophy in March 2016 in the Presidents Cup and the 2016 FAI Cup final where he came off the bench. He retired from playing in April 2017.

Coaching career

After retirement from playing he was Cork City's "head of academy" for a number of seasons before being appointed "first team head coach" in December 2020. ^{[4] [18]} He resigned the post in May 2023. ^[5] On 13 February 2024, he was named as Eileen Gleeson's assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team alongside Emma Byrne on a permanent basis, having been in the role since 2023 while Gleeson was originally in interim charge of the team. ^[19]

International career

Healy played and scored a goal against Australia at the FIFA World Youth Championship finals in Nigeria in 1999. ^[20]

He represented his country at the UEFA U-19 Championship in Sweden in 1999, and won a bronze medal. ^[21]

During the Saipan incident between Mick McCarthy and fellow Cork man Roy Keane at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Healy was called upon by McCarthy as the replacement should Keane be dropped from the squad. A succession of changes-of-heart by the Manchester United player led to the call-up being delayed and the deadline passing, with Healy unable to join the World Cup squad. ^{[22] [23]}

Career statistics

Club

Source: ^[24]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Celtic	1998–99	Scottish Premier League	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	1999–00	Scottish Premier League	10	1	1	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	13	1
	2000–01	Scottish Premier League	12	0	0	0	3	1	6 [lower-alpha 1]	0	21	1
	2001–02	Scottish Premier League	4	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	6	1
	2002–03	Scottish Premier League	1	0	2	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	5	0
	Total		30	1	4	0	6	2	8	0	48	3
Coventry City (loan)	2001–02	First Division	17	2	0	0	0	0	—		17	2
Sunderland	2003–04	First Division	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
	2004–05	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
Livingston	2005–06	Scottish Premier League	9	2	0	0	0	0	—		9	2
Barnsley	2006–07	Championship	8	0	0	0	2	0	—		10	0
Bradford City (loan)	2006–07	League One	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Cork City	2007	Premier Division	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	0
	2008	Premier Division	24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	24	0
	2009	Premier Division	20	2	0	0	0	0	—		20	2
	Total		62	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	62	2
Ipswich Town	2009–10	Championship	3	0	0	0	2	0	—		5	0
	2010–11	Championship	16	2	1	0	5	0	—		22	2
	2011–12	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	Total		20	2	1	0	8	0	0	0	29	2
Falkirk (loan)	2009–10	Scottish Premier League	19	1	0	0	0	0	—		19	1
Cork City	2012	Premier Division	21	0	0	0	0	0	—		21	0
	2013	Premier Division	23	1	0	0	0	0	—		23	1
	2014	Premier Division	27	2	0	0	0	0	—		27	2
	2015	Premier Division	20	2	0	0	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	22	2
	2016	Premier Division	19	0	0	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	22	0
	Total		110	5	0	0	0	0	5	0	115	5
Career total			297	15	7	0	16	2	13	0	333	17

1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

Source: ^[25]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Republic of Ireland
	2002	6	1
	2003	7	0
Total		13	1

International goals

Source: ^[25]

Republic of Ireland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Healy goal.

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 August 2002	Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	4	Finland	2–0	3–0	Friendly

Honours

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League: 2000–01
• Scottish League Cup: 2000–01

Cork City

• FAI Cup: 2007, 2016
• Setanta Sports Cup: 2008
• FAI President's Cup: 2016

Manager

• League Of Ireland First Division: 2022

Individual

• PFAI Team of the Year: 2014 Premier Division ^[26]
• League of Ireland Player of the Year: 2014 ^[27]

References

1. "Colin Healy". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
2. "Colin Healy profile". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
3. Former Celtic midfielder Colin Healy retires from football‚ dailyrecord.co.uk, 18 April 2017
4. "Colin Healy appointed Head Coach". corkcityfc.ie. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
5. "Colin Healy steps down as Cork City manager". echolive.ie. The Echo. 3 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
6. "Cork's comeback kid enjoying his football more than ever". Irish Independent. 19 August 2007.
7. "Dens Park relief for Dalglish". BBC. 12 February 2000. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
8. "Celtic youngsters see them through". BBC Sport. 1 November 2000. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
9. "Celts' Maloney mauls Albion". BBC Sport. 6 November 2001. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
10. "Celtic clinch Cup with Larsson treble". BBC. 18 March 2001. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
11. "Match report – Healy's first Goal for Cork". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
12. "Falkirk sign Ipswich Town's Colin Healy". BBC Sport. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
13. "Aberdeen 0 - 1 Falkirk". BBC. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
14. "Ipswich 1-0 Arsenal". 12 January 2011.
15. "Ipswich Town". Twtd.co.uk.
16. "Doncaster 0 - 6 Ipswich". BBC. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
17. "HEALY LEAVES TOWN". Ipswich Town. Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
18. "Healy takes on relegation fight with Cork as Fenn departs his 'dream job'". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
19. "Emma Byrne and Colin Healy to remain assistants with women's national side". Independent.ie. 12 February 2024.
20. "FIFA.com". 11 December 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
21. "Sweet start". Irishtimes.com. 17 July 1999. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
22. "Healy in call-up nightmare". BBC. 22 May 2002. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
23. "Keane sent home". BBC. 23 May 2002. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
24. "Ipswich Town | Team | Profiles | Colin Healy". 21 February 2010. Archived from the original on 21 February 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
25. Colin Healy at National-Football-Teams.com
26. "Dundalk dominate PFAI team of the year". Rte.ie. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
27. "John O'Shea named Ireland player of the year". Rte.ie. 22 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.

External links

• Colin Healy at Soccerbase