Former Irish international Liam Tuohy has passed away at the age of 83 after a period of illness.
The Dubliner was a former Republic of Ireland international, winning eight caps, and went on to become international team manager between 1971 and 1973. He scored Ireland’s first goal in the history of the European Championships competition in a Dalymount Park encounter with Czechoslovakia in April 1959.
As a player he was a talented winger who emerged with a famous Shamrock Rovers team of the 1950s then had a three year spell at Newcastle United before returning to Shamrock Rovers for the final six years of his playing career. The Hoops side which won the FAI Cup six years running from 1964-69 was honoured in 2007 for their remarkable achievement.
His playing career saw him win numerous honours including four league titles with Rovers and eight FAI Cups in total. In the later part of his football career Tuohy was director of football at Home Farm FC and oversaw the famous schoolboy club’s development of numerous underage internationals.
Touhy initially became player-manager of Rovers then had a year with Dundalk before taking the national team job. He combined this with another stint with Shamrock Rovers then had further spells with Dublin University and Shelbourne before going on to great success with the Republic of Ireland underage sides.
He was the first man to coach an Ireland team at a World Cup having led the Ireland side to the World Youth Cup tournament in the USSR in 1985. He was assisted by Brian Kerr and Noel O’Reilly (RIP).
The FAI acknowledged Tuohy’s contribution to the game in 2010 by dedicating a display cabinet to the Ringsend native at the FAI HQ at the National Sports Campus.
FAI CEO John Delaney paid the respects of the Association to Liam’s family and paid tribute to Tuohy this afternoon.
“Liam Tuohy was a wonderful football man with a quick wit and tremendous knowledge of the game. His loss is such sad news for Irish football,” said Delaney.
“We will be honouring Liam’s memory at the forthcoming international against Oman. I am pleased that we had an alcove dedicated to him at the FAI headquarters. My thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”
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