Colin Healy

Colin Healy

Personal information
Date of birth	(1980-03-14) 14 March 1980
Place of birth	Cork, Ireland
Height	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Cork City
Number	7
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	44	(2)
2009–2011	Ipswich Town	20	(2)
2010	→ Falkirk (loan)	19	(1)
2012–	Cork City	90	(5)
National team‡
1998–1999	Republic of Ireland U18
2002–2003	Republic of Ireland	13	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 October 2012. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 September 2009

Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is an Irish footballer who plays for League of Ireland club Cork City. He has represented Republic of Ireland national team.

Playing 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.^[1] 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. With Celtic he won a Scottish League Cup medal, playing in the team that beat Kilmarnock 3–0 at Hampden on 18 March 2001.

He played and scored a goal against Australia at the FIFA World Youth Championship finals in Nigeria in 1999 .

Represented his country at the UEFA U-19 Championship in Sweden in 1999 where he won a bronze medal .

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.

Sunderland

Sunderland succeeded in signing 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. 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.^[2]

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 team-mate 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.^[3]

In February 2011 Healy scored his first goal for the club against Doncaster Rovers. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in November 2011.^[4]

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 and put in a sturdy performance. He retired at the end of 2016. He is considered by Cork City fans as the greatest player they had playing for them.

Statistics

^[5]

^[6]

Honours

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League (1): 2000–01
• Scottish League Cup (1): 2001

Cork City

• FAI Cup (2): 2007 2016
• Setanta Sports Cup (1): 2008
• FAI President's Cup (1): 2016

Individual

• National League Player of the Year: 2014

References

External links

• Colin Healy career statistics at Soccerbase