Liam Tuohy

Liam Tuohy (born April 1933/1934, East Wall, Dublin, Ireland) is a former Irish footballer and manager.

During the 1950s and 1960s  Tuohy played as an outside left for Shamrock Rovers, Newcastle United, Boston Rovers and the Republic of Ireland. In 1959 while playing for Ireland, Tuohy scored the first ever goal in the history of the European Championship.  After retiring as a player Tuohy became a coach and managed both Shamrock Rovers and the Republic of Ireland.  In July 1973 he also took charge of the Shamrock Rovers XI that played Brazil in a prestige friendly and during the 1980s he successfully coached the Republic of Ireland U-19s.  He subsequently served as manager and director of football at Home Farm before retiring in 2002

Tuohy was born in East Wall, a working class area on the Northside of Dublin. He was the second youngest in a family of six boys. His father, Gerry, died when he was young, leaving him and his five brothers to be raised by his mother, Sadie. Tuohy played in goal at hurling for his school, St. Joseph’s, and began playing soccer for St. Mary’s, East Wall.  After leaving school, Tuohy initially worked as a wheel builder for Royal Enfield, delivered groceries and assembled prams.

In 1971 Tuohy was appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland.  His first game in charge was on October 10 1971, a 6-0 defeat away to Austria. The game, a European Championship qualifier, had been arranged for a Sunday, the day after a full league program in England.  Forced to field a team of mainly League of Ireland players, Tuohy resolved that this would not happen again.  He demanded that all future fixtures be played on a Wednesday and over the following months he travelled to England and began discussions with various team managers to secure the release of his star players for future internationals.  On January 4 1972, in Tuohy’s second game in charge Ireland beat the visiting German Olympic XI 3-0.  In June 1972, Tuohy took an Ireland squad to Brazil to compete in the Brazilian Independence Cup.  While there they played four games, earning respectable wins over Iran and Ecuador.  Tuohy was also in charge of Ireland during the qualifiers for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.  Denied the services of Johnny Giles and Paddy Mulligan through injury and Don Givens who was not released by Queens Park Rangers, Ireland were beaten 2-1 by the USSR on October 18 1972.  However a month later on November 15, Giles returned and inspired Ireland to a 2-1 win over France.  On May 13 1973 a 1-0 defeat to the USSR effectively ended Ireland's chances of qualifying for the World Cup.  On May 19 1973 in the return game against France, Tuohy took charge of Ireland for the last time. After just eleven games in charge, Tuohy resigned. 

At the same time as managing Ireland, Tuohy was also managing Shamrock Rovers and was working as an area sales manager for HB Ice Cream.  He was now the father of six children and financial pressures forced him to give up the Ireland job which only paid £500 a year.   
   
Player and Manager Shamrock Rovers League of Ireland Winners 1953-54, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1963-64: 4 FAI Cup Winners 1955, 1956, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969: 8 League of Ireland Shield Winners 1954-55, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1967-68: 8 Leinster Senior Cup Winners 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1969: 6 Manager Dundalk League of Ireland Shield Winners 1972: 1 Leinster Senior Cup Winners 1971.