WESTLIFE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE 4/2001
When did you first play football?
I began to play when I was three. When I was old enough I went to White Farm Football Club which is in Whitehall in Dublin – it’s the best schoolboy club in Ireland, and I was there for eight years! At twelve I won Best Goalkeeper in Europe – and I still have the trophy at home!
So your talent was recognised as a young teenager?
I played for Ireland when I was fifteen, sixteen and eighteen. I won a few international caps and the FAI contacted me recently to go and collect them! Next, I had trials with Derby County and Leeds. I had trials with Everton, Coventry and Newcastle lined up but I agreed terms with Leeds and signed for two years.
Who were your favourite players?
Pat Bonnar, goalkeeper for Ireland and Glasgow Celtic. I always liked Andy Goram as well. He played for Rangers, and I liked him because he wasn’t tall and neither was I! He broke my heart regularly cos I was a huge Celtic fan. As for outfield payers…I liked Lee Sharpe – who I got to know. These days it's Roy Keane. He’s Irish and he’s hard as nails!
Do you remember the day you signed?
I went over and did trials at the club and they offered me a contract. I wanted to play football but my mam wanted me to finish school. Then the club put a lot of money on the table and eventually my mam agreed – but I promised go to school if it didn’t work out.
What was it like being a young lad on your own?
The first year it was great, they put me and Alan Maybury, the lad I went over with, in a big house with a huge snooker table, ten players and two people to look after us. The second year it was terrible, they built a new training ground in Wetherby which is an hour out in the country and we had to stay in digs like a prison, two players to a room. My life was up in the morning, train, lunch, train, bed. I hated it. I got home six times a year in my contract.
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© 2001 Pami