Denis Irwin

For the double bassist, see Dennis Irwin.

Denis Irwin

Irwin outside The Cliff, United's former training ground
Personal information
Full name	Denis Joseph Irwin
Date of birth	31 October 1965 (1965-10-31) (age 46)
Place of birth	Cork, Ireland
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Full back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1983–1986	Leeds United	72	(1)
1986–1990	Oldham Athletic	167	(4)
1990–2002	Manchester United	368	(22)
2002–2004	Wolverhampton Wanderers	75	(3)
Total		682	(29)
National team
1986–1987	Republic of Ireland U21	3	(0)
1990	Republic of Ireland B	1	(0)
1990–1999	Republic of Ireland	56	(4 [1])
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Denis Joseph Irwin (born 31 October 1965 in Cork, Ireland) is a former Irish football player who is best known for his long and successful stint at Manchester United, where he established himself as one of the most important players in the United team that won a host of domestic and European trophies in his time there between 1990 and 2002.

Earlier in his career he played for Leeds United and then Oldham Athletic.

Irwin was capped by the Republic of Ireland national side 56 times, scoring four goals and featuring in the side that reached the second round (last 16) at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He has been regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson as pound for pound his greatest ever signing.

Early life

Irwin grew up in Cork and was educated at Coláiste Chríost Rí. As a schoolboy he excelled at both Gaelic football and hurling, and played at Croke Park more than once, on one occasion marking future Irish team mate, Niall Quinn.^[2]

Club career

Irwin began his career with Leeds United in 1983, making 72 appearances in the Second Division, before moving on to Oldham Athletic on a free transfer in 1986. He helped Oldham reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the final of the Football League Cup in 1990 before he was transferred to Manchester United for a fee of £625,000.

In 12 years at Old Trafford, he made 296 Premier League appearances and won seven Premier League title medals, as well as three FA Cup winners medals (1994, 1996 and 1999), a League Cup winner's medal and Champions League and Cup Winners' Cup honours. He was comfortable in either of the full back positions and an expert at free kicks and penalties, and even in his mid thirties he was still United's first choice left-back in preference to the much younger Phil Neville.

He scored a total of 22 league goals for United, including several penalties. The first of these came on 7 September 1991 in a 3-0 home win over Norwich City in the First Division.^[3]

Notable goals came on Boxing Day 1991, when he scored twice in a 6–3 away league win over his old club Oldham Athletic, and his late winner against Southampton in May 1995 which kept the league title race open until the very last game; United finished runners-up but would have been champions had they been able to turn their 1–1 away draw with West Ham United into a victory, as champions Blackburn Rovers lost their final game of the season.^[4]

Irwin was awarded a testimonial game for Manchester United - played on 16 August 2000 against Manchester City at Old Trafford. Despite testimonials being friendly matches, due to the match being between local rivals; it was a physical affair. Irwin went off injured in the 37th minute after a bad challenge by City striker George Weah.

Irwin made his last appearance for Manchester United at Old Trafford against Charlton Athletic on the final day of the 2001–02 Premier League season (12 May 2002), which ended in a 0–0 draw. For his final game as a Manchester United player, Alex Ferguson awarded him the captain's armband.

Irwin joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on a free transfer after the 2001-02 season, coincidentally joining the Black Country club at the same time as his former Manchester United teammate Paul Ince made the move to the West Midlands club, having previously been at Middlesbrough. Irwin scored twice in his first season at Wolves, against Burnley^[5] and Grimsby.^[6]

After Wolves won promotion to the Premier League in 2003, Irwin was applauded by the Manchester United supporters when he walked onto the pitch at Old Trafford for an early season league game which United won 1-0.

Wolves were relegated at the end of the 2003–04 season, and the 38-year-old Irwin then announced his retirement.^[7]

Media work

Since 2004, Irwin has been back at Old Trafford working as a presenter at MUTV.^[8] Irwin has been involved in coverage of several football tournaments on RTÉ. He is also a columnist with Ireland's Sunday World newspaper. He contributed to RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[9][10]

International career

Irwin was capped 56 times for the Republic of Ireland between 1990 and 1999, and scored four goals. His first appearance came on 12 September 1990 (just after his move to Manchester United), when he helped them beat Morocco 1-0 in a friendly at Dalymount Park. He made his competitive international debut on 17 October 1990, when the national side began their Euro 92 qualifying campaign with a 5-0 win over Turkey at Lansdowne Road. He scored his first international goal on 29 April 1992 in a friendly against the USA at Lansdowne Road. His final international appearance came on 17 November 1999, at the age of 34, when the Republic lost to Turkey in the Euro 2000 qualifying playoff second leg in Bursa.^[11]

He played for his country at the 1994 World Cup.

Statistics

Player

^[1]

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other[12]		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Leeds United	1983–84	19	0
	1984–85	41	1
	1985–86	12	0
	Total	72	1	3	0	5	0	2	0
Oldham Athletic	1986–87	41	1
	1987–88	43	0
	1988–89	41	2
	1989–90	42	1
	Total	167	4	13	0	19	3	5	0
Manchester United	1990–91	34	0
	1991–92	38	4
	1992–93	40	5
	1993–94	42	2
	1994–95	40	2
	1995–96	31	1
	1996–97	31	1
	1997–98	25	2
	1998–99	29	2
	1999–2000	25	3	–
	2000–01	21	0
	2001–02	12	0
	Total	368	22	43	7	31	0	87	4
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2002–03	43	2
	2003–04	32	0
	Total	75	2	5	0	2	0	3	0
Total		682	29	64	7	57	3	97	4

International goals

^[13]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 April 1992	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	United States	4–0	Win	Friendly
2	29 October 1997	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	Belgium	1–1	Draw	1998 World Cup qualification Play-offs
3	5 September 1998	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	Croatia	2–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
4	10 February 1999	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	Paraguay	2–0	Win	Friendly

Honours

Club

Manchester United

• Premier League (7): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01
• FA Cup (3): 1994, 1996, 1999
• League Cup (1): 1992
• Charity Shield (4): 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997
• UEFA Champions League (1): 1999
• Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1991
• European Super Cup (1): 1991
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999

Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Division One Play-off (1): 2003

Individual

• Overall Team of the Decade – Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/3 – 2001/2)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Denis Irwin at National-Football-Teams.com
2. ^ Irish Times, 9 July 2008
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ [2]
5. ^ "Wolves 3–0 Burnley". BBC. 17 August 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/2195416.stm. Retrieved 28 October 2009. 
6. ^ "Wolves 4–1 Grimsby". BBC. 26 October 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/2342289.stm. Retrieved 28 October 2009. 
7. ^ "Irwin confirms retirement plans". BBC Sport. 2003-08-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/football_focus/3173965.stm. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
8. ^ MUTV – – Presenters Profiles Manchester United Official Web Site
9. ^ Black, Fergus (2 June 2010). "RTÉ hopes Ossie and squad will spur fans to back home team". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/rte-hopes-ossie-and-squad-will-spur-fans-to-back-home-team-2203365.html. Retrieved 2 June 2010. 
10. ^ O'Malley, Carl (2 June 2010). "RTÉ roll out big guns for their 56 live games". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0602/1224271676683.html. Retrieved 2 June 2010. 
11. ^ [3]
12. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
13. ^ "SoccerScene.ie – International Profile of Denis Irwin". http://www.soccerscene.ie/sssenior/player.php?id=281. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 

External links

• Dennis Irwin career stats at Soccerbase
• Biography at ManUtd.com

Persondata
Name	Irwin, Denis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	31 October 1965
Place of birth	Cork, Ireland
Date of death
Place of death