Pat Dunne

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For other persons named Pat Dunne, see Pat Dunne (disambiguation).

Patrick "Pat" Dunne (born 9 February 1943 in Dublin) is a former Irish professional football goalkeeper. He played internationally for the Republic of Ireland and professionally in both Ireland and England.

Dunne played in Dublin with Stella Maris Football Club in Drumcondra before playing in England for Everton before returning to Ireland with Shamrock Rovers, making his debut against Drumcondra at Tolka Park on the 26th of August 1962. He played in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup that season and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup the following season against Valencia CF giving him a total of 4 European appearances. During this season Pat played in all 22 league games where Rovers only lost once winning every trophy except the Top Four Cup.

He left Milltown to join Manchester United in May 1964 for a fee of £10,500, winning a league title medal in his first season. Dunne made his debut for the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier against Spain at Dalymount Park in May, 1965.

In February 1967 he joined Plymouth Argyle, costing the Devon side £5,000. Dunne was Argyle's player of the season in 1967-68. Pat was a guest player on Rovers' American tour in the summer of 1967 where he was voted goalkeeper of the tournament.

He rejoined Rovers in November 1970. He became the first player to be shown a red card in League of Ireland football when he was sent off on the 1st of September 1974 in a League Cup match against Shelbourne. During this time he even started taking penalties for the club scoring one against Cork Hibs on the 10th of December 1972.

Pat Dunne travelled to Japan in September 1975 with the Rovers team that played three matches on that tour and they beat the Japanese international side 3-2 in one of them. He vied with Alan O'Neill for the goalkeeping spot over the next two seasons but when Johnny Giles arrived in the summer of 1977 it wasn't long before Pat was on his way from Rovers. Pat played in Giles' first match in charge in August 1977 but he left during the season and became player-manager of Thurles Town.

On the international front Pat made one Under-23 appearance for his country, against France in 1965. He joined brother Tony Dunne on the pitch against Spain in November 1965. In total he won five full caps, three against Spain, and kept one clean sheet.

Pat's son Derek, also a goalkeeper, played briefly for Waterford United in 1989.

In 2004 Dunne was appointed as goalkeeping coach at Shamrock Rovers. On November 5, 2004, Dunne collapsed on the pitch during the warm up before the match against local rivals Bohemian.^[1]

In October 2006 Dunne was sued over allegations of assault.^[2]