Anthony "Tony" Gorman (Irish: Antaine Ó Gormáin; born 5 July 1970) is the former player-manager of Finn Harps F.C. and former assistant manager of Derry City F.C. He is currently playing for his hometown club Letterkenny Rovers in the Ulster Senior League.
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Born Letterkenny, Tony Gorman, as he is more commonly known, currently plays for Letterkenny Rovers FC, having recently had management roles with Finn Harps and Derry City.
He is known across Ireland especially the Irish League as one of the most tenacious midfielders to have graced a Linfield shirt and was famous for his long range shooting ability.[1] Gorman played as a youth in England, but never settled and came back to Ireland with the view to returning to a new club in England.
He signed for Waterford United making his League of Ireland debut on the 19 November 1988. He also had spells at Galway United, his native county team Finn Harps and Sligo Rovers before transferring to Portadown F.C. and Coleraine F.C. whom he was the top scorer from midfield. Scottish Premier teams Falkirk and Raith Rovers (under Manager Jimmy Nicoll) tried to sign him but the clubs could not agree on a fee. He played for Linfield F.C. where he quickly became a fan favourite. He won all the honours in Irish League football. He then moved back to Coleraine and after a successful stint, He then moved to Finn Harps and took the role of player-manager after Felix Healy left the club.
Before concentrating on the area of management, Gorman contributed greatly to youth football in County Donegal. (Check any of Donegal newspaper sites, Donegal News, Letterkenny Post) He has managed an under-11 team that have won Foyle cup 2006 and 2007. He is also manager of the Glencar underage team that has recently added the Donegal champions league to there list of achievements. He managed the Donegal under-18 side that won the All-Ireland Inter-County Tournament and also the Letterkenny Rovers F.C. under-18 team that competed in the 2006 Foyle Cup. By the 2006 season he had given up his playing role to concentrate solely on management. He is highly regarded as one of the best young coaches in Ireland. The season did not end well for Finn Harps as they failed to gain promotion and he left his position in late 2006 as the board were unwilling to implement radical changes. Within a month of his departure from Finn Park, he was approached by Pat Fenlon of Derry City and agreed to undertake an assistant managerial role at the club in December, 2006. He then signed a short term contract with Crusaders in the Irish League for the remainder of the 2006/07 season. He has now qualified with a UEFA pro licence. He has returned to his schoolboy club and operates in midfield for Letterkenny Rovers, who play in the Ulster Senior League. Appointed assistant mangager May 2009 to Irish League team Lisburn Distillery F.C. whilst guiding the Donegal Schoolboys U-12 Team to the All Ireland Final May 2009 against DDSL. Managed the Donegal Schoolboys to 5th place at the Kennedy cup in Limerick June 2010. Currently assisant manager to James Gallagher with Finn Harps in the league of Ireland 1st Division.