Seamus Heath

Seamus Heath
Personal information
Full name Seamus Martin James Paul Heath
Date of birth 6 December 1961 (1961-12-06) (age 50)
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland
Playing position Midfielder
Youth career
Cromac Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1982 Luton Town 0 (0)
1982 Lincoln City (loan) 7 (0)
1983–1984 Wrexham 32 (1)
1984-1986 Tranmere Rovers 17 (0)
1986 Portadown 4 (1)
1986-? Bollklubben-46 ? (?)
1989-1990 Glentoran 11 (0)
1990 Bollklubben-46 ? (?)
1990-1992 Glentoran 28 (0)
1992-1994 Distillery 43 (0)
1994-1995 Derry City 9 (0)
1995-1996 Cliftonville 12 (0[1])
Teams managed
2006-? Kilmore Recreation
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Seamus Heath (born 6 December 1961 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish former association football midfielder. Heath was an archetypal journeyman appearing for several clubs during the course of his career. He subsequently carved out a successful career in coaching.

Contents

Playing career

Heath began his career at amateur club Cromac Albion where for a time he roomed with future Northern Ireland international Mal Donaghy.[2] In April 1979 he joined Football League side Luton Town although Heath did not make any league appearances for the club and in April 1982 joined Lincoln City on loan.[3] He spent the 1983-84 season at Wrexham and then played for Tranmere Rovers before returning to Northern Ireland with Portadown in October 1986.[1]

Soon afterwards Heath moved to Finland to play for Bollklubben-46[1] and subsequently played for a number of other clubs in the country.[4] In October 1989 he joined Glentoran although the following summer Heath returned to Bollklubben-46.[1] He rejoined Glentoran in October 1990.[1] Heath signed for Distillery in July 1992.[1] He moved to League of Ireland side Derry City in August 1994.[1] He returned to the Irish Football League with Cliftonville in August 1995.[1]

Coaching

Heath served as youth development officer at Glenavon[5] and until 2005 combined this with a wider role as one of 23 Irish Football Association (IFA) youth development officers. In this capacity he also served as assistant manager of the Northern Ireland under-19 team.[4] In January 2006 Heath was appointed manager of Kilmore Recreation.[6]

Heath would return to the IFA around 2007 as a "Grassroots Development Officer" for the Down district.[7] As of 2011 Heath remains in position with the IFA.[8] He has also turned out for the Northern Ireland over 45s in veterans matches.[9]

Family

His son Ben subsequently played for Connah's Quay Nomads and Caernarfon Town in the Welsh Premier League.[10]

References