Jason Byrne (footballer)

For other people named Jason Byrne, see Jason Byrne (disambiguation).

Jason Byrne

Personal information
Full name	Jason Byrne
Date of birth	February 23, 1978 (1978-02-23)
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Bray Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2003	Bray Wanderers	128	(49)
2003–2006	Shelbourne	122	(83)
2007–2008	Cardiff City	10	(1)
2008–2010	Bohemians	93	(41)
2011–2012	Dundalk	28	(6)
2012–	Bray Wanderers	0	(0)
National team‡
2004–2006	Republic of Ireland	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:40, 2 May 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:40, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Jason Byrne (born February 23, 1978 in Dublin) is an Irish football player, currently playing for Bray Wanderers in the League of Ireland.

Club career

Bray Wanderers

Byrne began his playing career at Bray Wanderers in 1998, where he immediately made a name for himself, netting 7 goals in 15 appearances. He was Player of the Month in his first month in senior football. Over the next 4 seasons Byrne increased his reputation as a striker that struck fear into the heart of opposition defences, scoring 49 league goals in 128 league appearances. Despite breaking his ankle in November he recovered to score twice in the 1999 FAI Cup replay win. The 2001/02 season at Bray saw his most successful goals return, netting 14 league goals during the course of the season.

Shelbourne

On January 12, 2003, he signed for Shelbourne for a reported €75,000, scoring twice on his league debut against Waterford United in April. He made an immediate impact, scoring 21 league goals in his first season, and helping Shelbourne to the summit of the league table. The difference in the quality of supply was clearly evident. He was named PFAI Player of the Year for his efforts [1].

2004 saw him pick up where he left off, forging a good partnership with new signing Glen Fitzpatrick, and firing home 25 times in 33 league games, again helping Shelbourne to the league title.

2005 saw him hit 30 goals across all competitions, including 5 in the Champions League qualifiers and 22 in the league, and once again scoop the PFAI Player of the Year Award. During this time he courted the attention of foreign clubs, such as Brighton and Hove Albion and the Swedish champions Djurgårdens IF. It was widely assumed he would join Djurgården, however, the clubs could not agree a fee. The Swedes offered in the region of €400,000, a record for a League of Ireland player. This was turned down because, reportedly, as much as 50% would have gone to his previous club, Bray Wanderers.

Byrne was a key player for Shels in the title winning 2006 season, topping the scoring charts again with 15 goals in 26 league appearances, including a crucial last-minute winner against Derry City. This brought his tally of goals to 83 in 122 league appearances for the Reds.

Cardiff City

Following the break-up of the Shels team due to tax irregularities, which saw the club demoted to the League of Ireland First Division, Byrne signed for Cardiff City for a fee of £75,000 on 17 January 2007, and scored on his debut against Wolves, after coming on as a 62nd minute substitute. He made several appearances for Cardiff, alongside Michael Chopra, toward the end of the season as their promotion push stalled and they found themselves struggling to maintain form. During the summer it was widely reported that Cardiff had cancelled his contract, even being confirmed by Sky Sports news website, and he had left the club however this was soon revealed to be false. At the start of the 2007/08 season he found his first team chances to be limited due to the arrivals of Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Steve MacLean and found himself in the reserve side, where he was the leading scorer by January.

Bohemians

After being linked with the move for some time, he rejoined his former manager Pat Fenlon and signed for Bohemians on 8 January 2008 on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal.[2] Byrne made his debut for Bohs as a substitute against St Patricks Athletic on March 14, 2008, and scored his first goal for the club from the penalty spot against Finn Harps on 28 March 2008. He scored twice in two wins over Rhyl F.C. in the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup [3] [4]. Jason wrote himself into Bohemian folklore by scoring the goals that clinched the 2008 title against Drogheda United on 10 October.

On his first start of the 2009 season, Byrne netted a brace as Bohs beat arch-rivals Shamrock Rovers 2–0 on 20 March. He continued this good form throughout the season as Bohs won their second league title in a row, with Jason netting 22 times in the league. This included an incredible 4 goals against Dundalk on May 1.

Jason had an injury-hit 2010 campaign where he struggled for fitness and form. Despite a good run towards the end of the season where he scored an important winner against big rivals Shamrock Rovers, Byrne and Bohs just came up short losing the league title on goal difference. Due to the Gypsies' financial difficulties, he was released from the club when his contract expired at the culmination of the 2010 season.

Dundalk

On 4 December 2010, Byrne signed for Dundalk along with fellow Bohemians team mate Mark Quigley in a one year deal. Byrne was given the No.10 jersey to represent Dundalk in.

Return to Bray Wanderers

On 24 January 2012, Byrne rejoined Bray Wanderers on a one year deal. He returns to the club he began his career with, after a nine-year absence.

International career

Byrne's form, despite playing on the right side of midfield for defensive reasons, during Shelbourne's Champions League run in 2004 won him a call up to the Ireland team for a friendly against Poland in April 2004. The manager at the time, Brian Kerr, opted only to bring him on for the final few seconds [5]. This move was not appreciated by Shelbourne supporters, who already had a strong dislike for Kerr due to his association with their rivals St Patrick's Athletic.

Despite what has been seen by some as a poor start to the 2006 season, Byrne was called up to the Ireland squad to face Chile on May 24, 2006 by Kerr's successor, Steve Staunton. The game was a disappointing one for Ireland as they were defeated 1–0 at home, but Byrne, unlike his previous international encounter, earned a reasonable amount of time on the park as he played the final 20 minutes of the game [6], setting up several gilt-edged opportunities that were spurned by two players considered to be among Ireland's best; Damien Duff, and Byrne's cousin Robbie Keane.

Byrne was again called up to the Ireland squad by Staunton in 2006, for a friendly against Holland, but was unable to take his place in the squad due to injury.

Honours

• League of Ireland: 5
  • Shelbourne – 2003, 2004, 2006
  • Bohemians – 2008, 2009

• FAI Cup: 2
  • Bray Wanderers – 1998/99
  • Bohemians – 2008

• Setanta Sports Cup: 1
  • Bohemians - 2010

Trivia

• Jason Byrne is the cousin of Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane.
• Byrne was the top scorer in the League of Ireland for 4 consecutive seasons, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. A feat never before achieved [7].
• Byrne scored his 100th goal for Shelbourne in a League of Ireland Cup game against Finn Harps during the 2006 season.
• He is also the all-time top Irish goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League, reaching this record during Shelbourne's 2005 campaign, during which Byrne netted 5 times.
• As of 16/8/11, Jason is third in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 179 league goals. [8]

External links

• Jason Byrne (footballer) on Playerhistory.com
• Jason Byrne career stats at Soccerbase