Notable Former Players
Many famous players have played for UCD down the years. Former Irish international Kevin Moran, who would later play for Manchester United, Sporting de Gijón and Blackburn Rovers played in the League of Ireland B and was signed for Manchester United from UCD’s graduate team, Pegasus. Moran also won an All-Ireland Gaelic football winner’s medal with Dublin in 1976 while at UCD, as would Jason Sherlock nineteen years later. The Leeds United legend and record goalscorer Peter Lorimer played three games before returning to England for a final spell with Leeds. Gavin Whelan (nephew of Ronnie Whelan) and Pat Jennings (son of Northern Irish international Pat Jennings) played for UCD in the most recent relegation season. Brian Lenihan played in the 1955 FAI Cup tie against Sligo Rovers and later ran for President of Ireland. Willie Browne won numerous international university caps while at UCD, he subsequently went on to win 3 full Republic of Ireland caps, 16 amateur caps, 1 Republic of Ireland B cap and 6 Inter-League caps and captained Bohemian for 3 consecutive seasons. Hugo MacNeill scored 46 goals in 1977-78, but went on to greater things with the Ireland national rugby union team, winning the Triple Crown in 1985 and playing in the 1987 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Former Sky Sports and current Setanta Sports pundit Paul Dempsey played for one season in 1982/83 before taking up a job with the BBC. Dave Norman played senior international football for Canada while at UCD and went on to play in the 1986 World Cup, and many players have received youth caps. Contrary to popular belief, however, there is no evidence that Brazilian star Sócrates ever played for the club.
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“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)