Time Donaghy

Time Donaghy
Personnel
Surname	Malachy Martin Donaghy
birthday	September 13, 1957
place of birth	Belfast ,  Northern Ireland
position	Defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1976-1977	Cromac Albion
1977-1988	Larne FC	20 0(0)
1978-1988	Luton Town	408 (16)
1988-1992	Manchester United	89 0(0)
1989-1990	→  Luton Town  (loan)	5 0(0)
1992-1994	Chelsea FC	68 0(3)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1980-1994	Northern Ireland	91 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Malachy "Mal" Martin Donaghy (born September 13, 1957 in Belfast ) is a former Northern Irish football player . With the Northern Irish national team he took part in the Football World Cup in 1982 and 1986.

Player career

Luton Town (1978–1988)

Mal Donaghy moved in June 1978 from his home in Northern Ireland to the English second division club Luton Town . Already in his first season he earned a regular place in his new team. Luton improved its performance in the second division continuously and rose in the 1981/82 season as a second division champion in the First Division . Mal Donaghy has played forty league games that season and scored nine goals. The climber just reached relegation in the 1982/83 season in eighteenth place. After two seasons in lower midfield, Luton finished the First Division 1985/86 as ninth in the table and increased this performance in the following season as seventh. In the English League Cup 1987/88 Donaghy reached the final with his teammates Steve Foster and Danny Wilson and won the first major title in the club's history of Luton Town by beating Arsenal 3-2 .

Manchester United (1988-1992)

In October 1988, the 31-year-old joined Manchester United for £ 650,000 after spending ten years at Luton . The team trained by Alex Ferguson since 1986 finished the 1988/89 season in eleventh place. Donaghy was mostly used as a left defender and played thirty league games. In the following season he completed only fourteen league games and played in the meantime on loan for his old club Luton Town. United reached the final of the FA Cup 1989/90 that season and won the replay 1-0 against Crystal Palace after a 3: 3 after extra time in the first game. Mal Donaghy was not nominated for this game by Alex Ferguson. In the 1990/91 European Cup Winners' Cup , Manchester won the first title for an English team since 1985 by beating FC Barcelona 2-1. This time Donaghy was called up to the squad, but was not used. In the Football League First Division 1990/91 he played twenty-five games and finished the season with ManU in sixth. In his final season in Manchester in 1991/92 he won the runner-up behind Leeds United with United and played another twenty league games. When he won the league cup in 1991/92 (1-0 against Nottingham Forest ), he was not in the squad.

Chelsea FC (1992–1994)

In August 1992, when he was almost 35, Mal Donaghy moved to Chelsea, coached by Ian Porterfield , for £ 100,000 . In the newly founded Premier League 1992/93 he played forty league games and reached eleventh place with his new team. Under the new player-coach Glenn Hoddle , Donaghy found himself in midfield at times before he lost his regular place and was therefore not in the squad for the FA Cup final in 1994 . Chelsea lost that game 4-0 to Manchester United and Mal Donaghy ended his playing career shortly after at the age of 36.

Northern Ireland National Team (1980-1994)

Mal Donaghy played his first international match for Northern Ireland on May 16, 1980 at the age of 22 (1-0 against Scotland). For the 1982 World Cup in Spain he was appointed to the Northern Irish World Cup squad . Donaghy played all three preliminary round matches and moved into the second round by beating hosts Spain 1-0 in the third game. Donaghy received the red card against Spain in the 62nd minute and therefore missed the first game against Austria (2-2). In the 1: 4 against France he was back on the field for 90 minutes, but was eliminated from the tournament with Northern Ireland.

Four years later he was again in the Northern Irish World Cup squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Mal Donaghy played all three preliminary round matches again , but this time failed after defeats against Spain and Brazil in the preliminary round.

By 1994 he played a total of ninety-one internationals, but missed another participation in an international tournament with Northern Ireland. After Pat Jennings and David Healy, he is the record player for his country.

titles and achievements

• League cup winners: 1988 (3-2 against Arsenal)
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1991 (2-1 against FC Barcelona)

Web links

• Player data from Mal Donaghy
• Data of the individual seasons
• Games for Northern Ireland
• Games for Manchester United

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1990/91: United put England back on the map ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.