Career
A central midfielder, Byrne"s playing career started with Bohemians, his debut coming against Street Patricks Athletic on 25 August 1974 in a LFA President"s Cup Final. He played in eighteen matches plus one play-off game and scored three goals. Pat"s team mates included Alan Ball, Peter Osgood and Johnny Giles.
He played against the likes of Rodney Marsh, Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and Bobby Moore.
He returned to Europe in 1979, playing for Leicester City until 1981, then Heart of Midlothian until 1983. While playing for the Tynecastle side he was based in Dublin, and would regularly commute for weekend fixtures.
When this became too much of a burden, he was granted a free transfer and joined League of Ireland side Shamrock Rovers. In April 1983 he played for the League of Ireland XI U21s against their Italian League counterparts who included Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli in their team
At Glenmalure Park, he had extraordinary success winning 4 league titles in a row and the FAI Cup 3 times between 1984 and 1987.
He made 7 appearances for Rovers in European competition. His distinguished career in the green and white came to an end at the end of the 1987/88 season when he was installed as player-manager of in 1988. By, he had guided Shels to their first League of Ireland title in thirty years and the following year, he guided them to their first FAI Cup success in thirty years, when they beat Dundalk 1–0 in the cup final at Lansdowne Road.
In the Cup Winners" Cup that autumn, Byrne brought Shels their first European victory since 1964 when they knocked out Ukrainian side Karpaty Lviv 3–2 on aggregate.
Byrne was sacked along with his assistant Jim McLaughlin shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by Eoin Hand. Pat became player/manager of Street James"s Gate F.C. in February 1994 before he came back to Rovers to manage the club for the 1996/1997 season.
He later managed Kilkenny City to promotion to the Premier Division. In September 2006, he became an official Shamrock Rovers Legend.
As a player As a manager – 1991/92.
