Background
He was born in Rathdowney, County Laois, Ireland on 2 February 1946.
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Tony Byrne
Edit ProfileCareer
He was originally a midfield player who switched to left-back and he had a career total of 229 league games scoring 4 goals. After only one appearance for Millwall he was signed by Ted Bates for Southampton for a fee of £8,000 in August 1964. He eventually overcame this setback to make his league debut on 18 April 1967 in front of a 54,921 crowd at Old Trafford as relegation-threatened Saints went down 3–0 to Manchester United.
He was slightly built for a defender and "although quick and diligent, he struggled to carve a permanent niche in Southampton"s notoriously robust rearguard".
His best season with The Saints was 1969-1970, in which he made 35 league appearances, playing in defence alongside Joe Kirkup and John McGrath, as Saints again fought to avoid relegation. He scored his first league goal in the final match of the season in a 1–1 draw against Derby County.
Having given away Derby"s 88th-minute goal after a poor back-pass, Byrne quickly turned from villain to hero as he slotted in a bobbling ball in the 90th minute in a dramatic climax to the season. After retiring from football, he worked as a foreman at Hereford golf course before working as a builder.
Achievements
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He won a total of 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland and during his career from 1963 to 1978 played for Millwall, Southampton, Hereford United and Newport County. Although he made his Saints debut in an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace in January 1965, Byrne took a long time to break into the Southampton first team, mainly because of a broken leg sustained in a reserve team match in April 1966. He stayed at The Dell for ten years during which time he made a total of 114 first team appearances and won 14 Irish caps.
