Gaffers by Trevor Keane Page A

lone reply to the four goals scored by the Austrians, the solitary Ireland goal coming from a Carroll penalty in the second half. In the away match the Austrian team scored six goals without reply.
    That European Championship campaign saw Ireland again score only three goals, yet they conceded seventeen. The 6–0 defeat by Austria proved to be a step too much for the FAI, and Mick Meagan’s time as manager of the team came to an end. But while the results might not have been as good as people had hoped for or expected, the building blocks were certainly being put in place for the future. And to Tony O’Connell, despite the poor results at that time, Mick was quite simply a fantastic manager: ‘He had been a tremendous full-back and that experience in England helped him. The players respected him, and the fact that he had won a League title with Everton only added to that respect.’
    Despite the obvious failings of the new project, the FAI persisted with the new approach they had adopted. And in later years Ireland would reap the rewards of the decision to appoint Mick Meagan back in 1969.
    MICK MEAGAN’S CLUB MANAGERIAL HONOURS RECORD:
No management honours
    MICK MEAGAN’S IRELAND RECORD:
Total number of games in charge: 12
Total number of wins: 0 (ratio 0.00%)
Total number of draws: 3 (ratio 25.00%)
Total number of losses: 9 (ratio 75.00%)
Biggest win: none
Biggest defeat: 6–0 v . Austria
Longest run without defeat: 1 game

5
LIAM TUOHY
    Liam Tuohy is a man who lives and breathes football, a man who was willing to give his all for his country whether as a player, coach or manager. For Liam, personal gain was often set aside for the love of the game and not many have given as much to the Irish game. In a career that saw Liam play in England with Newcastle, and become a Shamrock Rovers legend and manager, an Ireland international and ultimately manager of the national side, Liam gave everything he had to Irish football and deserves his ranking as a legend of the game. In the years after opting out of the Ireland hot seat, his love for the game never diminished, whether it was working with the Under-19 squads in the 1980s or teaching the latest crop of youngsters to come out of Home Farm.
    The change that was sweeping through the national team in the late 1960s and early 1970s was taken even further when Liam became the first manager to have complete control over team selection. A man who had played in England for one of the top teams, he had the respect of the English-based players; a man who had won trophies as a player and manager with Shamrock Rovers, he had the respect of the Irish-based players. It seemed the FAI had found the right man to lead the team in the new era.
    EARLY YEARS
    Liam Tuohy was born in the East Wall district of Dublin, the second youngest in a family of six boys. He was raised by his mother as his father Gerry died when he was young. As a youngster hurling was his first love, but he soon tired of being asked to play in goals and switched his attention to the bigger round ball, playing football for St Marys.
    On leaving school Tuohy drifted a bit, working as a wheel builder at Royal Enfield bikes, and over the next couple of years he did pretty much everything, from delivering groceries to assembling prams, until he signed for Shamrock Rovers at the age of eighteen in 1951. His time at Shamrock Rovers saw him come under the tutelage of the late, great Paddy Coad.
    After a season with the Under-21s and another with the second team he made his first-team debut in 1953. ‘Coad’s Colts’, as they were known in those days, were blazing a trail through Irish football at that time, winning the League of Ireland in 1954, 1957 and 1959. They also won the FAI Cup twice in the 1950s: in 1955 and 1956.
    In 1954, as a member of the team that had won the League title, Tuohy was starting to attract some attention from England, with both West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa interested in securing his