Seamus Heath

Seamus Heath (born 6 December 1961) is a Northern Irish former association football midfielder and coach who was most recently manager of Welsh Premier League club Aberystwyth Town.

Seamus Heath
Personal information
Full name Seamus Martin James Paul Heath
Date of birth (1961-12-06) 6 December 1961
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Cromac Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1982 Luton Town 0 (0)
1982 → Lincoln City (loan) 7 (0)
1983–1984 Wrexham 32 (1)
1984–1986 Tranmere Rovers 17 (0)
1986 Portadown 4 (1)
1986–? Bollklubben-46 ? (?)
1989–1990 Glentoran 11 (0)
1990 Bollklubben-46 ? (?)
1990–1992 Glentoran 28 (0)
1992–1994 Distillery 43 (0)
1994–1995 Derry City 9 (0)
1995–1996 Cliftonville 12 (0[1])
Managerial career
2005 Northern Ireland U19 (assistant)
2006–2007 Kilmore Recreation
2016–2017 Annagh United (youth)
2017–2018 Knockbreda (youth)
2018 Aberystwyth Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Heath was an archetypal journeyman appearing for several clubs during the course of his career. He subsequently carved out a successful career in coaching.

Playing career

Heath began his career at amateur club Cromac Albion where for a time he roomed with future Northern Ireland international Mal Donaghy.[2] In April 1979 he joined Football League side Luton Town although Heath did not make any league appearances for the club and in April 1982 joined Lincoln City on loan.[3] He spent the 1983–84 season at Wrexham and then played for Tranmere Rovers before returning to Northern Ireland with Portadown in October 1986.[1]

Soon afterwards Heath moved to Finland to play for Bollklubben-46[1] and subsequently played for a number of other clubs in the country.[4] In October 1989 he joined Glentoran although the following summer Heath returned to Bollklubben-46.[1] He rejoined Glentoran in October 1990.[1] Heath signed for Distillery in July 1992.[1] He moved to League of Ireland side Derry City in August 1994.[1] He returned to the Irish Football League with Cliftonville in August 1995.[1]

Coaching

Heath served as youth development officer at Glenavon[5] and until 2005 combined this with a wider role as one of 23 Irish Football Association (IFA) youth development officers. In this capacity he also served as assistant manager of the Northern Ireland under-19 team.[4] In January 2006 Heath was appointed manager of Kilmore Recreation.[6]

Heath would return to the IFA around 2007 as a "Grassroots Development Officer" for the Down district.[7] As of 2011 Heath remains in position with the IFA.[8] He has also turned out for the Northern Ireland over 45s in veterans matches. [9]

On 28 March 2018, Heath was announced as manager of Welsh club Aberystwyth Town due to former manager Neville Powell's pro licence expiring.[10]

Family

His son Ben subsequently played for [[Gap Connah's Quay F.C and his niece Alex Heath is a Camogie player and a former Champion Irish dancer

References
  1. Marshall Gillespie, The Northern Ireland Football Yearbook 1996/97, UTV Books, 1996, p. 190
  2. Old pals link up to Rec United dream
  3. Seamus Heath 1982/83
  4. Doing the Busy-Ness; Heath is best man to fix up old Rec.
  5. "Mini-Soccer Centre". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  6. Don't Mess Up!
  7. IFA Goes Stateside
  8. Heath's details at IFA
  9. Wales Veterans Football League
  10. "Club Announce Boost to Black and Green Management Team". Aberystwyth Town F.C. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
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