There have been a number of fantastic Irish Liverpool players, with some of the best players to ever pull on the green shirt of Ireland having played for the club.
This was especially true during Liverpool’s golden era of the 1970s and 1980s when they dominated English football.
I’m not here to waste your time with long ramblings, so let’s get to it.
9. Jason McAteer
Jason McAteer was born in England, but qualified to play for Ireland through, as was thought at the time, his grandfather from Co. Down. It turned out that it could actually be his great grandfather, but it is, quite unbelievably, unknown whether this is the case.
“The girl from the FAI rings me one morning, said she was trying to sort out the passport, she said they had come across three McAteers from Co Down and we can’t be bothered looking any further, do you want to pick one as your grandad, you have him, him and him? I said, whatever you think”, McAteer said. If you want to read more about the situation, check out that link. I think it’s bizarre how easy it was to qualify to play for Ireland back then!
McAteer made his Ireland debut in a 0-0 draw against Russia on 23rd March 1994. He went to two World Cups with Ireland, in 1994 and 2002. He had a very big part to play in Ireland’s qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup as he scored the winner against a Netherlands side featuring the likes of Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
McAteer signed for Liverpool from Bolton Wanderers in 1995. He made a total of 139 appearances for the club, scoring six goals. The closest McAteer came to a trophy was in 1996, when Liverpool lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the FA Cup final. McAteer’s time at Liverpool came to an end when he signed for Blackburn Rovers in January 1999.
8. Jim Beglin
Jim Beglin is from Waterford and was a left-back who also played on the left side of midfield. Beglin was signed by Bob Paisley from Shamrock Rovers in 1983.
He broke into the team in the 1985/86 season and won the league and FA Cup double in 1986. Devastatingly for Beglin, he had his leg really badly broken by Everton’s Gary Stevens in January 1987. Beglin never fully recovered from the horrific challenge. He moved on to Leeds in 1989 and helped them win the Second Division title and also had short spells with Plymouth Argyle and Blackburn Rovers.
Hugely affected by the leg break, Beglin retired in 1991 when he was just 27 years old. He won 15 Ireland caps. It was a real pity that his career was so badly affected, as he could have been a really top player for Liverpool and Ireland. He went on to have a successful career as a co-commentator.
7. Steve Finnan
Born in Limerick, Steve Finnan made his Liverpool debut on 17th August 2003 after signing from Fulham for £3.5m. He played in two Champions League finals for the Reds, in 2005, when Liverpool made their amazing comeback to win it against AC Milan, and in 2007, when they were beaten by the same side. Finnan was substituted at half-time in 2005 because of an injury.
Finnan also won the FA Cup in 2006 as Liverpool beat West Ham (remember that Gerrard goal?). Making a total of 217 appearances, scoring one goal, Finnan was very popular with the Liverpool fans when he was at the club. He left in 2008 and joined Espanyol.
Finnan won 53 Ireland caps, scoring two goals. The right-back set up Jason McAteer’s famous goal against Netherlands that helped Ireland to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. He went to the tournament and played in all of his country’s games.
6. Ray Houghton
Born in Scotland, Ray Houghon was eligible to play for Ireland through his father, who was from Donegal.
Houghton signed for Liverpool from Oxford United at the start of the 1987/88 season and made his debut on 24th October 1987. He had a successful time at Liverpool playing on the right side of midfield, playing 202 games and scoring 38 goals. He won two league titles and two FA Cups. Houghton left Liverpool in 1992 and signed for Aston Villa.
Houghton scored two of the most important goals in Ireland’s history – scoring the winners in 1-0 victories against England at Euro 88 and against Italy at the World Cup in 1994.
5. Mark Lawrenson
Born in England, Mark Lawrenson was eligible to play for Ireland through his grandfather, who was from Waterford.
The defender signed for Liverpool from Brighton in 1981. At the end of Lawrenson’s first full season, he won the league and League Cup double in 1982, which he also won in both 1983 and 1984. Lawrenson won the European Cup in 1984 and the FA Cup in 1986. He added two more league titles in 1986 and 1988. I’ll clear that up: he won five league titles, three League Cups, the European Cup and the FA Cup. Lawrenson played a total of 356 games for Liverpool, scoring 18 goals.
Lawrenson has 39 Ireland caps and scored five goals for the Boys in Green. One of these goals was vital, as it came against Scotland in a Euro ’88 qualifier – the 1-0 Ireland win was huge on their way to topping the group. Unfortunately for Lawrenson, he missed the tournament through injury.
4. Elisha Scott
Born in Belfast in 1894, Elisha Scott played for Linfield and Broadway United before moving to Liverpool. His brother actually played on Merseyside, but for Everton, and recommended him to the club. Everton deemed the 17-year-old as too young, so off he went to sign for Liverpool.
Scott made his Liverpool debut on 1st January 1913 against Newcastle United. His performance at St. James’s Park was so good that Newcastle immediately tried to sign him for £1,000. He considered leaving as he knew his path to the first team was blocked by 20-year-old Kenneth Campbell, but Liverpool convinced him to stay. Scott would eventually move ahead in the pecking order in the 1914/15 season.
Scott had a big part to play in Liverpool’s title wins in 1922 and 1923. The legendary ‘keeper was a big fan favourite at Anfield, and it is even said that after making one extraordinary save against Blackburn Rovers, a Liverpool fan ran onto the pitch and kissed him!
Some say that Scott is Liverpool’s best ever goalkeeper. A survey among Liverpool fans in 1939 named him as their best ever player. He had a successful 21-year stint at Liverpool, in which he made a whopping 467 appearances for the club. This figure would have been higher had it not been for football being suspended during World War I. He eventually left Liverpool in 1934, signing for Belfast Celtic as player-manager.
Scott won 31 caps for the All-Ireland Irish Football Association. They weren’t the greatest team and good results were few and far between, but even then he was named out as being outstanding. He had a rivalry, and friendship, with Everton’s great Dixie Dean, who said he was the greatest goalkeeper of the time.
Elisha Scott passed away on 16th May 1969, aged 65.
3. John Aldridge
John Aldridge is from Liverpool, but was eligible to play for Ireland through his great grandmother, who was from Athlone. Aldridge really didn’t like the ‘Plastic Paddy’ accusations that were thrown towards some English players who played for Ireland and became quite defensive over his Irish roots. He even did a DNA test – and the results said he is 46 percent Irish and 41 percent English.
Aldridge signed for Liverpool in January 1987. A highlight of his time was scoring the opening goal against Everton in the 1989 FA Cup final, which Liverpool won 3-2. Aldridge played 104 games for Liverpool and scored 63 goals. He won one league title and one FA Cup in his time with the club.
Aldridge has 69 Ireland caps and scored 19 goals. He went to three major tournaments: Euro ’88, the Italia ’90 World Cup and the USA ’94 World Cup.
2. Ronnie Whelan
Born in Finglas, Dublin, Ronnie Whelan played for Home Farm in the League of Ireland before his move to Liverpool in 1979.
Whelan had an incredible amount of success with Liverpool while playing both left midfield and central midfield. One big moment the Dubliner had was scoring the winner in the 1983 League Cup final against Manchester United. This was just one of a bucketful of honours he won at Liverpool as he played for the club during the most successful time in their history. His trophy haul includes six league titles, one European Cup, three FA Cups and three League Cups.
Whelan also scored twice in the 1982 League Cup final as Liverpool beat Tottenham 3-1: this was his first major honour with the club. In the 1988/89 season, an injury to captain Alan Hansen meant Whelan wore the armband for much of the season. He led his team through a very difficult period following the Hillsborough disaster. At the end of the season, he lifted the 1989 FA Cup as captain, but narrowly missed out on the league title as Liverpool were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal on the final day of the season.
Whelan played 493 times for Liverpool, scoring 73 goals, before he joined Southend United in 1994 as player-manager after 15 years with Liverpool. He has 53 Ireland caps and scored three goals.
1. Steve Heighway
Steve Heighway was born in Dublin on 25th November 1947. The winger was seen playing for non-league Skelmersdale United and signed by Bob Paisley. Paisley said that Heighway was the best amateur footballer he had ever seen. He made his debut for Liverpool on 22nd September 1970.
Heighway was a very exciting winger who knew how to score but was most often seen setting up chances for others – his fantastic crosses were usually on a plate for Liverpool’s strikers to convert. He was a brilliant dribbler with pace and an eye for goal. He even gets a mentions in Liverpool’s famous ‘Fields of Anfield Road‘ song: “Stevie Heighway on the wing, we had dreams and songs to sing.”
During his 11 years at Liverpool, Heighway won five league titles, two European Cups, two UEFA Cups, the FA Cup and the League Cup. Heighway played 475 games for Liverpool, scoring 76 goals. In Liverpool’s ‘100 Players Who Shook the KOP‘ poll taken in 2006, Liverpool’s fans voted Heighway as the 23rd best Liverpool player of all time, the highest Irish player on the list.
Heighway has 34 Ireland caps, which would have been far more but Bill Shankly used to block him playing for Ireland – which shows just how important he was for Liverpool. Shankly would sometimes tell Heighway that he was called up to the Ireland squad after the Ireland game had been played! Heighway never played in a major tournament for Ireland.
Heighway left Liverpool and moved to USA in 1981 – but returned in 1989 to coach at their academy. He had two spells there – helping develop players such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen, eventually stepping down in 2022.
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Robbie Keane gets an honourable mention here, but I’m giving him that 100% based on his Ireland career, rather than the half a season he played for Liverpool. The striker, from Tallaght, Dublin, scored 68 goals in 146 Ireland caps, meaning he is both Ireland’s top goalscorer and most capped player. He signed for Liverpool from Tottenham in July 2008. Keane managed seven goals in 28 games and returned to Tottenham in January 2009. The deal certainly didn’t work out as well as Liverpool had hoped, and they sold him back to Spurs for £7m less than they paid for him.
A more recent Irish Liverpool player is Caoimhin Kelleher. The goalkeeper from Cork came through Liverpool’s academy. He was on the bench and was an unused substitute for Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League final win, 2019 UEFA Super Cup win and their 2022 FA Cup final win. He did start, and win, two League Cup finals though, in 2022 and 2024. Kelleher looks like a top goalkeeper and is a player that Liverpool value highly, but he probably needs to move away from Liverpool to really kick off his career. It’s unlikely that he’s going to usurp Alisson as the club’s number 1 ‘keeper and a move seems best for his career.
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That’s that, thanks for being here. This article is a lot longer than I expected, but quite often I go into more detail than I had originally planned. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
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