Mick Kearin
Michael Kearin, also known as Mick Kearin, was an Irish footballer who mainly played as a wing-half, after starting his career as a forward. Kearin was the first player from County Kildare to be capped by the international team.
Kearin remained the only Kildare man with an international cap until Mark Travers was capped in September 2019.
Early life
Mick Kearin was born on 9 May 1943 in Kildare. He grew up in Kildare Town, moving to Dublin aged 15 for work. On 25 September 1957, he took a half day off school to attend the Shamrock Rovers Manchester United match, featuring the Busby Babes team, five months before the Munich Air Disaster.Career
Mick Kearin started off as a youth player with St Patrick's Athletic at 17 before joining Bohemians F.C. in 1963 as an amateur.Bohemians struggled in the league, winning a handful of games, but the arrival of Seán Thomas as manager was soon to change things, "It was major news – Sean Thomas had managed Shamrock Rovers and brought them phenomenal success."
By the 1965/66 season, Bohs had finished third in the league and were undergoing a revival having been in the doldrums since the late 1930s.
There were offers to turn professional and semi-professional by the likes of Derry and Glentoran and Waterford.
In the end he went to Rovers in May 1966 for four times the amount they'd originally offered. The most memorable European tie Mick played in was against FC Bayern Munich in 1966. Rovers drew 1–1 at Dalymount Park but it was the return match played in below-freezing temperature in Munich that almost caused German hearts to crash. With a minute to the final whistle the score was 2–2, and qualification was beckoning for Rovers on the away goals rule. The silence of the crowd was deafening as they say, the relief palpable when Der Bomber netted the winner.
Boston Rovers
Alongside several other Rovers players, including Mick Leech, Paddy Mulligan and Frank O’Neill, Kearin was also involved in the ill-fated Boston Rovers side, who were managed by Liam Tuohy and competed in the United Soccer Association league in 1967, before dissolving just a year later.A six-week summer team to promote the advent of professional soccer in the US, the Boston Rovers games saw Mick play against the Detroit Cougars. Boston Rovers also came up against South American teams, and the likes of Sunderland, Wolves, Hibs and Stoke City amongst others.
Kearin played a couple of matches following this loan move, but after agreeing a longer deal with the Massachusetts-based team, Rovers intervened and prevented him from signing.
Return to Rovers
His seven-year stay at Glenmalure Park included scoring twice in eight appearances for Rovers in Europe.He scored in the 1969 FAI Cup final replay.
Kearin earned one international cap for the Republic of Ireland national team on 10 October 1971 in a 6–0 defeat to Austria in a UEFA [European Football Championship|European Championship] qualifier in the Linzer Stadion. Mick won three amateur caps for the Irish national team: against Scotland home and away, and Iceland away. He represented the League of Ireland XI four times while at Milltown.
He rejoined Bohs in January 1973 before he finished his career with Athlone Town.