Leinster Senior League: Philip Hughes
Firstly we have the Leinster Senior League, and undoubtedly one of its most accomplished players is Philip Hughes. Having played for as many as eleven different teams in the League of Ireland, he’s been an in demand player for most of his career and has been nominated for or won a number of sporting accolades. He’s played for teams like Dundalk, Monaghan United and Shelbourne.
His career started in the 1999-2000 season where he played for the Leinster team the Tolka Rovers. He was a prodigy right out of the gate, scoring nine goals in his 22 appearances for the team in that first season. He would quickly move on to the more prestigious leagues in Ireland after his enormously successful first season, but it was his time in the Leinster Senior League that paved the way for his future success.
Munster Senior League: John Caulfield
Caulfield has had a prolific career across Irish League teams, having started his career with Athlone Town in 1983. He had been born in the States and had moved to Ireland with his parents when he was young, and would attend football games with his father from an early age. He had success in Athlone Town, Wembley, Cork City before ultimately finishing his senior career at Avondale United in the Munster Senior League in the 2001-2002 season. He was a forward player.
Since retiring as a player he has gone on to have an equally varied managerial career, again returning to Avondale United for eight years between 2002 and 2010. Since then he has worked as manager for teams like Cork City and Galway United. Though, then, he has played for or worked with many other teams, he certainly became well known for his commitment to Avondale United, smaller as it may have been than some of the other teams he played for.
Ulster Senior League: Kevin McHugh
Born in Letterkenny, Kevin McHugh is widely considered to be among the best known sportsmen of Donegal. He started his career playing for Ballybofey-side, and later for Finn Harps, where he would make his professional debut and start his senior career. His success in his time at Finn Harps is difficult to overstate: in 184 appearances he scored 110 goals, and gained a reputation across Irish football as an incredibly effective forward. This puts him fifth in the history of all League of Ireland players in terms of goal scoring. He would later player on loan for Omagh Town as well as for Derry City, Linfield, before returning to Finn Harps in 2010 for six years where he would score another 56 goals in 81 appearances.
Today, he has retired as a player but has remained loyal to Finn Harps where he now manages the under-15 League of Ireland team.
League of Ireland Premier Division: Patrick Hoban
Finally we have Patrick Hoban, one of the most successful players in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He was born in Loughrea, in Galway, and enjoyed not only football but also hurling as a youth. He started playing for Mervue United in 2009 and helped to promote them to the League of Ireland. He would gain his greatest success, though, with the Premier Division team Dundalk, where he first played in 2013. In his first season with the team he would score 34 goals in 60 appearances. Since 2018 he has re-joined the team, scoring a further 83 goals in 163 appearances.
This makes him one of the highest scoring players in the Premier Division, and undoubtedly one of the most famous Irish football players in the game today. He has gained a great reputation as a relentless forward who always delivers.
These players are some of the best known in Irish football today, and understandably they’ve made a big impact on the sport and their leagues in particular. Association football is consistently one of if not the most popular sport in many European countries, and Ireland is certainly no different. The Irish leagues are an incredible display of world-class talent and so it is no surprise that the game here is as popular as anywhere else in Europe.