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Fullname: Colin Healy
Born: 14 Mar 1980
Birthplace: Ballincollig, County Cork, Republic of Ireland
Signed: 1 Aug 1998
Left: 14 Aug 2003
Position: Midfielder
Debut:
Internationals: Ireland
International Caps 13
International Goals 1

Biog

A promising midfielder, Colin Healy made his way up through the ranks at Celtic having been spotted by Mick Conroy.

A busy box-to-box performer, he made his Celtic debut under Dr Jo Venglos, playing 3 games before being relegated to the reserves under John Barnes. Following the Englishman's departure, Kenny Dalglish brought Healy back into the first team. It was during this short run in the first team that Healy scored his only goal for the club (see Farewell Then Healy, below) - against Rab Douglas, who would become a team-mate of Healy's when Martin O'Neill took charge, in summer 2000. O'Neill appeared to take a shine to Healy, and the Cork man picked up a League Cup winner's medal.

After Celtic
Healy was shown the door having never really forced his way into the first team for any length of time. He moved to Sunderland, to play for his old Ireland manager Mick McCarthy - the man who had attempted to call him up to the Irish World Cup squad in 2002 following Roy Keane's infamous departure. Healy was, however, called up after the deadline for squad replacements and couldn't take part in Ireland's campaign.

His time at Sunderland also saw the beginning of a cruel series of injuries, the first of which was as a broken leg as a result of an horrific challenge by Youssouf Safri in December, 2003. Having recovered from that injury, Healy broke down in training as a result of another broken leg.

Healy managed to recover from his injury hell and joined Livingston, having gone back home to Cork to consider his future in football. Little more than a year later, he returned home to play for Cork City.

Healy was controversially banned from playing for Cork until July 2007 by FIFA under their 3-club rule. Cork City appealed, citing the example of Javier Mascherano, who had been available for selection for Liverpool despite having been registered at three different clubs between July and June. FIFA had adjudicated that, as Corinthians played in January-December league, that he was exempt from that law but bizarrely decided that Healy was not, despite the EirCom League also running from January to December.

Healy became a key member of the Cork side and in July 2009 was linked with a £100,000 move back to England with Hartlepool United. However, Ipswich, now managed by Roy Keane, made a late move for the player and Colin completed a surprise switch to Portman Road on July 23rd. Then in January 2010 he was loaned out to Falkirk for the rest of that season. He scored his first Ipswich goal against Doncaster Rovers in February 2011.

Healy re-signed for Cork City on 28 January 2012, two and a half years after leaving.

Playing Career

CLUB	FROM	TO	FEE	LEAGUE		SCOTTISH/FA CUP		LGE CUP		OTHER
				APPS	GLS	APPS	GLS	APPS	GLS	APPS	GLS
Falkirk	12-Jan-10	01-Jun-10	Loan	17 (2)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Ipswich	24-Jul-09		Signed	10 (9)	2	1 (0)	0	7 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Cork City	01-Jul-07	24-Jul-09	Free	No appearance data available
Bradford	01-Nov-06	06-Dec-06	Loan	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Barnsley	10-Aug-06	01-May-07	Free	0 (8)	0	0 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Livingston	09-Mar-06	10-Aug-06	Signed	6 (3)	2	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Sunderland	14-Aug-03	31-May-05	Free	16 (4)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Coventry	29-Jan-02	22-Apr-02	Loan	17 (0)	2	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Celtic	01-Aug-98	14-Aug-03	Signed	16 (14)	1	3 (1)	0	5 (1)	2	3 (5)	0

Honours with Celtic

[...]

Pictures

• Colin Healy photos

Further Links

• Not The View - Farewell Then Healy