Dundalk F.C.

Date Of Birth:	23-Feb-1968
Place Of Birth:	Limerick
Total Appearances:	150
Total Goals:	48
Position:	STR
Nationality:	IRE
Debut:	16-Aug-1990 Leinster Cup, Longford Town (h) 7-0

Bio:

Striker Peter Hanrahan, following the path of older brother Joe, arrived at UCD a year or two after his brother had left and for three seasons lined out with the College team in Division One. In his third season, 1988-89, the Students second place finish earned promotion to the Premier Division after they squeezed out Bray Wanderers on goals difference.

For the following year he lined out with his home town club, who struggled all season but managed to avoid the drop. But Peter’s nine league goals was enough to attract the attention of Turlough O’Connor and he found himself at Oriel Park with a new bunch—Mick Kavanagh, Ronnie Murphy, Richie Purdy—plus James Coll from the previous year, grafted on to the remnants of the 1987-88 Double-winning squad.

Peter’s scoring record before coming to Dundalk was modest enough—22 strikes from 102 League games—but there was little modest about his goal a game for the first four league games that belied this record.

And in spite of an opening day 5-1 thrashing by Shelbourne, Dundalk’s defence proved near-impregnable, conceding just 12 goals for the remaining 32 games and finishing with 23 clean sheets while Hanrahan’s regular scoring (18 in the League), supplemented by Terry Eviston and Tom McNulty, each contributing ten goals, kept the points haul ticking over.

It all came down to a last day confrontation in Cork, settled by Tom McNulty’s 73rd minute winner and delivering Turlough O’Connor’s second and Dundalk’s eight Championship Pennant.

Hanrahan’s 18 goals gave him the top League marksman award and he was honoured with the Soccer Writers ‘Player of the Year’. Thanks to his early season strike rate—scoring in six of the nine September/October games—he also picked up the Player of the Month Award for October.

He continued at Oriel Park for a further three seasons, and finished with a respectable four-season haul of 48 goals from 150 appearances. But this period saw the gradual break up of Turlough O’Connor’s squads and there were no more successes. The last chance for glory—and Turlough’s last hurrah—came in the 1993 FAI Cup final with Shelbourne’s single goal victory.

A season later, Peter followed Turlough O’Connor to Dalymount Park, where he stayed for five seasons, leaving in 1998-99 after a disagreement with manager Roddy Collins. Apart from a couple of League runners up finishes, there were no further honours for Peter. He moved to UCD but in February 2000 he was injured in a Cup game against Bohemians that prematurely ended his career.

What They Said About Him

After the 1990-91 League Championship victory, the Argus recognised Peter’s role “His goals spearheaded the way to glory with a total of 18 goals and he missed just one game.”

Honours:

1 Win: League 1990-91

2 Runners Up: FAI Cup 1992-93; Leinster Cup 1993-94.

Leading Scorer: 1990-91

Soccer Personality of the Year : 1990-91

Player of the Month October 1990

All-Star League of Ireland team

1 League of Ireland cap

Career Stats

League Games Career
		Apps	Gls
UCD	1986-89	70(0)	13
Limerick	1989-90	32(0)	9
Dundalk	1990-94	124(0)	38
Bohemians	1994-99	99(16)	16
UCD	1999-00	10(4)	3
14 seasons		335(20)	79

European Competition Player Stats
			Ap(Sb)Gl
Dundalk	1991-92	EUC	2 (0) 0
Bohemians	1995-96	ITC	3 (0) 0
Bohemians	1996-97	UFC	2 (0) 0
Bohemians	1997-98	UFC	2 (0) 0
Total			9 (0) 0
EUC=European Cup; ITC=Inter Toto Cup; UFC=UEFA Cup;