Brian Mooney came from a strong footballing background as his father Gerry was a goalkeeper for Shamrock Rovers and won a schoolboy cap playing alongside Johnny Giles.

But it was up at the other end of the pitch where Mooney excelled and he showed such potential at Home Farm and secured a move to the all-conquering Liverpool in 1983.

But he found chances few and far between - he did feature in a league cup tie against Fulham 1986 when Kenny Dalglish was in charge - so loan moves to Wrexham and Preston North End followed before secured permanent moves to Sunderland - from there he briefly went on loan to Burnley - and back home at Shelbourne, Bohemians, UCD and finally Monaghan United.

For Ireland, Mooney represented the young boys in green at the 1983 and 1984 Uefa European under 18 Football Championship and they would reach the semi-finals in the latter tournament.

He was also part of the Irish squad that reached the 1985 Fifa World Youth Championship and he managed to score in a 4-2 loss to Spain although the boys in green would fail to progress from a difficult group that included Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

He also played for the under 21s, under 23s, and then up to B internationals but never made it into the senior squad although Jack Charlton considered calling him into the squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.