Pat Bonner was born in Donegal on the 24th of May 1960. By the time he was 18 years old he had become the great Jock Stein's final signing for Celtic - joining the Bhoys from Donegal side Keadue Rovers in 1978. It took the young Bonner a couple of seasons to make his mark at Parkhead. However, by the start of the 1980 / 1981 season he had become the first choice goalkeeper at Celtic. Bonner remained the first choice goalkeeper there for well over a decade - clocking up an impressive 483 appearances for the Scottish giants in the process.

Pat Bonner in the early to mid 1980s.

During his time at Celtic, Bonner won plenty of honours also. He won the Scottish League Championship in 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1988. He won two Scottish Cup Winners' medals in 1985 and 1995. He won a Runners-up medal in 1984 and also in 1990. Bonner's success at Celtic is still remembered at Parkhead to this day - he is widely regarded by Celtic supporters as being one of the best (if not the best) goalkeeper to have ever played for the club.

Pat Bonner during the famous 1-0 win over England in 1988.

Pat Bonner made his international debut for Ireland in the 3-0 friendly defeat away to Poland on May 24th 1981 - his 21st birthday! He was in and out of the Irish side for five more years before Jack Charlton became the manager of the team. One of Charlton's first decisions was to decide who would have the Number 1 jersey as Ireland attempted to qualify for the 1988 European Championships that were to be held in West Germany. He looked at Gerry Peyton of Fulham very briefly but quickly decided that Pat Bonner was the man for the job. In many ways it was one of Charlton's most inspired decisions because Pat Bonner went on to become one of the most respected goalkeepers in world football while wearing the Irish jersey. At the 1988 European Championships, Bonner's class was one of the lasting memories brought home from West Germany. Against England, and Gary Lineker in particular, he showed his strengths as a shot-stopper, producing a string of world class saves to frustrate a team who had been one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Bonner saves the penalty against Romania in 1990.

However, Bonner's finest moment wearing an Irish jersey was to come two years' later at the 1990 World Cup Finals. In the Second Round match against Romania, the match went to a penalty shootout. Bonner saved Romania's fifth penalty from Daniel Timofte. David O'Leary scored Ireland's next penalty and both players instantly entered Irish sporting folklore. The fact that Bonner had been beaten by Romania's previous four penalties did not matter! He had stopped the one that counted and Ireland were through to the Quarter-Finals to face the host nation, Italy. Four years later, however, at the 1994 World Cup in the USA it was a very different story. In the Florida heat, against a very strong Holland side, Bonner misjudged a long-range shot from Wim Jonk allowing Jonk to score against him. His mistake contributed to Ireland's disappointing exit from the tournament and he won only three more caps after that. After the highs of Euro '88 and Italy 1990, the 1994 World Cup was in many ways the end of Bonner's playing days for Ireland.

After he had retired from playing football, Bonner took up a variety of coaching roles: first at Celtic, then at Reading and now with the Irish team under current manager Brian Kerr. He is Ireland's most capped goalkeeper and many would argue that he is also Ireland's best ever goalkeeper. His record of 44 clean sheets in 80 appearances is incredible and bears testimony to his fierce athleticism and shot-stopping prowess. For a relatively big man (he was over 6ft 4in tall and he weighed over 14 stones) he was very agile and possessed tremendous reactions.