Ronnie Whelan was born in Dublin on September 25th 1961. His father, Ronnie Whelan (Senior), had also represented Ireland as an international football player, winning two caps for Ireland in the early 1960s. Whelan (Junior) initially played for the Dublin side, Home Farm; he made his senior debut for them on his sixteenth birthday in fact. However, it was in October 1979 that his potential was finally recognised when he joined Liverpool. He made his international debut for Ireland in a friendly against Czechoslovakia having only made one appearance for Liverpool's first team!

Ronnie Whelan and Jim Beglin battle for possession during Ireland's 2-1 defeat to England at Wembley in 1985.

There are very few Irish players in the history of the game who can claim to have been as successful as Whelan: Ronnie Whelan won the 'Young Player of the Year' award in 1982. In his time at Liverpool, Whelan won six League Championships, three FA Cups, three League Cups and one European Cup. He was the captain of the great Liverpool team of the late 1980s and led the club through the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. Regrettably, Whelan only played a small part for Ireland in both the 1990 World Cup Finals and the 1994 World Cup Finals. In 1990, he picked up an injury just before the tournament started. He was still selected to travel with the squad. However, manager Jack Charlton did not - to Whelan's considerable annoyance - deem him fit enough to play in any of Ireland's matches in Italia '90.

By the 1994 World Cup Finals, Whelan was very much in the twilight of his playing career. At 32 years of age, he was one of the oldest members of the Irish squad that travelled to the Finals in the USA. Whelan's only appearance in the whole tournament was when he came on as a second-half substitute for Andy Townsend in the match against Norway. In June 1995 Whelan played his last match in an Ireland jersey - in the 3-1 defeat to Austria at Lansdowne Road.

Ronnie Whelan celebrates during his one and only appearance at USA '94.

Whelan's finest hour as a Republic of Ireland player has to be the goal he scored against the Soviet Union in the 1988 European Championships in West Germany.Mick McCarthy delivered a long throw towards the edge of the penalty area and Whelan volleyed it spectacularly into the Soviets' goal! Later in the match, Ireland's defence was undone and they conceded a goal meaning that the final score was 1-1. They lost their next match to the eventual tournament winners, Holland 1-0. However, the lasting memory of Euro '88 for many Irish supporters is Ray Houghton's winning goal against England and Ronnie Whelan's goal against the Soviets. After he retired from International football, Whelan went to manage English club Southend United and also Greek club Panionios. Both managerial spells were not successful ones for Whelan and he now lives in the Nort-west of England. Ronnie Whelan won a total of 53 caps for the Republic of Ireland and scored three goals for them during that time.

Ronnie Whelan's last game for Ireland! A disappointing 3-1 defeat to Austria in 1995.