PLAYER PROFILE

David Healy

Position: Forward

Height: 5'8

Weight: 10st 9lbs

Date of Birth: 1979-08-05 Downpatrick, Northern Ireland

David Healy

In recent years David Healy has made himself the most important player for Northern Ireland in decades, scoring a whole host of crucial and occasionally legendary goals for his country. Healy was born in Downpatrick in August 1979 and looked set for stardom as a teenager when he was signed by Manchester United, and he was a prolific scorer in their youth and reserve teams.

However, with many big name forwards ahead of him in the pecking order he was limited to just three substitute appearances for United and loan spells at Port Vale and Preston. By this stage though, he was already a superstar for his country, making his debut for Northern Ireland in February 2000, after just one cameo for his club.

He certainly made an impact, playing the full 90 minutes against Luxembourg and scoring two goals in a 3-1 win. A month later he added another goal in another win, this time at Malta, and it was obvious even at that early stage what an impact he was going to have on Northern Ireland over the rest of his career.

He added two more goals in 2000, against Yugoslavia and Denmark, before making his only Premiership appearance for Manchester United as a substitute against Ipswich Town. He came close to marking that with a goal, crashing a header against the post, but that was his last action for the club, joining Preston on loan a week later and making the move permanent in January 2001 after scoring on his debut against Sheffield United.

He continued to make an impressive start to his career at Deepdale in what remained of the season and in 2001/02, but the goals dried up for him and Northern Ireland at international level as they suffered a long spell without scoring. He finally ended that in February 2004 with a goal in a 4-1 defeat at home to Norway, with another goal in Estonia in the following month earning Northern Ireland their first victory since 2001.

Three goals in three games on a summer tour of the Caribbean continued his good form for his country, and in October he left Preston to sign for Leeds United, taking his steady supply of goals to Elland Road.

His two finest moments have both come for his country in recent years, scoring the winning goal in a legendary World Cup qualifier victory over England in September 2005 and then grabbing a hat-trick in a remarkable comeback win at home to Spain a year later, and it is obvious that he remains Northern Ireland's most deadly finisher and most crucial talent.

Healy couldn't help prevent Leeds from dropping down to League One in 2006/07 though, and in July 2007 he linked up with Lawrie Sanchez again at Fulham.