He played 31 games and scored 4 goals for he Irish club. Pat’s the fans took to him instantly and nicknamed him “The Black Pearl of Inchicore.” Paul was a rock in the heart of the Irish side’s defence, a cool, calm and collected defender, and won the PFAI Player of the Year Award in his only season in League of Ireland football. Pat’s in a home game against Shamrock Rovers in a League of Ireland game at Richmond Park, Inchicore, Dublin. Patrick’s Athletic after working as an apprentice sheet metal worker and a security guard in the Irish capital. In 1981, the 21-year old signed as a full-time professional with St. When he was playing for the Hyde Park club he was spotted by Manchester United’s chief scout in Dublin, Billy Behan. Paul began his football career with his school side, Pearse Rovers, before joining the junior side Dalkey United in the city.

After she returned to Ireland, baby McGrath was passed from orphanage to orphanage in Dublin for the first sixteen years of his young life. Perhaps as a result of feeling guilty about becoming an unmarried mother, Betty made her way to London, where she knew no-one and gave birth to Paul. Paul was born on 4 December 1959 in Ealing, London to an Irish mother, Betty, and a Nigerian father. On 10 November 1982, Paul McGrath made his competitive debut for Manchester United, a 0-0 draw away to Bradford City in the 3rd Round of the League Cup. He was a supposedly washed-up fighter who came back from obscurity and became the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World from 13 June 1935 to 22 June 1937. “Cinderella Man” is the story of the Irish-American boxer James J. Written by John White for Manchester United Then & Now

Paul mcgrath autobiography