Michael McGovern

Full Name: Michael Mcgovern

Born: 12 July 1984, Enniskillen

Height: 6.02 ft

Weight: 14.00 st

Position: Goalkeeper

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Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 33 Full Caps (2010-2020), 10 Under-21 Caps (2005-2006); 3 Under-19 Caps.

Club Honours: (with Ross County) Scottish Cup Runner-Up 2009/10; Scottish League Challenge Cup Winner 2010/11; (with Falkirk) Scottish League Challenge Cup Winner 2011/12. ... (with Norwich) EFL Championship promoted 2020/21.
Awards: SPFA First Division Team of the Year 2011/12; SPFA Championship Team of the Year 2013/14; Opta/Euro 2016 Team of the Group Stage.

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Club Career:

Clubs	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	FL Cup	Other
Enniskillen Town United			Youth	(Fermanagh & Western League)
Celtic	03/4-07/8	Jul-01	Youth	0(0)/0	-	-	-
Stranraer	04/5	Jul-05	Loan	19(0)/0	-	-	-
St Johnstone	06/7	Dec-06	Loan	1(0)/0	-	-	-
Dundee United	08/9	Jun-08	Free	0(0)/0	-	-	-
Ross County	09/0-10/1	Jun-09	Free	71(0)/0	9(0)/0	5(0)/0	3(0)/0
Falkirk	11/2-13/4	Jun-11	Free	105(0)/0	7(0)/0	10(0)/0	10(0)/0
Hamilton Academical	14/5-15/6	Jun-14	Free	75(0)/0	2(0)/0	5(0)/0	-
Norwich City	16/7-22/3	Jul-16	Free	29(3)/0	5(0)/0	5(0)/0	-
Heart of Midlothianni	23/4	Jul-23	Free	0(0)/0	-	-	-
Livingston	23/4	Jan-24	Loan	2(1)/0	2(0)/0	-	-
TOTALS		£0		302(4)/0	25(0)/0	25(0)/0	13(0)/0

Biography:

Although he never made a firstteam appearance for Celtic, Michael McGovern did claim two Scottish Cup winner's medals as an unused substitute in 2004 and 2007. His senior appearances during this time were limited to loan spells with Stranraer and St Johnstone. Although he regarded his time at Celtic Park as excellent grounding, McGovern did later lament having stayed too long.

Courtesy of
Roy Cathcart

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Having captained the Northern Ireland Under-21 side and appeared in the Milk Cup 25th Anniversary Match against Everton, McGovern was first included in the Full squad for the European Championship Qualifiers against Latvia and Iceland in September 2007. His inclusion came as fellow Enniskillen-man, Roy Carroll, declared himself available for the stand-by list only. Linfield's Alan Mannus was preferred for a place on the substitute's bench for both matches. McGovern remained in the Northern Ireland squad through to 2008.

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McGovern signed a one-year deal with Dundee United on 17 June 2008. He left Tannadice after a season without making a firstteam appearance, signing for Ross County as a free agent. With The Staggies he played his part in a famous 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over his ex-club, Celtic and in the 3-0 final defeat by another ex-club, Dundee United.

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Three years after his first inclusion in the Northern Ireland senior squad, McGovern won his first cap in Chile during an end-of-season tour, though he was overlooked by Nigel Worthington thereafter. In April 2011 he kept a clean-sheet as Ross County won the Alba Challenge Cup final 2-0 against Queen of the South. When his contract ended at the end of the 2010/11 season, McGovern spent some time training with St Johnstone as he looked for a new club, eventually signing for Falkirk.

With Falkirk McGovern claimed a second Challenge Cup winner's medal, was named the club's Players' Player of the Year and has been shortlisted for the SPFA Division One Player of the Year. He also earned a re-call to the Northern Ireland squad for Michael O'Neill's first match as manager in February 2012.

In June 2014 McGovern joined newly promoted Hamilton Academicals for their debut Scottish Premiership season. He made his first ever start for Northern Ireland in a friendly against Scotland in March 2015 and earned his first competitive cap as a late stand-in for Roy Carroll in a scoreless draw against Romania that June. Good performances in those games saw him retain his position in the team for the following season, though it was his fumble that gifted Hungary their goal in a 1-1 draw in September.

McGovern retained his position as Northern Ireland's first choice as qualification for Euro 2016 was clinched. He earned great plaudits for his performances in France, with a particularly impressive display in the 1-0 group game defeat by Germany earning attention from across Europe. With his Accies contract having expired, he became much sought after and eventually joined Norwich City.

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McGovern retired in 2024 at the age of 40. He joined the coaching set-up at Queen's Park.

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Michael's younger sister, Aine has played for the Northern Ireland Women's international team and his brother Joe currently plays for Dundee United's development squad.

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Irish FA Site

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Northern Ireland Cap Details:

Cap	Date	Opponent	Venue	Comp	Res		Notes
Manager: Nigel Worthington
Club: Ross County
-	26/05/10	Turkey	N	FR	L	0-2	unused sub
1	30/05/10	Chile	A	FR	L	0-1	sub on H/T
Manager: Michael O'Neill
Club: Falkirk
-	29/02/12	Norway	H	FR	L	0-3	unused sub
-	16/10/12	Portugal	A	WCq	D	1-1	unused sub
-	14/11/12	Azerbaijan	H	WCq	D	1-1	unused sub
-	26/03/13	Israel	H	WCq	L	0-2	unused sub
-	14/08/13	Russia	H	WCq	W	1-0	unused sub
-	06/09/13	Portugal	H	WCq	L	2-4	unused sub
-	10/09/13	Luxembourg	A	WCq	L	2-3	unused sub
-	11/10/13	Azerbaijan	A	WCq	L	0-2	unused sub
-	15/10/13	Israel	A	WCq	D	1-1	unused sub
-	05/03/14	Cyprus	A	FR	D	0-0	unused sub
-	30/05/14	Uruguay	A	FR	L	0-1	unused sub
-	04/06/14	Chile	A	FR	L	0-2	unused sub
Club: Hamilton Academical
-	07/09/14	Hungary	A	ECq	W	2-1	unused sub
-	11/10/14	Faroe Islands	H	ECq	W	2-0	unused sub
-	14/10/14	Greece	A	ECq	W	2-0	unused sub
-	14/11/14	Romania	A	ECq	L	0-2	unused sub
2	25/03/15	Scotland	A	FR	L	0-1	start
-	29/03/15	Finland	H	ECq	W	2-1	unused sub
3	31/05/15	Qatar	N	FR	D	1-1	sub on 57'
4	13/06/15	Romania	H	ECq	D	0-0	start
5	04/09/15	Faroe Islands	A	ECq	W	3-1	start
6	07/09/15	Hungary	H	ECq	D	1-1	start
7	08/10/15	Greece	H	ECq	W	3-1	start
8	11/10/15	Finland	A	ECq	D	1-1	start
9	13/11/15	Latvia	H	FR	W	1-0	sub off H/T
10	24/03/16	Wales	A	FR	D	1-1	start
-	28/03/16	Slovenia	H	FR	W	1-0	unused sub
-	27/05/16	Belarus	H	FR	W	3-0	unused sub
11	04/06/16	Slovakia	N	FR	D	0-0	start
12	12/06/16	Poland	N	EC	L	0-1	start
13	16/06/16	Ukraine	N	EC	W	2-0	start
14	21/06/16	Germany	N	EC	L	0-1	start
15	25/06/16	Wales	N	EC	L	0-1	start
Club: Norwich City
16	04/09/16	Czech Republic	A	WCq	D	0-0	start
17	08/10/16	San Marino	H	WCq	W	4-0	start
18	11/10/16	Germany	A	WCq	L	0-2	start
19	11/11/16	Azerbaijan	H	WCq	W	4-0	start
20	26/03/17	Norway	H	WCq	W	2-0	start
21	02/06/17	New Zealand	H	FR	W	1-0	sub off 84'
22	10/06/17	Azerbaijan	A	WCq	W	1-0	start
23	01/09/17	San Marino	A	WCq	W	3-0	start
24	04/09/17	Czech Republic	H	WCq	W	2-0	start
25	05/10/17	Germany	H	WCq	L	1-3	start
26	08/10/17	Norway	A	WCq	L	0-1	start
27	09/11/17	Switzerland	H	WCq PO	L	0-1	start
28	12/11/17	Switzerland	A	WCq PO	D	0-0	start
-	24/03/18	South Korea	H	FR	W	2-1	unused sub
-	08/09/18	Bosnia-Herzegovina	H	NL	L	1-2	unused sub
29	11/09/18	Israel	H	FR	W	3-0	sub on H/T
-	12/10/18	Austria	A	NL	L	0-1	unused sub
-	15/10/18	Bosnia-Herzegovina	A	NL	L	0-2	unused sub
-	15/11/18	Republic of Ireland	A	FR	D	0-0	unused sub
-	18/11/18	Austria	H	NL	L	1-2	unused sub
-	21/03/19	Estonia	H	Ecq	W	2-0	unused sub
-	24/03/19	Belarus	H	Ecq	W	2-1	unused sub
-	08/06/19	Estonia	A	Ecq	W	2-1	unused sub
-	11/06/19	Belarus	A	Ecq	W	1-0	unused sub
30	05/09/19	Luxembourg	H	FR	W	1-0	sub on 67'
-	09/09/19	Germany	H	Ecq	L	0-2	unused sub
-	10/10/19	Netherlands	A	Ecq	L	1-3	unused sub
31	14/10/19	Czech Republic	A	FR	W	3-2	start
-	16/11/19	Netherlands	H	Ecq	D	0-0	unused sub
-	19/11/19	Germany	A	Ecq	L	1-6	unused sub
Manager: Ian Baraclough
-	04/09/2020	Romania	A	NL	D	1-1	unused sub
-	07/09/2020	Norway	H	NL	L	1-5	unused sub
-	08/10/2020	Bosnia-Herzegovina	A	ECq PO	D	1-1	unused sub
32	11/10/2020	Austria	H	NL	L	0-1	start
-	14/10/2020	Norway	A	NL	L	0-1	unused sub
-	12/11/2020	Slovakia	H	ECq PO	L	1-2	unused sub
33	15/11/2020	Austria	A	NL	L	1-2	start
-	18/11/2020	Romania	H	NL	D	1-1	unused sub

Summary: 29(3)/0. Won: 14, Drew 8, Lost 8.

Competition	Pl	W	D	L	GC	CS	Mins	Mins/Gl
World Cup Qualifiers/Play-Offs	12	6	2	4	7	8	1080	154.3
Euro Qualifiers	5	2	3	0	4	1	450	112.5
Euro Finals	4	1	0	3	3	1	360	120.0
UEFA Nations League	2	0	0	2	3	0	180	60.0
Friendlies	10	5	3	2	5	6	635	127.0
	33	14	8	11	22	16	2705	123.0

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