Paul Heffernan

Paul Heffernan (born 29 December 1981) is an Irish association football coach and former professional player who is first team coach of Bray Wanderers.

A striker, Heffernan played for several clubs in Great Britain which include Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Notts County, Bristol City, Kilmarnock, Hibernian, Dundee, Queen of the South, and Dumbarton.

Heffernan started his football career at Notts County and at age 18, he made his league debut, coming on as a substitute for Kevin Rapley in the 76th minute, in a 1–0 loss against Oldham Athletic on 24 April 2000.

Heffernan won the "Young Player of the Year" in 2002–03 scoring 10 goals from 25 matches.

Then, in the 2003–04 season, Heffernan scored two hat-tricks of his career: The first was in a game against Queens Park Rangers in a 3–3 draw on 26 December 2003 and the second was in a game against Stockport County, where he scored four times, in a 4–1 win on 21 February 2004.

Shortly after this, Heffernan, whose contract expired at the end of the 2003–04 season, rejected a two-and-a-half-year deal on improved terms with the club.

His rejection attracted interests from four clubs, after confirming the previous day that he was walking out the club following their relegation.

Later on in his Notts County career, Heffernan would make 100 appearances scoring 35 goals.

In the summer of 2004 Bristol City paid £150,000 for him.

Heffernan made his debut, in the opening game of the season, in a 1–1 draw against Torquay United on 7 August 2004 and then scored his first goal against Stockport County in his fifth appearance for the club.

Four months into joining the club, his form went sour so that Notts County attempted to sign him on loan.

But the next day, Heffernan scored in a FA Cup match against Brentford, but the team lost in a penalty-shootout after a 1–1 draw in regular time.

However, during the season due to injury and the form of Steve Brooker and Leroy Lita, his chances in the first team were limited.

At the end of the 2004–05 season, Heffernan said he desired to leave Bristol City.

Oldham Athletic had their bid to sign Hefferman accepted, which was followed up by Doncaster Rovers.

He joined Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 2005 for £125,000, which was then a new record transfer fee paid by the club.

The Irishman weighed in with some key goals throughout his Doncaster Rovers career.

He made his debut, in the opening game of the season, in a 0–0 draw against his former club, and scored in the next game against MK Dons.

Heffernan was involved in the squad in the League Cup that reached the quarter-finals, starting off beating Manchester City in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw after extra-time.

He converted the last penalty.

He also scored against Aston Villa in a 3–0 win, before Rovers were finally beaten in a penalty shoot-out against Arsenal.

Later in the season, Heffernan was not included in the first team.

He had scored seven times in 26 appearances.

In the 2006–07 season, under new manager Sean O'Driscoll, Heffernan made a return in the first team and was awarded League One Player of the Month for December after netting four times from five league games during the month.

Heffernan played a vital role when he scored twice in each leg of the Football League Trophy semi-final against Crewe Alexandra, goals which ultimately sent Rovers to the final of that competition.

In the 2007–08 season, Heffernan started by making nine appearances and scoring once.

His playing time was reduced before not being included in the starting 11 in late-October.

By December, he sustained ligament damage to his ankle, which kept him out of action for five weeks.

Later in the season, Heffernan sparked a moment of controversy in the 2008 League One Play-off semi-final playing against Southend United, when he headbutted an opponent due to frustration in the final minute of the match.

Heffernan was subsequently sent-off and was unable to play in the second leg, or the final against Leeds United at Wembley Stadium.

After a 3–2 win, he finished his season with 30 appearances and eight goals in all competitions.

Heffernan reflected on his incident, quoting:

I was suspended for the final at Wembley because I got sent off in the semi-final first leg, so that wasn't great.

It was a bad day for me and it also involved Celtic's Charlie Mulgrew, who was playing for Southend at the time, on loan from Wolves.

I was provoked.

It was at the end of the game and it wasn't really a headbutt.

Seven days later, Heffernan signed a new deal with the club, that would keep him there till 2010.

Shortly after that, Heffernan damaged his ankle against Port Vale and was out for a month.

He made his return just in time for the Football Trophy final and scored the second goal at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff against Bristol Rovers, which Doncaster won 3–2.

Soon afterwards, Heffernan once again damaged his ankle, against Millwall, which meant him missing the rest of the season, though he still made 43 appearances and scored 21 goals, making him the club's top-scorer for the season.