Michael Alphonsus Finucane was born in 1943. He started playing football with Reds United when he was eight and played at Under-13 level in the local schoolboy leagues. He joined Limerick as a 17-year-old under manager
Ewan Fenton. Finucane played regularly for the reserve side until August 1961 when he again played for the senior team during Limerick's
Shield campaign. Initially played at
inside-left, Finucane scored eight goals in the 1961–62 season. He would later change position to
centre-half, where he established himself as a ball-playing defender. He continued to play for the club until 1973, making over 250 league appearances. During his time at Waterford, Finucane shared the dressing room with former England captain and World Cup winner
Bobby Charlton, who Finucane described as "a big hero of mine". He scored in the opening game of their cup campaign, a 5–1 victory over
Thurles Town, and was part of a back-four that kept a clean sheet against
Cork United in the second round. In the following round, Waterford beat the recent winners of the League Cup, Athlone Town, to setup a semi-final tie against Finucane's old team, now known as Limerick United. The first game against Limerick ended in a 1–1 draw but Waterford won the replay 3–2. Finucane remained at the club during the
1983–84 season, when financial and off-the-field issues resulted in the club changing their kit colours and their name from Limerick United to Limerick City. On 31 October, Finucane started in the club's
Munster Senior Cup victory over Cobh Ramblers. He played one final season for Limerick before he was released at the end of the 1985–86 season at the age of 42. As of 2023, he remains the oldest player who ever played in any European club competition. He retired from football in April 1988. His final game brought Finucane's total number of league appearances to 634 (376 with Limerick, 237 with Waterford and 21 with Newcastlewest) which, as of 2025, set the record for the most appearances made by any player in the League of Ireland. Despite a playing career that lasted 27 seasons, Finucane was never sent off and only received 3 yellow cards. == International career ==