McGoldrick started out at non-league side
Kettering Town, but following a transfer to
Nuneaton Borough he established himself as a utility player in the early 1980s. He went on to move into the
Football League with
Northampton Town, where he collected a
Fourth Division title medal in 1987. McGoldrick then went on to have a spell at
Crystal Palace. Whilst with Palace he played in the
1988–89 Second Division playoff final. During the game he supplied the cross which set up
Ian Wright's goal which secured
promotion to the
First Division in Palace's 4–3 aggregate victory over
Blackburn Rovers. He also won a
Zenith Data Systems Cup winners medal with the club in the
1990–91 season. During that season, Palace also recorded their best-ever finish of third place within the league. He did however, miss out on the club's appearance in the
1990 FA Cup final. All in all with Crystal Palace he played 147 matches, scoring 11 goals. McGoldrick moved to Arsenal after Crystal Palace's relegation from the
Premier League in 1993. At Arsenal, he linked up with Wright once again, making his debut in the
Charity Shield against
Manchester United on 7 August 1993. He played a total of 38 games in the
1993–94 season, which included a
substitute appearance in Arsenal's
European Cup Winners' Cup final win over
Parma. McGoldrick was thereafter less of a regular due to the arrival of players like
Glenn Helder. He was also known for taking Arsenal's corner kicks with an unorthodox 'looping' style, by lofting the ball high into the air before it dropped in the penalty area. In all he played 57 times for Arsenal, scoring one goal; his goal coming in the
1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup against
Standard Liège. He left Arsenal for
Manchester City in the autumn of 1996. The move was initially on loan, becoming permanent on 18 October 1996 following a £300,000 transfer. McGoldrick joined the club amid a whirlwind of managerial changes. Initially signed on loan by caretaker-manager
Asa Hartford (who took over from
Alan Ball), his permanent move was the only signing of
Steve Coppell's 32-day reign, and he played under two more managers before the end of the season. McGoldrick spent two seasons with City, but was consigned to the reserves for much of his final season at the club, a loan spell at
Stockport County providing his only first-team action for 1998. He stayed on the payroll at Manchester City until retiring as a player in 1999. ==International career==