Early career and Gaelic games Born in
Perrystown, Quinn started playing association football for his local club
Manortown United as a nine-year-old. Initially a goalkeeper, he did not play outfield until he was twelve. He later moved to Lourdes Celtic in
Crumlin and played as a centre-back or midfielder. It was not until he represented
Drimnagh Castle Secondary School in association football that he finally became a centre-forward. The son of All-Ireland-winning Tipperary hurler Billy, Quinn also participated in
Gaelic games, playing
Gaelic football and
hurling for local Perrystown club
Robert Emmets. His sporting career came to a crossroads when, aged 16, he played in the 1983
All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship final, was offered a contract to play professional
Australian rules football as well as receiving an offer from Arsenal to pursue a career in
association football.
Arsenal After an unsuccessful trial at
Fulham, he signed professional forms with English club
Arsenal in 1983. He was signed as a centre-forward, but also had a brief spell as a centre-half for the Arsenal third team. After scoring 18 goals in 18 reserve matches in the first half of the 1985–86 season, Quinn was included in the first-team squad for a match against
Liverpool. He made a further 11 league appearances for Arsenal that season, but failed to score as they finished seventh in the league. The end of the season brought Quinn his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team. Quinn found himself playing under a new manager for the
following season, as
George Graham was appointed in place of
Don Howe. Quinn had a regular place in the side that season, appearing in 35 league games and scoring eight goals. He also collected a
Football League Cup winner's medal as Arsenal triumphed 2–1 over Liverpool. However, after Arsenal signed another target man,
Alan Smith, in the 1987 close season, Quinn struggled to get into the team. Over the next three seasons he managed a total of just 20 league appearances and five goals – his three appearances in
1988–89 not being enough for a title medal. Quinn's lack of opportunities led him to submit a written transfer request at the start of the 1989–90 season. In total he scored 20 goals in 94 appearances for Arsenal, of which 81 were starts. He marked his debut with a goal, in a 1–1 draw against
Chelsea at
Maine Road. City goalkeeper
Tony Coton had been sent off before half time for fouling
Dean Saunders to concede the penalty. At this time teams rarely named goalkeepers as substitutes, so Quinn replaced Coton in goal. Other notable games included the
Manchester derby on 7 November 1993, in which he scored twice in the first half to put City 2–0 up against
United by half time, although a remarkable United comeback saw City lose 3–2. In the 1993 close season,
Everton made a bid to sign Quinn and a further bid was made early in the
1993–94 season, but both bids were rejected and Quinn remained at
Maine Road for a further three seasons. A cruciate ligament injury sustained in a match against
Sheffield Wednesday in November 1993 caused Quinn to miss the majority of the 1993–94 season, and prevented him from playing in the
1994 FIFA World Cup. He returned at the start of the 1994–95 season, but the partnership forged by
Uwe Rösler and
Paul Walsh in his absence meant he was not always a starter. In an attempt to reduce the wage bill, Manchester City tried to sell Quinn in the 1995 close season, but a proposed move to Lisbon club
Sporting fell through after failure to agree contractual terms. He managed a total of 193 league appearances in over six years at
Maine Road, and scored a total of 64 goals for them.
Sunderland ; both players scored a combined 194 goals in all competitions within six seasons Quinn finished his career with a highly successful spell at
Sunderland, joining the north-east club in August 1996 for a club record £1.3 million, although he missed six months of his first season due to a knee injury – similar to the one which ruined his World Cup chances three years earlier. Before his injury, he had got off to a fine start to his Sunderland career, finding the net twice on his debut in a 4–1 win at
Nottingham Forest. In his absence from September to March, Sunderland struggled and although he was back in action by the end of the season, they were relegated. His partnership with striker
Kevin Phillips, signed in the 1997 close season, was one of the most prolific in the
Football League in the late 1990s/early 2000s (a combined 194 goals for both players in all competitions from 1997–98 to 2002–03) and helped the club to regain promotion to the
Premiership for the 1999–2000 season. In March 1999, Quinn again had to play in goal, this time replacing the injured
Thomas Sørensen in a game against
Bradford City. In similar circumstances to when playing for Manchester City against Derby County in 1991, Quinn scored and then went in goal, and kept a clean sheet to help his side win. He also has the distinction of being the first player to score at Sunderland's
Stadium of Light, against Manchester City in 1997. He quickly became a legend at Sunderland, winning both the Sunderland and North East Sportswriters' Player of the Year awards in 1999 after scoring 21 goals in Sunderland's record-breaking Division One title-winning season. His final appearance for Sunderland came on 19 October 2002 against
West Ham United. In a league career lasting 17 years, he had played a total of 475 times in the
Premier League and
Football League, scoring 141 goals. ==International career==