Tommy Gaynor

Who is Tommy Gaynor?

Tommy Gaynor was an Irish soccer player during the 1980s and 1990s.

He made his League of Ireland debut on 13 September 1981 for Limerick United before signing for Shamrock Rovers in 1982. He scored 2 goals in 3 appearances for the club in the UEFA Cup. He left to sign for Dundalk in 1983. Moved back to Limerick where he was joint top scorer in 1984–85 and top scorer in 1985–86.

He signed for Nottingham Forest in 1987 spending 5 years there before signing for Millwall in 1992.

At the City Ground he helped Forest win the Football League Cup and Full Members Cup in 1989, when they also finished third in the Football League First Division. However, he was left out of the side for the League Cup final of 1990, when Forest retained their trophy.

In his time at the City Ground, Gaynor was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Gaynor played in the rescheduled game at Old Trafford, which Liverpool won 3–1. Despite scoring regularly for the Forest first team he spent the majority of his time as a reserve player, often behind considerably less prolific strikers.