Seán Dillon (born 30 July 1983) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Scottish League One club Montrose, where he is a player-coach. He previously played for Dundee United and Irish teams Longford Town and Shelbourne in the League of Ireland prior to joining Dundee United in January 2007 then Montrose in June 2017. He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-16, under-21 and B international level.

Seán Dillon
Dillon playing for Dundee United in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1983-07-30) 30 July 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Montrose (player-coach)
Number 14
Youth career
Cherry Orchard[1]
1999–2002 Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2005 Longford Town
2006 Shelbourne 29 (0)
2007–2017 Dundee United 274 (7)
2017– Montrose 198 (7)
International career
1999–2000 Republic of Ireland U16 2 (0)
2005 Republic of Ireland U21 1 (0)
2007 Republic of Ireland B 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 02:07, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Club career

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Dillon was a youth player with Aston Villa but moved back to Ireland in 2002 with Longford Town, where he won two FAI Cups and a League of Ireland Cup during his four years at Flancare Park. In 2006, he moved to Shelbourne and helped them to their thirteenth league championship win, also scoring the only goal of the game in Shels' Intertoto Cup win in Lithuania over FK Vėtra. In January 2007, Dillon moved to Scottish side Dundee United for an undisclosed fee.[2]

In March 2008 he collected a Scottish League Cup runners-up medal despite being an unused substitute in the final.[3] However, on 15 May 2010, he was then a part of the Dundee United team who defeated Ross County 3–0 to lift the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park.[3]

Not long after the beginning of the 2012–13 season Dillon signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until May 2015.[4] He was then appointed club captain by manager Jackie McNamara for the 2013–14 season.[5]

On 30 June 2017, it was announced that Dillon had signed a two-year contract as a player-coach with Montrose.[6] In the 2017–18 season Dillon didn’t miss a game, as the gable endies clinched the Scottish League 2 title by one point. In 2019, Dillon signed a contract extension keeping him at Montrose until summer 2021, with manager Stewart Petrie crediting him with having a "huge influence on the teams success" since his arrival.[7] In December 2022, Dillon agreed a one-year extension with Montrose which would keep him with the Gable Endies until 2024.[8]

International career

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Dillon represented the Republic of Ireland Under-16 team at the 2000 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship and is a former Republic of Ireland under-21 international who represented his country at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, appearing as a substitute in the second round exit. Dillon also represented the Republic of Ireland under-21 team on one occasion[9] and played alongside United teammate Noel Hunt for the Ireland B team in October 2007 in a match against Scotland who included teammate Darren Dods.[10]

Personal

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His aunt Noeleen McMahon won four caps for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team

Career statistics

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As of match played 3 September 2018[11]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Scottish Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dundee United 2006–07[12] Scottish Premier League 15 0 1 0 0 0 16 0
2007–08[13] 33 2 3 0 4 0 40 2
2008–09[14] 19 0 2 0 3 0 24 0
2009–10[15] 33 0 5 0 3 0 41 0
2010–11[16] 34 1 5 0 2 0 2[a] 0 43 1
2011–12[17] 28 0 3 0 0 0 2[a] 0 33 0
2012–13[18] 31 0 3 0 2 0 1[a] 0 37 0
2013–14[19] Scottish Premiership 23 1 2 0 2 0 27 1
2014–15[20] 27 1 3 0 3 0 33 1
2015–16[21] 26 2 4 0 1 0 31 2
2016–17[22] Scottish Championship 10 0 0 0 3 0 8[b] 0 21 0
Total 279 7 31 0 23 0 13 0 346 7
Montrose 2017–18[23] Scottish League Two 36 2 2 0 4 0 2[c] 0 44 2
2018-19[24] Scottish League One 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 9 0
UK Career total 320 9 33 0 31 0 15 0 399 9
  1. ^ a b c Appearances in the Europa League
  2. ^ Four appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup and four in the Premiership play-offs
  3. ^ Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup

Honours

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Longford Town

Shelbourne

Dundee United

Montrose

References

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  1. ^ "your club". www.cherryorchardfc.yourclub.ie.
  2. ^ "Dillon completes Dundee Utd move". BBC Sport website. 11 January 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Seán Dillon". Arab Archive.
  4. ^ "New Dundee United deal for defender Sean Dillon". BBC Sport. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  5. ^ Duthie, Tom (11 July 2013). "Dundee United boss: Dillon decision was easy". Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  6. ^ Roache, Ian (30 June 2017). "Former Dundee United skipper Sean Dillon joins Montrose as player-coach". The Courier. Dundee. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Montrose FC Online - GABLE ENDIES DELIGHTED WITH DILLON CONTRACT EXTENSION". www.montrosefc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  8. ^ Smith, Ewan. "Sean Dillon refusing to give up on Hampden fling in his 40s as Montrose veteran agrees new deal until 2024". The Courier. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  9. ^ Dey, Graeme (26 October 2007). "Dillon realistic on cap chances". The Courier (Dundee). Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
  10. ^ Lindsay, Clive (20 November 2007). "Scotland B 1–1 Rep of Ireland B". BBC Sport website.
  11. ^ Seán Dillon at Soccerway. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  19. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  20. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Games played by Seán Dillon in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  24. ^ "Soccerbase - Sean Dillon".
  25. ^ "Scottish League Two: Montrose win title; Peterhead, Stirling & Stenhousemuir enter play-offs". BBC.
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