Anthony Brendan Byrne was born on February 2, 1946, in Rathdowney, County Laois, Ireland and died on June 13, 2016.

He was an Irish former professional football player.

Tony Byrne won a total of 14 caps for the Republic of Ireland and during his career from 1963 to 1978 played for Millwall, Southampton, Hereford United and Newport County.

Tony Byrne was originally a midfield player who switched to left-back and he had a career total of 229 league games scoring 4 goals.

He only made one appearance for Millwall, and was signed by Ted Bates for Southampton for a fee of £8,000 in August 1964.

Tony gained his Saints debut in an FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace in January 1965, Byrne took a long time to break into the Southampton first team, mainly because of a broken leg sustained in a reserve team match in April 1966.

Tony Byrne had his best season with The Saints was 1969-70, in which he made 35 league appearances, playing in defence alongside Joe Kirkup and John McGrath, as Saints again fought to avoid relegation.

Byrne scored his first league goal in the final match of the season in a 1–1 draw against Derby County.

He did not score at his Derby’s 88th-minute goal after a poor back-pass, Byrne quickly turned from villain to hero as he slotted in a bobbling ball in the 90th minute in a dramatic climax to the season.

Tony was at The Dell for ten years during which time he made a total of 114 first team appearances and won 14 Irish caps.

When he retired from football, he worked as a foreman at Hereford golf course before working as a builder.

Tony Byrne passed away at 70 yrs old.