Mark James Kearney is a retired English footballer who played in The Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 for Mansfield Town

Mansfield Town F.C.

Mansfield Town Football Club is an English football club from the former mining town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The club was formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and changed its name to Mansfield Wesley in 1906 before settling on Mansfield Town in 1910...

 and Bury

Bury F.C.

Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...

.

Kearney was born in Ormskirk

Ormskirk

Ormskirk is a market town in West Lancashire, England. It is situated north of Liverpool city centre, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston.-Geography and administration:...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, and began his career at Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

. However, he never played in a competitive fixture for Everton, and joined Mansfield on a free transfer in March 1983. He made his debut for the Stags on 19 March 1983 against Colchester United

Colchester United F.C.

Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....

. He was a versatile player who could play on the left wing, as left-back or in midfield. He also became Mansfield's penalty-taker when John Dungworth

John Dungworth

John Henry Dungworth is a football coach.-Career:Born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, Dungworth began his playing career at Huddersfield Town, where he signed schoolboy forms in 1969, and scored on his first-team début against Middlesbrough in 1972...

 left the club in 1984.

He was a member of the Mansfield side that got promoted from Division Four in 1986

1985-86 in English football

The 1985–86 season was the 106th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :The championship crown went to Liverpool for the 16th time in their history at the end of their first season under the management of Kenny Dalglish, but they had to fight off some very stiff competition to...

, and he was also a member of the side that won the Freight Rover Trophy

Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...

 at Wembley in 1987. As the club's regular penalty-taker, Kearney scored the first goal in the penalty shootout, and also scored the winning goal from the penalty spot when Mansfield won against Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough F.C.

Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...

 in the quarter-final of the same competition.

In total, Kearney played 303 first-team games and scored 37 goals for Mansfield before leaving the club to join Bury in January 1991. He spent three years at Gigg Lane

Gigg Lane

Gigg Lane is an all-seater football stadium in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it was built for Bury F.C. in 1885, and has been their home ever since.-History:...

, playing just over a hundred games for the club before being released on a free transfer at the end of the 1993-94

1993-94 in English football

The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...

 season. He then joined non-league Telford United

Telford United F.C.

Telford United F.C. was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire.The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and played at this level for 25 years before being wound up in...

, who were managed by his former Mansfield teammate George Foster

George Foster (footballer)

George Walter Foster is a retired English footballer and manager, who spent the majority of his career at Plymouth Argyle and Mansfield Town...

, as player-coach, spending three seasons at Telford before retiring from football in 1997.

Since his retirement from football, Kearney has had coaching jobs at Mansfield, Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town F.C.

Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...

, Northampton Town

Northampton Town F.C.

Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...

 and Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

.