Denis Irwin grew up in the southern Irish  County of cork  and at first his sporting future was not set on football. The reason for this was that he was one of the more popular, related sports in Ireland  Gaelic football  and  Hurling  in stages like that  Croke Park  and the  Páirc Uí Chaoimh  had followed. He had with him  John Allen  - later a successful trainer in the strongholds of Cork and Limerick - also a well-known mentor.

In March 1982, however, he turned away from the Irish national sports and joined the youth division of in northern England  Leeds United  at. Two and a half months after he turned 18 there.  Having signed his first professional contract around his birthday, it debuted on March 16.  January 1984 in a competitive game against  Scunthorpe United  (2: 4 in  FA Cup ) and five days later he played his first second division game against the  Fulham FC  (1: 0). In the following season 1984/85 Irwin conquered under coach  Eddie Gray  the regular place on the right side of the defense before he succeeded him after Gray's resignation in October 1985  Billy Bremner  surprising at  Neil Aspin  lost again. In addition, Leeds allowed him even after the end of the season 1986/87 a transfer-free club change and with the league competitor  Oldham Athletic  A prospective buyer was quickly found, and Irwin then hired him.

On the first day of play, he replaced the one previously positioned there on the right side of the defense  Willie Donachie  and in a 1986/87 season in which Irwin only missed one league game, Oldham failed in  Promotion fight  only in the  Play-offs  to Irwin's ex-Leeds club. After two years in the midfield of the English Second Division, the 1989/90 season brought a significant sporting development. Irwin reached with Oldham not only in the league  eighth rank . In addition to participating in the final, the  League Cup  against  Nottingham Forest  (0: 1) moving into  Cup semi-finals  groundbreaking, in which Irwin and his men barely opposed  Manchester United  - and only lost through a replay. "Uniteds" coach  Alex Ferguson  was so impressed by Irwin's performance that he signed him a short time later for 625,000 pounds.

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In his first season in 1990/91 for the new employer, Irwin acted as a full right defender and with his speed, game intelligence and the precise flanks hit with swing, which presented opposing goalkeepers in particular with difficult tasks, he added a new "weapon" to the offensive game. In the defensive game he showed weaknesses in some situations - due to his small body size, this often included the header game - but he often compensated for a lack of physical presence with good timing in defensive actions. The first title followed in  UEFA Cup Winners' Cup  by a 2-1 final victory in May 1991 against the  FC Barcelona  - He had his second one less than a month earlier  League cup final  in a row against  Sheffield Wednesday  lost with 0: 1. As Ferguson for the 1991/92 season  Paul Parker  Having signed another player for the right defensive position, Irwin switched to the left side and thanks to his bipod he adjusted himself well to the new requirements after initial difficulties getting used to. In this role he finally won his first English title in 1992, after having won the  League Cup  by beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the final.  He surpassed his four league goals in the following 1992/93 season, Manchester United's  first English championship  after 26 years contributed to another goal and specifically his spectacular winning goal in April 1993 against  Coventry City  provided three badly needed items. He finally rose to become one of the best Premier League players in the 1993/94 season, when he was on the way to the "double"  English championship  and  FA Cup  set two highlights (a remarkable free kick goal in  Anfield  against the  Liverpool FC  and a goal after a pass relay in the cup final  Paul Ince  against the  FC Wimbledon ) and was voted into the top division team of the year (“PFA Team of the Year”).

As a free-kick and corner specialist (mostly from the right), he was also highly valued at that time for his qualities when the ball was at rest; to do this, he took more penalties. In an untitled 1994/95 season, the mostly quiet representative fell most in the field  FA Cup  with hits against the  Wrexham AFC  and  Crystal Palace  on and in April 1995 he signed a new three-year contract with Manchester United. [3]  Used at the same time on both sides of defense, Irwin won the second double with United in 1996  English championship  and  FA Cup  in his career, although he only scored one league goal himself (there was also an own goal against the  Queens Park Rangers  (1: 1)).  Irwin made already on the first day of the 1996/97 season for a goal against the  Wimbledon FC  (3: 0) and in the playing time with the  successful title defense in the Premier League  ended, he was with the exception of short injury breaks - including the 0-1 home defeat in the  Champions League  against  Juventus Turin  - again in an important key player, who ensured the necessary calm in crucial situations. In addition, he missed three penalties from  Teddy Sheringham  now United's first choice for penalties and in the  Champions League season 1997/98  he showed himself against  Feyenoord Rotterdam  as a good successor in this regard. In the second leg against the Dutch representative he was injured in early November 1997  Paul Bosvelt  then so severe that Irwin was largely incapacitated by January 1998. The recovery went well and he returned without any visible restrictions on the occasion of a cup game against the  Chelsea FC  back and in March 1998 he also led the team as captain.

In Manchester United's 1998/99 triple season, which the club enjoyed alongside another double success in  English championship  and  FA Cup  also the  Champions League trophy  Irwin was still a permanent fixture in the team despite increasing competition from young people, but was also absent in some phases. After playing ten of the first eleven games, he took a break in October 1998 due to a knee injury. Nevertheless, he carried three penalties converted in important situations (two against Liverpool and one against  Middlesbrough FC  in the cup) played a decisive role in the overall success - albeit due to a red card for the FA Cup final against  Newcastle United  (2-0) suspended - and in the end he was re-elected for Team of the Year as one of five United players.  In his tenth season, 1999/2000 for Manchester, he outperformed  Peter Schmeichels  Record number of appearances in the Champions League and also thanks to his decision to end his career in the Irish national team and to focus on club football, he continued to defend his regular place on the left defensive side. He won the meanwhile in 2000  sixth championship title  and at this point had in common with  Ryan Giggs  accumulated more medals in this regard than any other Manchester player in history for the first time.  The following year he increased this number to seven, the last championship title in his career. The post of left full-back was a constant competition between Irwin, the brothers  Gary  and  Phil Neville  as  Mikaël Silvestre  suspended and the "old master", who also turned 500 in the 2000/01 season.  Had marked competitive game ("befitting" for an Irishman on  St. Patrick's Day ), made 20 league appearances from the start and scored in both  Champions League games  against the  RSC Anderlecht  by penalty.  In his last season 2001/02 for Manchester United Irwin came only sporadically to the train; in his final appearance on the last day of the match against  Charlton Athletic  (0-0) coach Ferguson made him wear the captain's armband again on the occasion of his upcoming departure