Aaron John Drinan (born 6 May 1998) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Leyton Orient. He played youth football for Irish sides

Carrigaline United Carrigaline United Association Football Club is an Irish association football (soccer) club based in Carrigaline, County Cork. As of 2022, the club's men's team plays in the Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division. History The club was ...

, Cobh Ramblers and Cork City, before joining League of Ireland side

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in 2017, making his senior debut in August 2017. He helped Waterford to win the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

title during his first season in senior football. In January 2018, Drinan signed for English club

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He spent time out on loan at English

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side Sutton United, former club Waterford, Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

club

GAIS , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden i ...

and Scottish side Ayr United between 2018 and 2020. He made his first-team debut for Ipswich in September 2020. Drinan has won caps for the Republic of Ireland U21 team, making his debut in March 2019.

Club career

Early career

Drinan began playing football with his local side

at the age of 4, impressing enough to earn a move to Cobh Ramblers, where he would play with their Under-19 side for a short time in early 2015 before moving to their rivals Cork City in the summer of 2015 where he would play until the end of the 2017 season. During his time at Cork's under-19 side, he played alongside

Chiedozie Ogbene Chiedozie Ogbene (born 1 May 1997) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Rotherham United and the Republic of Ireland national team. Ogbene began his career in Ireland with Cork City and Limerick, before transferring t ...

, Cian Coleman and

Conor McCarthy Conor McCarthy may refer to: * Conor McCarthy (Cork Gaelic footballer) (born 1981) * Conor McCarthy (Monaghan Gaelic footballer) Conor McCarthy (born 7 August 1995) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for the Monaghan county team and the Sco ...

among others.

Cork City

Drinan won his first title with Cork City Under 19's with a win over

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

at Markets Field on 15 December 2015. His first appearance for the first-team came on 9 June 2016, playing 85 minutes of a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He was part of the side to the Enda McGuill Cup in September 2016, beating

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

in the final and qualifying for the UEFA Youth League in the process. Drinan impressed in the UEFA Youth League, scoring the winner in a 1–0 win on aggregate against HJK Helsinki of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

as well as scoring an equaliser against Italian giants AS Roma. His first involvement in a first-team squad for a league game was on 23 June 2017 when he was an unused substitute in a 2–1 win over

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Maginn Park Maginn Park is a football stadium located in Buncrana, County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. It is used by the amateur Inishowen Football League for staging cup finals and other important matches. During the 2017 League of Ireland season, the gro ...

Waterford

Drinan dropped down a division to sign for

of the

in July 2017, making his competitive debut in senior football away to Cabinteely on 4 August 2017. He scored the first goal of his senior career on 1 September 2017, scoring in a 1–1 draw with Shelbourne at the

RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...

. Drinan finished up the season with 5 appearances and 1 goal to his name as

won the

, resulting in his first taste of silverware at senior level.

Ipswich Town

Drinan began training with English

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side

in October 2017 and was announced as a new signing by manager Mick McCarthy on 4 January 2018, signing a three and a half year contract, with the option of an additional one year extension for a fee reported to be £90,000. He was an unused substitute in 4 Championship games and 1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

game for Ipswich during the 2017–18 season but failed to make his first-team debut as his side finished in 12th place. He impressed his team mates in training during the early months of his time at Ipswich, earning him the nickname "Murph", after former Ipswich and Republic of Ireland striker

Daryl Murphy Daryl Michael Murphy (born 15 March 1983) is an Irish former professional footballer. Murphy began his career at Waterford United, having previously played youth football for Waterford based side Southend United and English side Luton Town, whi ...

Loans away

He joined

side Sutton United on 1 August 2018. He made his debut for Sutton United three days later in a 2–2 draw with

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

. His first goal came on 20 October 2018 when he scored the winner against Wealdstone in the

. He returned to Ipswich in November 2018. On 15 February 2019, it as announced that Drinan had signed for his old club

on loan until the summer. His loan was a huge success, scoring 7 goals in 18 league games. His form had

looking to extend the loan, but this proved to be unsuccessful, with

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

wanting the player to return. Drinan signed for Swedish

side

on 8 August 2019. He made his debut away to

Dalkurd FF Dalkurd Fotbollsförening, commonly known as Dalkurd FF or simply Dalkurd () is a Swedish football club based in Uppsala. The club plays in the Ettan Norra, which is the third tier of football in the country. On 26 September 2004, the club was o ...

on 18 August 2019. He returned to

in November at the end of his loan which saw him make 9 appearances for

. He signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side Ayr United on loan on 17 January 2020. His debut came the next day in a 1–0

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ross County to earn a 5th Round tie with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

. He scored his first goal for Ayr on 8 February in a 1–2 loss to

in a Scottish Cup match. He made 9 appearances during his loan spell with Ayr, scoring twice.

Return to Ipswich

Drinan featured regularly for Ipswich in the 2020 pre-season, including scoring a brace in a 4–0 friendly win against Colchester United on 18 August. After 2 and a half years at Ipswich, Drinian made his full senior debut for the club on 5 September 2020 in a 3–0 home win against Bristol Rovers in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

at Portman Road, assisting the first goal scored by teammate

Freddie Sears Frederick David Sears (born 27 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Dagenham & Redbridge He started his career with his local club West Ham United at the age of eleven, progressing through the West ...

. He made his league debut for the club in a 2–0 win against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on the opening day of the 2020–21 league season, although he had to be withdraw at half-time due to a thigh injury, which would rule him out of action for two months. He scored his first goal for the club on 30 January 2021, in a 1–1 draw with Crewe Alexandra. He made 24 appearances during the 2020–21 season, scoring once. On 10 May 2021, Ipswich announced that they had taken up the option to extend Drinan's contract by an additional year, keeping him under contract until 2022.

Leyton Orient

On 28 June 2021, Drinan joined Leyton Orient for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year deal. On 24 July 2022, Drinan signed a new one-year extension to his existing contract.

International career

Drinan received his first call up to the Republic of Ireland U21 national team in February 2019 for a training camp at the FAI National Training Centre. He made his debut for the under-21's in a

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

qualifier on 24 March 2019, featuring as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 victory over

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in Dublin. In May 2019, Drinan was called up to the Irish U21s squad for the 2019 Maurice Revello Tournament in Toulon. He featured 4 times for Ireland during the tournament as the Irish U21s finished 4th. He was again included in the Republic of Ireland U21 squad in October 2019 for a European Championships qualifier against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in Reykjavík, featuring as a second-half substitute in as the Republic of Ireland lost 0–1 in the qualifier.

Career statistics

Honours

Waterford United *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Leyton Orient *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Aaron Drinan profile
at the Football Association of Ireland website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drinan, Aaron 1998 births Living people Association footballers from County Cork Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football forwards Cork City F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players GAIS players Ayr United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers League of Ireland players English Football League players Superettan players Scottish Professional Football League players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriates in Scotland Irish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Carrigaline United A.F.C. players