Alan Blayney (born 9 October 1981) is a 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He was recognised at the

IFA Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

and

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

several times. He is now the first team goalkeeper coach at

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

side

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

Club career

England

Born from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland, Blayney started his career with Premiership side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and was loaned out to Stockport County, but was cut short by a broken finger. He also he had a spell at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

on loan. He made his début for Southampton in May 2004, receiving a high amount of praise. Blayney also won

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

save of the season after saving an

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

header in May 2004 on his Premier League debut. The match at St Mary's ended in a 3–3 draw. Blayney also played in the following 2–1 defeat at Charlton. Blayney would play two more games for Southampton the following season, the 2–2 Premier League draw against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and the 5–2 League Cup loss against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. Blayney, who was then behind Antti Niemi and

Paul Smith Paul Smith or Paul Smith's may refer to: Music * Paul Smith (composer) (1906–1985), American film music composer * Paul Smith (pianist) (1922–2013), Los Angeles jazz pianist * Paul Smith (rock vocalist) (born 1979), vocalist and songwriter of ...

in the team's pecking order went on loan to Rushden & Diamonds and Brighton & Hove Albion. Brighton tried to sign Blayney on a permanent basis in 2005, but could not afford the transfer fee Southampton were asking. Blayney did return to Brighton & Hove Albion for a second loan spell, before returning to Southampton in mid-December. Blayney then joined Doncaster Rovers for £50,000 from Southampton in January 2006, signing a two and half-year contract, with hopes of getting the team promoted to the Championship. Blayney started off as first choice goalkeeper at

Belle Vue stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League t ...

, but fell behind Ben Smith and Dane

Jan Budtz Jan Helstrup Budtz (born 20 April 1979) is a Danish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He works as the head of operations for League One side Doncaster Rovers, as well as playing semi-professionally for Rossington Main. He has previously pla ...

in the pecking order after an ankle injury. He decided to leave the club for personal reasons. In February 2007, Blayney joined League One side Oldham Athletic, until the end of the 2006–07 season, after impressing in a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

match. Blayney made his début for Oldham Athletic in a 1–2 home defeat against Bournemouth, after first choice goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi was suspended.

League of Ireland & Irish League

On 7 August, Alan Blayney joined Irish side

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

on a short term deal to provide cover for first choice goalkeeper Brian Murphy. He marked his debut with a clean sheet as Bohs beat

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

3–0 on 31 August. He failed to gain the number 1 shirt from Brian Murphy though and was released at the end of the season. On 15 March 2008, Blayney signed for Irish Premiership side

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

, although he was unable to play for the Braidmen until the 2008–09 season. In June 2009, Blayney signed a three-year contract for Linfield. Following good performances for Linfield on their way to the

2010–11 IFA Premiership The 2010–11 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the third season since its establishment after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland, and the 110th season of Irish league football o ...

title, Blayney was chosen as the

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

for the 2010–11 season. He joined fellow NIFL Premiership club Ards on loan for the second half of the 2013–14 season. Following his loan spell at Ards, Blayney left Linfield at the end of the

2013–14 NIFL Premiership The 2013–14 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of Northern Ireland's national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 113th season of Irish league football ...

season to sign for

2013–14 Irish Cup The 2013–14 Irish Cup was the 134th edition of the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its introduction in 1881. The competition began on 7 September 2013 with the first round and ended on 3 May 2014 with the final. ...

winners

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

. Despite a strong start to the season, Blayney later lost his starting spot at Glenavon to number two goalkeeper James McGrath, and left the club for a second spell at

on 5 May 2015. Blayney initially started his second spell at Ballymena as the number one choice, following the departure of Australian goalkeeper Tim Allen. However, the arrival of former Linfield manager

David Jeffrey David Jeffrey (born 28 October 1962) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player, who currently manages Ballymena United. He is best known for managing Linfield between 1997 and 2014. He began his professional playing career with t ...

saw his game time limited, with Linfield loanee Ross Glendinning usurping Blayney as number one during the 2016–17 season. The return of Tim Allen to the club meant that Blayney was free to talk to other clubs. He left Ballymena by mutual consent on 27 January 2017. Blayney signed for NIFL Premier Intermediate League side Dundela on 1 February 2017. He returned to the

in the 2017-18 season, having signed a pre-contract with

2016–17 NIFL Championship The 2016–17 NIFL Championship was the first season of the second-tier Irish League since gaining senior status. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. The season began on 13 August 2016 and concluded on 29 April 2017. On 1 April 2017, Wa ...

winners Warrenpoint Town. On 14 December 2017, it was announced that Blayney had signed for Ballyclare Comrades.

International football

Blayney, a former Northern Ireland under-21 international, played his first match for the Northern Ireland senior national team in their 2006 summer tour of the United States. Northern Ireland lost the match against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

2–0. He followed this with three appearances in 2010.

Honours

Linfield *

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12 *

: 2009–10,

, 2011–12

References

External links

*
Northern Ireland international career details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blayney, Alan 1981 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Association footballers from Northern Ireland Association football goalkeepers Premier League players English Football League players League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players Ballymena United F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland international footballers Ulster Footballers of the Year Warrenpoint Town F.C. players Ballyclare Comrades F.C. players Dundela F.C. players Ards F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players