Martin Donnelly (born 28 August 1988) is a retired

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

footballer born in

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 ...

who played as a winger. After previously playing for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, without appearing in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, Donnelly signed for

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in the summer of 2008, and won the

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 ...

in 2009. Along with team-mate

Colin Coates Colin Victor Coates, (born 4 April 1946) is a former ice speed skater from Australia, who represented his native country in a record six consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1968 in Grenoble, France. Skating career Coates competed in six ...

, he was called up to the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

squad for the match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 6 June 2009. Donnelly entered the game as an 82nd-minute substitute to win his first full

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

, to add to the three under-21 caps he had won previously. During his time with the Crues, he made a total of 126 appearances, scoring 22 goals. After turning down the club's offer of a new contract midway through the 2010–11 season, Donnelly joined North Belfast rivals

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

on a two-year contract, of whom he is a lifelong fan. Donnelly joined

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 ...

in the 2018 transfer window and quickly established himself as a firm fans favourite. He scored 24 goals as the club romped to the 2018/19 Championship title. On 16 August 2021 it was announced that Donnelly had signed for Linfield, as part of a player exchange deal which saw

Navid Nasseri Navid Nasseri ( fa, نوید ناصری; born 26 July 1996) is an Iranian-English professional footballer who plays for Macclesfield. Club career Nasseri played for the Manchester United Academy until the age of 16. He subsequently had stint ...

move to Larne.

Honours

Crusaders *

(1): 2008–09 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

(1): 2009–10 Cliftonville *

(1): 2011–12 *

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 ...

(2): 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Nort ...

(4): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 Larne *

(1): 2020-21 *

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

(1): 2018-19 Individual *Ulster Young Player of the Year (1): 2008–09 *

Player of the Year 2018-19 *

Team of the Year 2018-19 *

Team of the Year 2020-21

References

External links

Northern Ireland profile
at NIFG {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Martin 1988 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Sheffield United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Cliftonville F.C. players Larne F.C. players