Ruaridhri James Patrick Donnelly (born 18 February 1992) is a Northern 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

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

Club career

Cliftonville

Donnelly was 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 ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 7 September 2010, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute in a 2–0 defeat against Linfield at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

in the

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 Foo ...

. He went on to make 33 league and cup appearances in the 2010–11 season, scoring 7 league goals. The 2011–12 season started well for Donnelly. In October 2011 he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 6–2 win over Linfield in the County Antrim Shield, the same opposition in the same competition as his debut a year earlier. In November 2011 he scored four goals in a league match against

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 ...

in a 7–3 win to catch the eye of an unnamed

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club. His good form. continued, and he scored 13 goals in his first 18 league games of the 2011–12 season to attract interest from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, with the latter club's manager,

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic F.C., Celtic and 515 for Liverpoo ...

, confirming they had registered their interest. Donnelly made his final appearance for Cliftonville on 17 December 2011, in a 2–1 home defeat against

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

. He had scored a total of 22 goals in 54 league and cup appearances spanning two seasons.

Swansea City

In December 2011, Swansea City offered £100,000 for Donnelly, before Everton bid "considerably more". The Welsh club then upped their bid and Donnelly agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Swansea on 30 December 2011 for an undisclosed fee. The transfer was completed on 10 January 2012, and Donnelly was given the shirt number 41. Donnelly scored on his debut for the reserves in a 2–2 draw with Chelsea reserves at Parc-y-scarlets on 28 March 2012. Donnelly made his first senior appearance for Swansea in a League Cup fixture against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on 25 September 2012, coming on as a substitute for

Michu Miguel Pérez Cuesta (born 21 March 1986), known as Michu (), is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. He started playing for Real Oviedo, subsequently representing Celta and Rayo Vallecano, ...

. His full début came the next season in a Europa League play-off against Petrolul Ploiești which ended in a 2–1 defeat. On 28 May 2015,

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

confirmed that Donnelly had been released by the club.

Coventry City (loan)

On 31 January 2014, Donnelly joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season. On 4 February 2014, it was confirmed that Donnelly had returned to Swansea City due to non-footballing personal reasons.

Tranmere Rovers (loan)

On 6 February 2015, Donnelly was named the League Two Player of the Month for January after scoring 3 goals in his first month at the club, taking

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

out of the relegation zone.

Gillingham

Donnelly joined Gillingham on a free transfer in 2015. On 28 April 2017, the club announced that he had "been suspended from his employment at the club with immediate effect". On 15 May, it was confirmed that he had been fined £700 after being caught driving without a full licence. Five days later, the club announced that Donnelly had been released at the end of his contract.

Return to Cliftonville

On 29 August 2017, Donnelly returned to

signing a three-year contract.

Glentoran

On 31 January 2020, Donnelly joined East Belfast side

, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut for the side in a 0–0 draw against

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as ...

in the

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 ...

on 14 February 2020. Donnelly started the match as Glentoran defeated

2–1 in the final of the

2019–20 Irish Cup The 2019–20 Irish Cup (known as the Sadler’s Peaky Blinder Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 140th edition of the Irish Cup, the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its inauguration in 1881. The compet ...

. The game was the first football match in the United Kingdom to host fans since the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

outbreak, with 250 fans from each team permitted at

. On 10 April 2021, he scored a brace in a 2–0 win over

Dungannon Swifts Dungannon Swifts Football Club is a Northern Irish, semi-professional football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the ...

, including a header around 40 yards from goal.

International career

In November 2011, he was called up to the Northern Ireland Under-21s for the first time, but he did not feature in the match against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. In June 2013, Donnelly informed the IFA that he did not wish to be considered for selection for Northern Ireland. However, he then made his under-21 debut against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in September 2013

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Rory 1992 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Cliftonville F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players