Martin Donnelly (born 28 August 1988) is a Northern Irish retired footballer born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

who played as a winger. After previously playing for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, Donnelly signed for

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

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 Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

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 s ...

, he was called up to the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

squad for the match against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, 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 Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

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

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

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 move to Larne.

Honours

Crusaders *

: 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 F ...

: 2009–10 Cliftonville *

: 2011–12 *

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

: 2012–13, 2013–14 *

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

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

: 2020–21 *

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championsh ...

: 2018–19 Individual *Ulster Young Player of the Year: 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 Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland 21st-century sportsmen from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Men's 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 NIFL Championship players Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers Northern Ireland men's under-23 international footballers Linfield F.C. players