Conor Downey (born 12 March 1982 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 ...

) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays for

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football & Social Club is an intermediate football and social club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal ...

. Downey played for

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 th ...

before joining

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 ...

in 2000. In his first spell at the club he played largely as a striker, alongside Chris Scannell. He was allowed to leave the club to join

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, Lisburn. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Nor ...

in March 2003 on a free transfer, but returned in August 2004, reportedly only beating the transfer deadline by a matter of hours. Upon his return to

Solitude Solitude, also known as social withdrawal, is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may wo ...

, manager

Liam Beckett Liam Beckett MBE (born 17 July 1951) is a Northern Irish former football manager and player, who now works as a pundit and radio broadcaster. Playing career Starting his career after a five-year plumbing apprenticeship, Beckett won an Irish Le ...

decided that to deploy Downey as a midfielder, and since then he has made the position his own. After a good season in 2005/06, helping

to a 5th-placed finish, Downey attracted the interest of the likes of

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

and

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

. He rejected their advances however, and opted to stay with the Reds. In January 2007 however, the BBC reported that Linfield and Derry City had made approaches for the player, at the same time he was also linked with English sides

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

and

Peterborough United F.C. Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

and

Gretna F.C. Gretna Football Club was a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, close to the border between England and Scotland, that last competed in the Scottish Premier League, the then top flight of Sco ...

from the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

. Downey joined Linfield later that month and his first game for the Blues was against

Portadown F.C. Portadown Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club who play in the NIFL Premiership. The club was formed in 1887 as a junior team seeking to participate in the Mid-Ulster Cup, eventually joining the Irish League with t ...

on 20 January 2007. Part of the deal taking him to Linfield was that Cliftonville would be allowed to use Linfield's

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

ground for European games. This in turn enabled Cliftonville to obtain a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

licence in April 2007. He quickly established himself in the Linfield side, earning a place in the Irish League side that beat the England semi-professional side in February 2007. However, on 7 March 2007 he was ruled out for the rest of the season after a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury picked up in the Setanta Cup game against Glentoran two days previously. Rejoined Cliftonville in September 2008.BBC SPORT , Football , Irish , Downey makes Cliftonville return
BBC News (2008-09-01). Retrieved on 2012-03-10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downey, Conor 1982 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Carrick Rangers F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Donegal Celtic F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Linfield F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland 21st-century sportsmen from Northern Ireland Newry City F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players NIFL Championship players