Aaron Martin Donnelly (born 8 June 2003) 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 lea ...

who plays for club

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and the Northern Ireland national team. A

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 ...

international, he turned professional at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in August 2021. He spent the second half of the 2022–23 season on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

and was loaned out to Dundee for the 2023–24 season. He joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on loan ahead of the 2024–25 season before joining Dundee permanently in January 2025.

Early and personal life

Aaron Martin Donnelly was born on 8 June 2003 in

Magherafelt Magherafelt ( ; , ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,071 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county an ...

to Noel and Martina. He has family from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and is related to

Dec Donnelly Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly (born 25 September 1975) is a British television presenter, television producer, former singer, rapper, comedian and actor. He is best known for working alongside Ant McPartlin as part of the presenting duo Ant & ...

. He played

gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

as a forward growing up.

Club career

Nottingham Forest

In June 2019, Donnelly signed a deal with English side

from

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 I ...

, who he had played for since he was twelve. He had been scouted by

Gary Brazil Gary Nicholas Brazil (born 19 September 1962) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. He scored 160 goals in 658 league and cup games in an 18-year professional career. Starting at Crystal Palace, he turned professi ...

and Bob Shaw whilst playing in the

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

. In August 2021, Donnelly signed his first professional

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with Forest. That deal was extended at the end of the 2021–22 season when Forest gained

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He made his professional debut for Forest on 23 August 2022, when

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Steve Cooper started him in a 3–0

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

win over

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. In December 2022, Donnelly had extended his contract with Forest.

Port Vale (loan)

On 23 January 2023, Donnelly joined

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

for the remainder of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. Manager

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played in the English Football League. He is the head coach of club Bristol Rovers ...

said that Donnelly would provide competition on the left-side of defence following the departure of Connor Hall earlier in the month and noted that assistant manager

Andy Crosby Andrew Keith Crosby (born 3 March 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager at club Tranmere Rovers. A defender during his playing days, he began his career at Leeds United. Still, he made his de ...

had coached the player with the Northern Ireland under-21s. Donnelly made his debut in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

on 28 January, playing on the left-side of a back three alongside Nathan Smith and

Lewis Cass Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was a United States Army officer and politician. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1 ...

as the Vale kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a 0–0 draw at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

. On 4 March, he scored his first career goal to secure a 1–0 win over

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

, and dedicated the goal to a deceased supporter whose memory was being honoured with a minute's applause as Donnelly's volley hit the back of the net.

Dundee (loan)

On 24 July 2023, Donnelly joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

on a season-long loan. Donnelly would suffer an injury in training shortly after, with Dundee manager

Tony Docherty Tony Docherty (born 24 January 1971) is a Scottish football coach and former player, who was most recently the manager of Dundee. Docherty played as a midfielder for Dunfermline Athletic, Cambridge United, Stirling Albion, East Stirlingshire ...

saying Donnelly "will be out for a while", and returned to Nottingham for treatment. He returned to Dundee ahead of schedule in September. He made his debut for the Dee on 28 October, starting in a 2–0 league victory away at

Livingston Livingston or Livingstonemay refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North Am ...

. He missed ten weeks due to injury. He was diagnosed with

Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome (WPWS) is a disorder due to a specific type of problem with the electrical system of the heart involving an accessory pathway able to conduct electrical current between the atria and the ventricles, thus byp ...

and underwent surgery in January. He said he had a good 2023–24 season despite the initial injury and health scares, making 21 total appearances, helping Dundee achieve a top six finish and earning call-ups to the

senior squad.

Colchester United (loan)

On 28 August 2024, Donnelly joined League Two club

on loan for the 2024–25 season. He made his debut on the same day in the

against

club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Dundee

On 8 January 2025, Donnelly was recalled from his loan spell with Colchester United, returning to Scottish Premiership side Dundee on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. The following day, Donnelly made his second debut for Dundee in a home draw against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. Five days later, Donnelly scored his first goal for the ''Dee'' in a 3–3 draw at

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

on 14 January. This was his sole goal in 14 appearances in the second half of the 2024–25 campaign.

International career

Donnelly has competed with the

national team at under-17 and under-21 level. He received his first call-up to the senior side in June 2023. He was again called up in March 2024. Donnelly made his debut on 11 June 2024 in a friendly against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

Estadio Nueva Condomina Estadio Nueva Condomina, currently known as Estadio Enrique Roca de Murcia for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-use stadium in Murcia, Spain. Completed in 2006, it is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of Real Murcia. Th ...

in Murcia, Spain. He substituted Ciaron Brown in the 69th minute of a 2–0 victory for Northern Ireland.

Style of play

Donnelly is a left-sided defender who is aggressive in both defence and attack, providing crosses going forward, along with overlaps and underlaps.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Aaron 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Magherafelt Men's association football defenders Association footballers from County Londonderry Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland 21st-century sportsmen from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland men's international footballers Dungannon Swifts F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers