Aidan Downes (born 24 July 1988) is an 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 Mornington SC, a club based in Melbourne, Australia.

Career

Everton

Downes joined Everton's Academy in 2005 from Tolka Rovers in his native

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Everton paid Tolka £90,000 compensation to secure the signature of the youngster. Aidan quickly progressed through the youth set-up at Everton until an injury suffered at the end of the 2005/2006 season slowed him down. In the latter part of the season, Downes linked up with Yeovil on loan, scoring his first senior goal at Swansea. Everton released the striker at the end of the season.

Yeovil Town

After spending a spell on loan at

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

, for whom he made his debut 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 ...

, he was released by Everton at the end of the 2007–08 season. On 21 May 2008 it was announced that Downes had signed for

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

on a permanent basis on a two-year contract. He joined officially on 1 July 2008 when his contract expired. He quickly impressed both management and fans during his time at Huish Park, especially at the Liberty Stadium where he scored a vital goal against League One Champions Swansea City, which in turn guaranteed safety in League One for the Glovers. He remained at the club for two seasons until 13 May 2010 when he was released along with three other players.

Shamrock Rovers

Downes joined

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

on 31 August 2010 until the end of the season and made his debut as a substitute in the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

on 17 September.

Bohemians

Aidan spent part of the 2011 season training with Bohemians and signed for

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland title ...

's men in June of that year on amateur terms. He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 win over

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey ...

on 1 July.

International career

Downes has represented the Republic of Ireland at under16-17-18-19 level, and in October 2007, he made his under-21 debut, scoring a goal in the process.

References

External links

*
Profile on Yeovil's Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Aidan 1988 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Everton F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Tolka Rovers F.C. players 21st-century Irish sportsmen