Alan McDermott (born 22 January 1982) is an Irish former

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 played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, McDermott was signed as a trainee by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in July 1998, before signing his first professional contract with the club on his 17th birthday. In his first season, he played 18 times for the under-17s team and three times for the under-19s, scoring four goals. In 1999–2000, he played just twice for the under-19s at the start of the season before missing the next six months; he returned for the final two matches of the campaign, scoring in the play-off second round match against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He also made his debut for the reserve team in the

Manchester Senior Cup The Manchester FA Senior Cup (originally known as the Manchester and District Challenge Cup, later the Manchester Cup) is an annual football tournament held between the clubs of the Manchester Football Association which was first played in 1885; ...

match against

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 ...

on 5 April. He played twice more for the under-19s and once for the reserves in 2000–01, then six more appearances for the reserves in 2001–02, before being released at the end of the season. McDermott joined

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

in 2002. After a spell on trial at

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

, he joined

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

in March 2003. He went on to have spells with Shelbourne and Newry, before signing for Kildare County towards the end of 2005. At the beginning of the 2006 season, he had a brief stint with

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 ...

, before re-signing for Kildare County to fill a much needed void in the County defence. He held down a steady place with Kildare due to injuries, firstly to Phil Byrne and then to Ian Malone. He scored his first goal for Kildare in a defeat to

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, the ...

in September 2006. McDermott proved his versatility during the 2007 season, playing in almost every position except in goal. He added to his goal tally with a dramatic equaliser against Shelbourne at Station Road and one against Kilkenny in the same stadium, but the other end. He was released on 25 August 2007.

International career

McDermott made three appearances for the Republic of Ireland under-17 team at the Lisbon Invitational Tournament in June 2000. He played in games against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, and was voted as the player of the tournament. He has also represented Eircom League U21s team.

References

External links

*
Alan McDermott on playerhistory.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Alan 1982 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester United F.C. players League of Ireland players Dundalk F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Kildare County F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Football League players Newry City F.C. players NIFL Premiership players 21st-century Irish sportsmen