Conor Downey (born 12 March 1982 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

) is a professional footballer from Northern Ireland and plays for

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football Club is an intermediate football 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 Celtic Park. Club co ...

. 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 ...

before joining Cliftonville 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, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

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 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 work, think, or rest without distu ...

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

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

and Portadown. He rejected their advances however, and opted to stay with the Reds. In January 2007 however, the BBC reported that Linfield and

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

had made approaches for the player, at the same time he was also linked with English sides Oldham Athletic and

Peterborough United F.C. Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

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

Portadown F.C. Portadown Football Club is a professional, Northern Irish football club that plays 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 Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

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

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

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 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