Graham Dylan Burke (born 21 September 1993) 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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

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 ...

. Burke has represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

at senior level.

Club career

Aston Villa

Burke was 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 ...

. He was first called up to a first-team matchday squad for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

's 2–0 home defeat against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

in the third round of the League Cup on 20 September 2011, remaining an unused substitute. On 18 December he was included in the squad for the first time in 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 ...

, again unused in a loss by the same score to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

. He made his senior debut as a 76th-minute substitute for

Chris Herd Christopher Herd (born 4 April 1989) is an Australia men's national soccer team, Australian former international association football, footballer. Herd could be described as a Utility player#Association football, utility player who was able to p ...

in Villa's 3–0 home win over

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the League Cup on 28 August 2012. Burke was the joint top scorer in the

2012–13 NextGen Series The 2012–13 NextGen Series was the second season of the NextGen Series. The tournament involved the under-19 teams from 24 different countries across Europe. The tournament was won by Aston Villa who overcame Chelsea in the final. Format ch ...

under-19 club tournament, scoring both of Aston Villa's goals in the final which they won.

Loans to Shrewsbury Town and Notts County

Burke joined

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 ...

club

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

on a half-season loan on 8 August 2013, and made his Shrewsbury debut in a 3–0 defeat at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

two days later. He scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 defeat to

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 ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

, however Shrewsbury elected to end his loan spell early in October 2013. Burke joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

of the same league on an emergency loan on 26 March 2015 until the end of the season. Despite not scoring in his first six matches for the club Burke did make two assists in an important 2–1 win against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

in the penultimate match of the season on 25 April, keeping County just above the relegation zone. Eight days later in the final game of the season, he scored his first league goal, opening the scoring away to Gillingham, but three late goals by the hosts relegated County to League Two.

Shamrock Rovers

On 15 February 2017, Burke signed for his hometown club

, being described by manager Stephen Bradley as an "exciting talent". He made his debut for the club in a 2–1 defeat to

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 ...

on 24 February 2017, scoring his side's only goal before being sent off two minutes later after receiving a straight red card following a foul on Dundalk player Jamie McGrath. In March 2018, Burke scored four goals in one game against Derry City to become the first Rovers player in over 25 years to achieve such a feat and was later named SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland Player of the month for March.

Preston North End

Burke signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

on 13 June 2018 on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Burke joined Aston Villa academy peers Callum Robinson and Daniel Johnson at the club.

Loan to Gillingham

On 31 January 2019, he joined Gillingham on loan.

Return to Shamrock Rovers

On 31 July 2019, Burke re-joined

on a one-year loan. In February 2020 Burke scored five goals against Cork City It was announced on 1 August 2020 that Burke's loan had been extended until the summer of 2021. On 15 March 2021,

announced that Burke had signed a pre-contract with the club, with a 3 year permanent contract at the club set to begin on 30 June 2021, when his loan move from

officially ended. He scored a penalty against

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slavs") is a professional association football, football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak First Football League. Founded as I. ČSŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name ...

in UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, but Rovers were eliminated 3-2 on aggregate.

European goals

Burke is Rovers' all-time top goalscorer in European competition. During the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...

Burke scored three times against

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

and

FK Mladá Boleslav FK Mladá Boleslav is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Mladá Boleslav. Since 2004, the club has been participating in the Czech First League. In the Czech First League, Mladá Boleslav were runners up in 2005–06 and o ...

. In the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

he scored his 4th goal against

Ilves (football) Tampereen Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx"; ), commonly known as Ilves, is a Finnish professional football club based in Tampere. They currently play in the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of professional football in Finland. History The histo ...

. In a

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid de ...

qualifier against

he netted his fifth goal in the Hoops. In a

2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania, with Rom ...

qualifier against

FC Flora FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is an Estonian professional football club based in Tallinn that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium. Fo ...

he netted his sixth goal in the Hoops. In a

2022–23 UEFA Europa League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League was the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Roma in the final pl ...

qualifier against

KF Shkupi FC Shkupi (, ) is a professional association football, football football team, club based in Municipality of Čair, Čair, Skopje, North Macedonia. The club plays in the Macedonian First Football League, which is the top tier of football in Nort ...

he netted his seventh. In a

2023–24 UEFA Champions League The 2023–24 UEFA Champions League was the 69th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 32nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid CF ...

qualifier against Breiðablik he netted his eighth.

International career

Burke has represented the Republic of Ireland from under-17 to under-21 level. In May 2018, Burke received his first call-up to the senior team for a trio of friendlies during May/June 2018. He made a substitute appearance for a Republic of Ireland XI against

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 ...

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State *Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, born ...

's testimonial match on 20 May 2018. On 28 May 2018, Burke made his full senior international debut for the Republic of Ireland national team in a friendly game against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Stade De France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

when he came on in the 70th minute as a substitute. Burke scored his first international goal for the Republic of Ireland on 2 June 2018 as Ireland beat 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 ...

2–1 in Dublin. In doing so, he became the first home-based Irish international goalscorer since April 1978 when Ray Treacy, also of Shamrock Rovers, scored for the Republic of Ireland against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. His third cap came in a friendly in Poland on 11 September 2018.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Burke goal.''

Honours

Aston Villa Under-19s * NextGen Series:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Shamrock Rovers *

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

President of Ireland's Cup The President of Ireland's Cup, also known simply as the President's Cup, is an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland football league system. It is a one-off match between the winners of the previous season's ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual * NextGen Series top scorer:

References

External links

Graham Burke profile
at the Preston North End F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Graham 1993 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Belvedere F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Irish sportsmen