Jake Walker (born 19 August 2000) is an Irish footballer who plays for Crumlin United, having previously played for St Patrick's Athletic and

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

Club career

Early career

Walker signed for the St Patrick's Athletic Under-17 side in January 2017. He played in the same Under 19s team as fellow future first team players including Brian Maher, Joe Manley, Paul Clearly and Luke McNally. In 2018, his side got to the Enda McGuill Cup final, unfortunately losing out 2–1 to Bohemians at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

on 4 September.

St Patrick's Athletic

Walker made his debut for the St Patrick's Athletic first team on 8 August 2017 when he came off the bench for Josh O'Hanlon for the last 2 minutes of a 2–1 Leinster Senior Cup win over Firhouse Clover at

. He did not feature in the 2018 season with forward options including Christy Fagan,

Jake Keegan Jake Keegan (born September 7, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for USL League One side Portland Hearts of Pine. Youth career Youth Keegan played 4 seasons at John Jay High School helping the team w ...

and Achille Campion at the dispense of manager Liam Buckley. His next involvement with the first team came on 18 February 2019 when he came off the bench for the injured Gary Shaw in a 3–0 Leinster Senior Cup win over

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

, with Walker heading home a James Doona cross after 58 minutes to put his side 2 goals in front. That performance impressed manager Harry Kenny enough to promote him from the Under-19s team to the first team squad for the season 3 days later, on 21 February. His

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

debut came on 5 April 2019, coming on for Gary Shaw in injury time of a 1–0 win at home to champions

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 ...

. His first professional contract came when he signed a 2-year contract with the club on 11 April 2019. Walker made 10 more substitute appearances in a row before coming off the bench and scoring the winner against

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 ...

on 14 June with 7 minutes to go, the first league goal of his senior career. This performance earned Walker a place in the starting 11 as he started the next 3 games, away to UCD, at home to

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 ...

in the

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 ...

derby and an important win away to

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. His first appearance in Europe came on 11 July 2019 as he came off the bench against

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, as Pats lost 2–0 at

. On 22 October 2019 Walker came off the bench away to Derry City in the 69th minute with the scores level and brilliantly set up two goals for fellow substitute James Doona to secure a 3–1 win for the Saints at the

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium () is a municipal football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C., (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute, and also to NIWFA Championshi ...

. Walker scored the third goal in a 4–0 win over

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

in the 2019 Leinster Senior Cup Final on 16 November 2019, claiming the first silverware of his senior career. After making 1 appearance in the 2020 season before the league was postponed due to the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it was announced on the 3rd August 2020 that Walker had left the club.

Crumlin United

After leaving Pat's, Walker played for Leinster Senior League side Crumlin United from 2020 to 2022 where he excelled to the extent that he was the league's top goalscorer during his time there.

Bray Wanderers

On 12 December 2022, it was announced that Walker had signed for

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

club

ahead of their 2023 season.

Personal life

In December 2023, Walker was charged by

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

with unlawful possession of €1,000 worth of

Cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and having it for sale or supply in

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

Career statistics

''Professional appearances – correct as of 30 August 2024.''

Honours

* Leinster Senior Cup: (1) ** St Patrick's Athletic —

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jake 2000 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Crumlin United F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players League of Ireland players Leinster Senior League (association football) players Men's association football forwards Republic of Ireland men's association footballers 21st-century Irish sportsmen