Robert Sean Bayly (born 22 February 1988) is an Irish

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 ...

. His two uncles Ritchie Bayly and Martin Bayly had distinguished careers in the

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 ...

Career

Leeds United

Capped at Ireland youth and Under-18 level while playing for Cherry Orchard, Bayly made his debut for

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 ...

as a substitute in an

English League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the English Football L ...

match against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

on 24 October 2006. On 26 October 2006, Bayly signed a professional two-year contract with Leeds.Leeds United (26 October 2006)
"'Bocca' Bayly inks new deal"
LeedsUnited.com (accessed 26 October 2006) Bayly made his full debut in the final game of the 2006–07 Championship season away to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. However, it was a debut to forget as he was shown a straight red card attempting to headbutt

Craig Fagan Craig Anthony Fagan (born 11 December 1982) is a football coach and former player who is currently assistant manager of Maidstone United. He played as a winger or forward, notably in the Premier League for Birmingham City, Derby County and Hull ...

. Bayly was released by Leeds early on during the 2008–2009 season despite featuring on a few occasions for Leeds during pre season. During his time in England he also played for the Republic of Ireland U19's.

Sporting Fingal

Bayly joined

Sporting Fingal Sporting Fingal Football Club was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they played in the First Division before winnin ...

before the start of the

2009 League of Ireland The 2009 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 25th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Bohemian F.C., Bohemians were champions while Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers finished as runn ...

First Division season. He made his League debut on the opening day of the 2009 season against

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

In an extraordinary season he scored the goal that clinched Sporting's promotion to the Premier Division against

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 ...

in a play-off and then six days later won his first senior medal winning 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 ...

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

following Fingal's 2–1 victory over

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

. Despite a successful season at Sporting Fingal, Bayly parted company with the club at the end of the season.

Shamrock Rovers

Bayly signed 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 ...

on 15 March 2010. He made his debut as a substitute the next day at

. He scored Rovers' equaliser in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

tie against

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv''), commonly referred to as Bnei Yehuda (), is an Israeli football club from the Hatikva Quarter of the city of Tel Aviv. The club is a member of the Liga Leumit. History The ...

in the first European game at Tallaght Stadium. In total, Bayly scored three goals in 35 appearances for the Hoops.

Bohemians

In February 2011, Robert 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 Bohemians just in time for the new season. "Boccer" made his debut for the Gypsies in a

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football (soccer), football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from ...

match against

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

on 1 March but due to suspension would have to wait til the fourth league game of the season until he could make his league debut for the club. This came in a 1–0 defeat to

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

. He scored his first goal for the club against Shelbourne on 25 April in an EA Sports Cup tie at

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

. Bayly left Bohemians in October 2011 after 26 league appearances for the club. His last appearance came against Shamrock Rovers on 5 October in a 1–1 draw.

Monaghan United

In December 2011, Robert signed for

Roddy Collins Roderick Collins (born 7 August 1960) is an Irish former professional football player and manager. During a playing career of 18 years, Collins played for many sides across England, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. While towards the ...

' Monaghan United team. On 18 June 2012, the club announced their withdrawal from the

and all of their playing staff were released by the club.

Longford Town

Robert joined

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

on 26 July 2012. He made his debut for the Midlands club the very next day in a 3–1 away win over SD Galway at Eamon Deacy Park. He was released at the end of the 2012 season.

Shelbourne

Bayly joined Shels in January 2013

Shamrock Rovers

Bayly re-joined Shamrock Rovers in 2014

Cliftonville

Bayly joined

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

in January 2015 and was released in June 2015 after a number of poor performances with champions Cliftonville finishing 5th.

Return to League of Ireland

In July 2015, Bayly returned to the League of Ireland by joining

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

Waterford United

In July 2016 he signed for former boss

. He made an impressive debut against Limerick in the RSC. He scored a long range stunner as they gave the runaway league leaders a very good game but a late flurry of Limerick goals saw them run out 5-1 winners.

Personal life

Prison

Bayly was jailed in 2018 for smuggling cannabis.

Honours

;Cliftonville *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Northern Ireland Football League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as the Irish League Cup) is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the N ...

: 2014–15 ;Shamrock Rovers *

(1):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

;Sporting Fingal *

(1):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayly, Robert 1988 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Leeds United F.C. players English Football League players Sporting Fingal F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players League of Ireland players Cherry Orchard F.C. players Monaghan United F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Criminals from Dublin (city) People convicted of cannabis offenses Irish sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century Irish sportsmen