Ryan Darren Burke (born 23 November 2000) 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 ...

who plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. ...

club

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. He joined English club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

from

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origina ...

as a 16-year-old and made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut in July 2020. He spent time on loan at

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

club Yeovil Town, before being released by Birmingham in 2021. He signed a one-year contract with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

club

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

in 2021, and played on loan at

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, the ...

in 2022 before his release from Mansfield and return to Ireland. Burke has represented Ireland at under-15 and under-16 level.

Club career

Early life and career

Burke was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and attended

Drimnagh Castle Secondary School Drimnagh Castle Secondary School ( ga, Meánscoil Iognáid Rís) is a Christian Brothers secondary school located on the Long Mile Road in the suburb of Drimnagh, Dublin, Ireland. The school buildings are situated directly beside the old Norman c ...

. He played at youth level for

Crumlin United Crumlin United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Crumlin, Dublin. Founded in 1967, the club is one of the biggest producers of football talent in Ireland. They are linked with Nottingham Forest. Their main rival is C ...

and spent four years with St Joseph's Boys before joining

. He started every match as St Pat's under-17 team won the 2016 League of Ireland U17 Division title, and remained a regular in the side until taking up a scholarship with Birmingham City F.C.'s Academy in 2017. According to his Birmingham City profile, his strengths at youth level were "his technical ability, aggression and tackling". He was a member of their under-18 team that reached the semifinal of the

2017–18 FA Youth Cup The 2017–18 FA Youth Cup was the 66th edition of the FA Youth Cup. The defending champions were Chelsea and they retained the trophy for the fifth year in a row after a 7–1 aggregate victory over Arsenal in the final. Calendar Qualifying R ...

, made his debut for their under-23 side the day after his 17th birthday, and became a regular at that level the following season. He signed his first professional contract, of two years, in June 2019.

Birmingham City

When head coach

Pep Clotet Josep Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish football coach, currently in charge of Italian Serie B club Brescia. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed Cornellà, Figueres, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Málaga B, Oxfo ...

fielded an inexperienced team for the visit to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

in the 2019–20 EFL Cup first round, in which several youngsters made their senior debuts, Burke was an unused substitute. After the 2019–20 EFL Championship season resumed following its suspension because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, he was named on the bench for Birmingham's first match under the temporary rules. He remained unused, but was given his senior debut by caretaker head coaches Steve Spooner and Craig Gardner on 12 July away to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

, replacing

Nico Gordon Nico Diago Gordon (born 28 April 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for MLS Next Pro club North Texas SC. Gordon began his career in his native England with Birmingham City, making his Football League debut in June 2 ...

after 72 minutes of the 2–0 defeat. Burke joined

club Yeovil Town on 22 September 2020, on loan until January 2021. He made six appearances before returning to his parent club, but had no further involvement with the first-team matchday squad, and was released when his contract expired at the end of the season. His last appearance was for Birmingham's U23 team as they beat Sheffield United U23 in the national final of the 2020–21

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performance ...

Mansfield Town

Burke signed a one-year contract with

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...

club

on 2 July 2021. He made his debut in the starting eleven for the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

first-round tie against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

, replacing James Perch in defence; Preston won 3–0. Although a regular in the matchday squad for the first half of the season as backup for Stephen McLaughlin, Burke made only seven appearances, mostly as a substitute. In January 2022, manager

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough wa ...

said he had not seen enough of the player to decide whether he should remain as part of the Mansfield squad or go out on loan. Having dropped out of first-team contention at Mansfield, Burke joined

club

on 26 February 2022 on a month's loan. He made seven appearances in his first month, and the loan was extended to the end of the season. On 2 April, he scored his first goal at senior club level, an 86th-minute winner against Gloucester City, when he "drilled a low, left-footed shot on the run past

he goalkeeper's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

dive and into the far side of the goal." Burke played every minute of the last 15 games of Telford's season as they finished just above the relegation zone. He was one of six young professionals released by Mansfield when their contracts expired at the end of the season.

Bohemians

Burke returned home to Dublin as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

and signed for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...

club Bohemians on a multi year contract in June 2022. He made his debut as a stoppage-time substitute in Bohs' 3–1 win away to UCD on 7 July.

Waterford

On 13 February 2023, it was announced that Burke had signed for

side

on a permanent basis.

International career

Burke has represented Ireland at under-15 and under-16 levels.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Ryan 2000 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 defenders Crumlin United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players AFC Telford United players Bohemian F.C. players Waterford F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players League of Ireland players