James Doona

Last updated

James Doona
Personal information
Full name James Doona
Date of birth (1998-01-15) 15 January 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth Inchicore, Ireland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)
Team information
Current team
 Glenavon
Number 39
Youth career
Lourdes Celtic
Crumlin United
Stella Maris
St Patrick's Athletic
2015–2016 Shamrock Rovers
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2015–2017 Shamrock Rovers 25 (4)
2018–2020 St Patrick's Athletic 39 (4)
2021 Athlone Town 25 (6)
2022 Cork City 15 (0)
2023 Longford Town 19 (0)
2024– Glenavon 8 (2)
International career
2015 Republic of Ireland U18 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:24, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

James Doona (born 15 January 1998) is an Irish professional footballer, currently playing for NIFL Premiership side Glenavon.

Contents

Club career

Youth career

Raised in School Street in The Liberties, Doona started playing football with Lourdes Celtic. His form there earned him moves to two of the country's top schoolboy clubs, Crumlin United and then Stella Maris. Doona's took his first step towards League of Ireland football by signing for Inchicore club St Patrick's Athletic's youth setup. In August 2015 Doona signed for Shamrock Rovers Under 19's squad, where he played for the 2015 short season and the also 2016 season with them. [1]

Shamrock Rovers

2015 & 2016 seasons

Doona's first involvement with the Shamrock Rovers first team was on 8 September 2015 when he played in their 1–0 Leinster Senior Cup. [2] He made two more first team appearances for the first team that season, both in the Leinster Senior Cup, a semi final win over Bohemians, playing alongside Damien Duff [3] as well as playing in the final as Rovers lost 3–1 to Dundalk. [4] Doona's first league appearance in senior football came on 29 May 2016 when he came off the bench in a 1–1 draw with Finn Harps at the Tallaght Stadium. [5] His first senior goal came on 19 August 2016 when he scored the fifth goal in a 5–0 away win over Athlone Town in the FAI Cup. [6] In all, Doona played in 12 games in 2016, scoring one goal. [7]

2017 season

2017 saw Doona become a full member of the first team squad as he no longer had any involvement with the Under 19's. This allowed manager Stephen Bradley to use Doona a lot more and this saw him feature in 27 games, scoring 6 goals. He scored an important 120th minute winner over Cork City in the semi-final of the League Cup [8] and also played in the final as Rovers lost 3–0 to Dundalk. [9] He was mainly used off the bench however as he started in just 4 of his 18 league appearances as well as being an unused substitute in all 4 of Rovers UEFA Europa League campaign as they played against Stjarnan of Iceland before being knocked out by FK Mladá Boleslav of the Czech Republic. [7] In the off-season, Doona trained with Tranmere Rovers who were set to sign the 19 year old but a move never materialised. [10]

St Patrick's Athletic

2018 season

On 12 December 2017, it was announced that Doona had signed for his boyhood club from his native Inchicore, St Patrick's Athletic. [11] The transfer was seen as a shock move among League of Ireland circles but upon signing, Doona spoke of how he lives only 2 minutes from Richmond Park as well as speaking about how he regularly attended games before starting his own career and has fond memories of Chris Forrester, Christy Fagan and Killian Brennan's performances on the way to the club's 2013 title win. [12] He made his debut in a 3–1 Leinster Senior Cup win away to Bray Wanderers on 4 February 2018. [13] Doona got his first assists for the Saints when he set up two goals for Michael Leahy in extra time of the Saints 4–4 League Cup draw with Dundalk at Richmond Park. Doona played the full 120 minutes and scored his penalty in the shootout as his side lost 8–7 on penalties. [14] Doona struggled for game time under Liam Buckley but the manager left the club in September, with his assistant Ger O'Brien restoring Doona to the team towards the end of the season. On the last day of the season, Doona scored his first goals for the club as he scored twice in a 5–0 win over Derry City in front of the onlooking newly appointed Saints manager Harry Kenny. [15] This display impressed Kenny enough to offer Doona a new contract for the 2019 season on 23 November 2018. [16]

2019 season

Doona's first goal of the season came in the League Cup, scoring in a 2–1 loss at home to Dundalk on 1 April 2019. [17] On 22 October 2019 Doona came off the bench away to Derry City in the 77th minute and scored 2 goals within 5 minutes to give his side a 3–1 win, his first league goals of the season. [18] This earned him his first start of the season, away to Champions Dundalk on the last day of the season. [19] It was announced on 6 November 2019 that Doona had been released following the end of his contract. [20] Doona played in two friendly games with the PFAI's out of contract squad, scoring in a 5–1 win over Rochdale XI [21] and another in a 1–0 win over Home Farm. [22]

2020 season

On 8 January 2020, it was announced that Doona had signed a new one year contract with St Patrick's Athletic, with manager Stephen O'Donnell changing his mind on Doona having originally allowed him to leave the club. [23] Doona started the 2020 season off when he scored 2 goals in a 5–1 pre-season friendly win over Cobh Ramblers on 16 January 2020 [24] and another against Galway United on 4 February. [25] The season proved to be a difficult one for Doona, as the league season was halved due to the Coronavirus pandemic which also saw the League Cup and Leinster Senior Cup abandoned. As a result of this, Doona struggled for game time, playing in 8 of the club's 19 league and cup games, starting just 1 of them as his side finished in 6th place, missing out on European football on the final day of the season. [7]

Athlone Town

Doona signed for League of Ireland First Division side Athlone Town on the 21st December 2020, ahead of the 2021 season. [26] Doona made a total of 25 appearances for the club, scoring 6 goals as they finished in 7th place. [7]

Cork City

On 6 November 2021, Doona signed for fellow League of Ireland First Division club Cork City ahead of the 2022 season. [27] He made his debut for the club in a 6–0 win over Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds on 18 February 2022. [28] Doona's first goal for the club came on 9 May 2022, when he scored a 25th minute penalty in a 3–0 win away to Treaty United in the Munster Senior Cup Semi Final. [29] Doona made 19 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 1 goal as they won the 2022 League of Ireland First Division, earning promotion To the Premier Division.

Longford Town

He signed for Longford Town of the League of Ireland First Division on 16 December 2022 for the 2023 season. [30]

Glenavon

Following the expiry of his Longford Town contract, Doona signed for NIFL Premiership side Glenavon on 16 November 2023, being eligible to play from 1 January 2024. [31] He scored on his debut for the club, a 4-0 win over Knockbreda in the Irish Cup, and his first league goal came in a 2-2 draw with Linfield on 10 February.

International career

Doona made 2 appearances for the Republic of Ireland Under 18's on 28 and 30 November 2015, both against Czech Republic Under 18's. [32] [33]

Career statistics

Professional appearances – correct as of 17 March 2024. [7]

ClubDivisionSeason League Cup League Cup Europe OtherTotal
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Shamrock Rovers LOI Premier Division 2015 0000000 [lower-alpha 1] 03 [lower-alpha 2] 030
2016 7021200 [lower-alpha 1] 01 [lower-alpha 2] 0121
2017 18451410 [lower-alpha 1] 00 [lower-alpha 2] 0276
Total25472610040427
St Patrick's Athletic LOI Premier Division 2018 1720010—3 [lower-alpha 2] 0212
2019 15200110 [lower-alpha 1] 02 [lower-alpha 2] 0183
2020 7010———80
Total39410210050475
Athlone Town LOI First Division 2021 25600———256
Cork City LOI First Division 2022 15020——2 [lower-alpha 3] 1191
Longford Town LOI First Division 2023 19010——0 [lower-alpha 2] 0201
Glenavon NIFL Premiership 2023–24 822110——113
Career Total13116133920011216423

Honours

St Patrick's Athletic

Cork City

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Quigley</span> Irish footballer

Mark Quigley is an Irish former professional footballer who played for Millwall, Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Dundalk, Sligo Rovers and Derry City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen O'Donnell (Irish footballer)</span> Irish footballer and manager

Stephen O'Donnell is an Irish professional football coach and former player who is head coach at League of Ireland Premier Division club Dundalk. During his playing career the clubs he played at were Arsenal, Falkirk, Bohemians, Cork City, Galway United, Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Chambers (Irish footballer)</span> Irish footballer

James Chambers, born 14 February 1987 in Dublin, is an Irish former professional footballer who played for Shelbourne, Waterford United, Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic in Ireland, Solihull Moors in England, Hamilton Academical in Scotland and Bethlehem Steel in the United States. Chambers is currently the head coach of Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the USL Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Bermingham</span> Irish professional footballer

Ian Bermingham is an Irish former professional footballer that played 13 seasons with League of Ireland Premier Division club, St Patricks Athletic, where he was club captain and is the all-time appearance record holder. He previously spent two seasons at UCD and a season at Shamrock Rovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David McMillan (footballer)</span> Irish footballer

David McMillan is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a forward for UCD over two spells, St Patrick's Athletic, Sligo Rovers, St Johnstone, Hamilton Academical, Falkirk and Dundalk over two spells. He is currently the League of Ireland's all-time leading scorer in the UEFA Champions League and was joint top-scorer in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round. McMillan has also been named League of Ireland Premier Division Player of the Month on three occasions.

Christopher Joseph Fagan, known as Chris or Christy Fagan, is a retired Irish footballer who played as a forward. He last played for St Patrick's Athletic in the League of Ireland Premier Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Forrester</span> Irish footballer (born 1992)

Christopher Stephen Forrester is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He has also previously played for Bohemians, Peterborough United, Aberdeen and the Republic of Ireland under-21's. In March 2016 he was called up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad but has yet to be capped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Gannon (footballer)</span> Irish footballer

Sean Gannon is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Shelbourne in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He previously played for Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic and Dundalk and has won 10 League of Ireland Premier Division winners medals. Gannon has featured regularly in European competition for Dundalk and was part of their team that became only the second Irish side ever to reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in August 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seán Hoare</span> Irish footballer

Seán Hoare is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League of Ireland club Shamrock Rovers

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciarán Kilduff</span> Irish footballer

Ciarán Kilduff is an Irish footballer who most recently played as a striker with Shelbourne in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He has played for seven clubs in the League of Ireland throughout his career and appeared 16 times in European competition, playing in the Europa League group stages in two separate seasons. The first occasion was with Shamrock Rovers when they became the first Irish side to reach the group stage of the Europa League in 2011, and he was also part of the Dundalk team that qualified for the Europa League group stages after becoming the first Irish club to reach the play-off round of the Champions League in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Clarke (Irish footballer)</span> Irish footballer

Dean Clarke is an Irish professional footballer who most recently played for League of Ireland club, St Patrick's Athletic, where he spent two and a half seasons. He started his career with UCD, and had two seasons with Limerick, one either side of a year spent at Shamrock Rovers.

Darragh Markey is an Irish professional footballer playing for League of Ireland Premier Division club, Drogheda United, having previously spent six seasons with St Patrick's Athletic, the club he started his professional career with.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Shaw (Irish footballer)</span> Irish footballer (born 1992)

Gary Shaw is an Irish professional footballer. He has previously played for Longford Town, Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic and Bray Wanderers.

Georgie Poynton is an Irish footballer who plays for NIFL Premiership side Newry City. He has previously played for Dundalk, Bohemians, Saint Patrick's Athletic, Waterford, Shelbourne and Drogheda United. He competed at underage level for the Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team, and was named 2016 FAI Under-19 Player of the Year.

The 2019 season was St. Patrick's Athletic F.C.'s 90th year in existence and was the Supersaint's 68th consecutive season in the top-flight of Irish football. It was the first season Harry Kenny took charge of the club, following Liam Buckley's spell in charge for the previous seven seasons. The fixtures were announced on 19 December 2018, with the Saints facing Cork City at home on the opening day of the season for the second year in a row, with the Inchicore side set to play champions Dundalk away from home on the final night of the season. Harry Kenny left his post on the 24th August following a 3–1 loss away to bottom of the table UCD in the FAI Cup. He was replaced by Stephen O'Donnell on the 31st August, his first managerial role. Pats finished 5th in the league and won the Leinster Senior Cup, playing the semi-final and final with their underage sides after the league season had ended for the senior team.

David Webster is an Irish professional footballer for League of Ireland Premier Division club Drogheda United. He has previously played for Bray Wanderers, Shamrock Rovers, Waterford, St Patrick's Athletic and Finn Harps.

Jake Walker is an Irish footballer who plays for League of Ireland First Division club Bray Wanderers, having previously played for St Patrick's Athletic and Crumlin United.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason McClelland</span> Irish footballer

Jason McClelland is an Irish professional footballer who plays for League of Ireland Premier Division club, St Patrick's Athletic, having previously played for UCD for 5 seasons.

Mark Doyle is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger or striker for USL Championship club Rhode Island, having previously spent six seasons at Drogheda United and two seasons with St Patrick's Athletic.

Greg Bolger is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for League of Ireland First Division club Cork City. His previous clubs are UCD, Sporting Fingal, Dundalk, St Patrick's Athletic, Cork City, Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers.

References

  1. ↑ "Extratime.ie - James Doona".
  2. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2015 Leinster Senior Cup Quarter Finals - Longford Town -v- Shamrock Rovers".
  3. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2015 Leinster Senior Cup Semi Finals - Bohemians -v- Shamrock Rovers".
  4. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2015 Leinster Senior Cup Final - Dundalk -v- Shamrock Rovers".
  5. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2016 League of Ireland Premier Division - Shamrock Rovers -v- Finn Harps".
  6. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2016 FAI CUP Third Round - Athlone Town -v- Shamrock Rovers".
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Republic of Ireland - J. Doona - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway.
  8. ↑ "Doona pops up at the death to send the Hoops through". RTÉ News. 7 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "EA Sports Cup Final Report: Shamrock Rovers 0 - 3 Dundalk".
  10. ↑ "Pat's snap up Rovers youngster while Galway secure 'real coup' for 2018". 12 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Saints sign exciting winger James Doona from Shamrock Rovers".
  12. ↑ "Saints Confirm Signing of James Doona".
  13. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2018 Leinster Senior Cup Fourth Round - Bray Wanderers -v- St. Patrick's Athletic".
  14. ↑ "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2018 League Cup Second Round - St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Dundalk".
  15. ↑ "SSE Airtricity League". Archived from the original on 28 October 2018.
  16. ↑ "James Doona is Back for 2019".
  17. ↑ "SSE Airtricity League". Archived from the original on 2 April 2019.
  18. ↑ "SSE Airtricity League". Archived from the original on 23 October 2019.
  19. ↑ "Dundalk hammer St Pat's on night of celebration". RTÉ News. 25 October 2019.
  20. ↑ Fitzmaurice, Aidan (6 November 2019). "Saints marching out". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  21. ↑ "Plight of the free agents highlights impact of FAI crisis".
  22. ↑ @PFAIOfficial (18 December 2019). "Thanks to everyone @Homefarm_FC for ensuring game went ahead tonight. A great run out for our players winning one…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ↑ "Doona Re-signs for 2020".
  24. ↑ "Pre-Season Result: Cobh 1 - Saints 5". www.stpatsfc.com.
  25. ↑ "Pre-Season Result: Galway 1 - Saints 2". www.stpatsfc.com.
  26. ↑ @AthloneTownAFC (21 December 2020). "SIGNING ✍We are delighted to announce the signing of James Doona from Saint Patrick's Athletic! James is the ten…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ↑ "James Doona signs for Cork City". 6 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "TheJournal.ie - Cork City hit Bray Wanderers for six". www.the42.ie. 18 February 2022.
  29. ↑ Fallon, John (9 May 2022). "Cork City have 3-0 victory over Treaty in Munster Senior Cup". Irish Examiner.
  30. ↑ "James Doona Signs for 2023!".
  31. ↑ "James Doona Joins GFC".
  32. ↑ "Republic of Ireland 4 - 0 Czech Republic | 2016 - Under-18 Friendlies | 999942391 | Football Association of Ireland".
  33. ↑ "Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Czech Republic | 2016 - Under-18 Friendlies | 999942392 | Football Association of Ireland".


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.