James Doona

James Doona (born 15 January 1998) is an Irish professional footballer, currently playing for League of Ireland First Division side Athlone Town. He started his senior career with the Shamrock Rovers, where he played for three seasons before moving to his hometown club St Patrick's Athletic where he also spent three seasons.

James Doona
Personal information
Full name James Doona
Date of birth (1998-01-15) 15 January 1998
Place of birth Inchicore, Ireland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)
Club information
Current team
 Athlone Town
Number TBA
Youth career
Lourdes Celtic
Crumlin United
Stella Maris
St Patrick's Athletic
2015–2016 Shamrock Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Shamrock Rovers 25 (4)
2018–2020 St Patrick's Athletic 39 (4)
2021– Athlone Town 0 (0)
National team
2015 Republic of Ireland U18 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:30, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

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]

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.[10] In the off-season, Doona trained with Tranmere Rovers who were set to sign the 19 year old but a move never materialised.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13] He made his debut in a 3–1 Leinster Senior Cup win away to Bray Wanderers on 4 February 2018.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] This display impressed Kenny enough to offer Doona a new contract for the 2019 season on 23 November 2018.[17]

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.[18] 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.[19] This earned him his first start of the season, away to Champions Dundalk on the last day of the season.[20] It was announced on 6 November 2019 that Doona had been released following the end of his contract.[21] Doona played in two friendly games with the PFAI's out of contract squad, scoring in a 5–1 win over Rochdale XI[22] and another in a 1–0 win over Home Farm.[23]

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.[24] 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[25] and another against Galway United on 4 February.[26] 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.[27]

Athlone Town

Doona signed for League of Ireland First Division side Athlone Town on the 21st December 2020, ahead of the 2021 season.[28]

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.[29][30]

Career statistics

Professional appearances – correct as of 21 December 2020.[31]

Club Division Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Shamrock Rovers League of Ireland 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
Shamrock Rovers Total 25472610040427
St Patrick's Athletic League of Ireland Premier Division 2018 1720010—3[lower-alpha 2]0212
2019 15200110[lower-alpha 1]02[lower-alpha 2]0183
2020 7010———80
St Patrick's Athletic Total 39410210050475
Athlone Town League of Ireland First Division 2021 000000—0[lower-alpha 2]000
Career Total 648828200908912
  1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. Appearances in Leinster Senior Cup

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. "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. "Republic of Ireland - J. Doona - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway".
  11. "Pat's snap up Rovers youngster while Galway secure 'real coup' for 2018".
  12. "Saints sign exciting winger James Doona from Shamrock Rovers".
  13. "Saints Confirm Signing of James Doona".
  14. "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2018 Leinster Senior Cup Fourth Round - Bray Wanderers -v- St. Patrick's Athletic".
  15. "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - 2018 League Cup Second Round - St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Dundalk".
  16. http://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/match/st-patricks-athletic-vs-derry-city-fc/id-021UKB0GG8000000VUM100GLVSO243I1
  17. "James Doona is Back for 2019".
  18. https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/match/st-patricks-athletic-vs-dundalk/id-026ILSHAQC000000VUM100GLVU85B3QM
  19. https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/match/derry-city-fc-vs-st-patricks-athletic/id-025K46AIBG000000VUM100GLVVH56HPG
  20. "Dundalk hammer St Pat's on night of celebration". RTÉ News. 25 October 2019.
  21. Fitzmaurice, Aidan (6 November 2019). "Saints marching out". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  22. "Plight of the free agents highlights impact of FAI crisis".
  23. https://twitter.com/PFAIOfficial/status/1207434712555380736
  24. "Doona Re-signs for 2020".
  25. https://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=8618
  26. https://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=8629
  27. https://ie.soccerway.com/players/james-doona/435831/
  28. https://twitter.com/AthloneTownAFC/status/1341141514701975557?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
  29. "Republic of Ireland 4 - 0 Czech Republic | 2016 - Under-18 Friendlies | 999942391 | Football Association of Ireland".
  30. "Republic of Ireland 1 - 3 Czech Republic | 2016 - Under-18 Friendlies | 999942392 | Football Association of Ireland".
  31. "Republic of Ireland – J.Doona". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
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