Ruairí Harkin

Ruairí Harkin
Personal information
Date of birth	11 October 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Derry, Northern Ireland
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Youth career
	Don Bosco's
	Charlton Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team
2006–2008	Charlton Athletic
2007–2008	→ Heybridge Swifts (loan)
2009–2011	Derry City
2009	→ Finn Harps (loan)
2012–2016	Coleraine
2016–2019	Cliftonville
2019–	Finn Harps
International career
2005	Northern Ireland U16
2006	Republic of Ireland U17
2006–2008	Republic of Ireland U19
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ruairí Harkin (born 11 October 1989) is a former footballer who played as a central midfielder.

Club career

Youth

Harkin began his career at a very young age with Don Boscos. Throughout his career with Don Bosco's, Harkin made several appearances for the Derry and District League Select in the Foyle Cup and also County Londonderry in the Milk Cup. Having turned down opportunities to sign for a number of English clubs, such as Blackburn Rovers, in order to finish his GCSE exams at St. Columb's College, he eventually signed for Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2006.

Senior

Harkin looked set to have a bright future in the game and his ability was praised by coaches. However, the young midfielder failed to play a senior game for the English team and instead languished in the reserves, before being loaned out to non-league outfit, Heybridge Swifts. At the end of 2008, Harkin was released by Charlton and promptly snapped up by his hometown club, Derry City. Harkin was loaned out to Derry's rivals, Finn Harps at the beginning of the 2009 season. He made 12 appearances for Harps in the early part of 2009 before returning to the Brandywell where he turned out 3 times for the Candystripes before the season ended. Ruairi made 20 league appearances for Derry in 2010, scoring three times, as the club won the First Division title, and in 2011 he made another 20 appearances, though 14 of these came as a substitute. Harkin signed for Coleraine in the Irish Premier League on 5 January 2012.^[1] Harkin joined Cliftonville on 1 August 2016 for a fee believed to be £18,000.^{[citation needed]}

International career

Having represented Northern Ireland at Under-16 level, Derry-born Harkin was later called up to the Republic of Ireland Under-19 squad,^[2] where he was capped four times between 2006 and 2008.

Career statistics

As of 15 February 2021^[3]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Derry City	2009	LOI Premier Division	4	0	0	0	0	0	—		4	0
	2010	LOI First Division	20	3	0	0	0	0	—		20	3
	2011	LOI Premier Division	19	0	0	0	2	1	—		21	1
	Total		43	3	0	0	2	1	—		45	4
Finn Harps	2009	LOI First Division	12	0	0	0	0	0	—		12	0
Coleraine	2011–12	IFA Premiership	13	0	2	0	1	0	—		16	0
	2012–13	IFA Premiership	37	2	2	0	1	0	2^[a]	0	42	2
	2013–14	NIFL Premiership	30	4	1	0	1	0	2^[a]	1	34	5
	2014–15	NIFL Premiership	19	3	0	0	1	0	—		21	3
	2015–16	NIFL Premiership	34	1	1	0	3	0	—		38	1
	Total		133	10	6	0	7	0	4	1	150	11
Cliftonville	2016–17	NIFL Premiership	14	2	0	0	1	0	—		15	2
	2017–18	NIFL Premiership	9	0	2	0	0	0	—		11	0
	2018–19	NIFL Premiership	6	0	0	0	0	0	—		6	0
	Total		29	2	2	0	1	0	—		32	2
Finn Harps	2019	LOI Premier Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	2^[b]	0	9	0
	2020	LOI Premier Division	8	0	2	0	0	0	—		10	0
	2021	LOI Premier Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		15	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	19	0
Career total			245	15	10	0	10	1	6	1	271	17

^ ^a ^b Appearances in the Setanta Sports Cup.
^ Appearances in the Relegation Playoff.

Honours

Derry City

References

^ "Coleraine sign Paul Owens from Carrick and Derry's Ruairi Harkin". BBC. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
^ "U19 men - Season 2007/'08 Summary Report". Football Association of Ireland. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
^ "Ruairí Harkin". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 December 2019.

[Setanta_Cup-4] Appearances in the Setanta Sports Cup.

[5] Appearances in the Relegation Playoff.

[1] "Coleraine sign Paul Owens from Carrick and Derry's Ruairi Harkin". BBC. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2020.

[2] "U19 men - Season 2007/'08 Summary Report". Football Association of Ireland. Retrieved 17 January 2011.

[Soccerway_profile-3] "Ruairí Harkin". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 December 2019.

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