Declan McDaid

Declan McDaid (born 22 November 1995) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Partick Thistle, on loan from Dundee. McDaid started his career as a youth player at Greenock Morton, before being promoted to the club's first team in April 2013. However, McDaid left the club a short time later and signed for (then) Scottish First Division side Partick Thistle in June 2013. After two successful seasons with Ayr United, he signed for Scottish Championship side Dundee in June 2019.

Declan McDaid

Personal information
Date of birth	22 November 1995
Place of birth	Dunoon, Scotland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Partick Thistle (on loan from Dundee)
Youth career
2011–2012	Greenock Morton
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2013	Greenock Morton	1	(0)
2013–2017	Partick Thistle	23	(0)
2016	→ Cowdenbeath (loan)	17	(1)
2017–2019	Ayr United	75	(10)
2019–	Dundee	32	(4)
2021–	→ Partick Thistle (loan)	0	(0)
National team^‡
2013	Scotland Schools U18	4	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:20, 29 January, 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23 July 2018

Club career

Greenock Morton

Whilst still in school, Morton received a £35,000 verbal offer from Celtic but rejected it to allow him to complete his schooling.[1]

Born in Greenock, McDaid made his debut for Greenock Morton's first-team on 6 April 2013, coming on as a late substitute in a 5–2 victory over Airdrie United.[2] He chose to reject an offer of a full-time contract with the club and left in 2013.[3]

Partick Thistle

McDaid joined newly promoted Scottish Premiership club Partick Thistle on 21 June 2013, initially to play for Thistle's under 20 squad.[4] Just 20 seconds after coming on as a substitute against St Mirren, McDaid assisted Christie Elliot for a goal in the seventy-fifth minute. Thistle eventually won the game 1–0. On 18 February 2015, McDaid signed a new contract, keeping him at Partick Thistle until the summer of 2017.[5] However, McDaid left Thistle on 31 January 2017, after the club agreed to terminate his contract.[6]

Cowdenbeath (loan)

In January 2016, McDaid moved to Scottish League One side Cowdenbeath on loan, with the purpose of gaining some first-team experience.[7] McDaid scored his first ever professional goal on 20 February 2016 scoring for Cowdenbeath in a 3–2 home defeat to Peterhead making it 1–1 at the time.[8]

Ayr United

After leaving Partick Thistle, McDaid signed a short-term deal with Scottish League One side Ayr United on 31 January 2017.[9] He scored his first goal for Ayr in a Scottish Cup round of 16 replay with Clyde in February 2017. With Ayr, McDaid would win League One in the 2017–18 season, and would follow that up with an impressive season in the Scottish Championship, finishing 4th place and qualifying for the Scottish Premiership playoffs, though were unsuccessful in their attempts at consecutive promotions.

Dundee

McDaid signed a two-year deal with Dundee in June 2019, which would later be extended to three years.[10] He opened his scoring account for the Dark Blues by scoring both goals in a 2–0 win over Arbroath,[11] and followed that up a couple weeks later with a long-range goal and Man of the Match performance against his former side Ayr United.[12]

Partick Thistle return

McDaid returned to former club Partick Thistle, now in League One, on loan in January 2021 until the end of the season.[13][14]

International career

McDaid was first called into the Scotland Schools U18 squad in 2013 after his performances in the Morton reserve side which finished second in the SFL Reserve League.[15]

McDaid would start all four games in the Centenary Cup, and scored against England at McDiarmid Park.[16]

Career statistics

As of match played 29 December 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Scottish Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Greenock Morton	2012–13[17]	Scottish First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Partick Thistle	2014–15[18]	Scottish Premiership	16	0	0	0	0	0	—		16	0
	2015–16[19]		4	0	0	0	1	0	—		5	0
	2016–17[20]		3	0	0	0	2	0	—		5	0
	Total		23	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	26	0
Cowdenbeath (loan)	2015–16[19]	Scottish League One	17	1	0	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	19	1
Ayr United	2016–17[20]	Scottish Championship	7	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
	2017–18[21]	Scottish League One	34	6	3	4	5	3	1[lower-alpha 2]	0	43	13
	2018–19[22]	Scottish Championship	34	4	2	0	6	0	3[lower-alpha 3]	0	45	4
	Total		75	10	7	5	11	3	4	0	97	18
Dundee	2019–20[23]	Scottish Championship	24	3	1	0	5	0	1[lower-alpha 2]	0	31	3
	2020–21[24]		8	1	0	0	4	0	0	0	12	1
	Total		32	4	1	0	9	0	1	0	43	4
Partick Thistle (loan)	2020–21[25]	Scottish League One	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			148	15	8	5	23	3	7	0	186	23

1. Appearances in the League One play-offs
2. Appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup
3. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup; Two appearances in the Scottish Premiership play-offs

References

1. "Ton youngster at centre of transfer fight". Greenock Telegraph. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
2. "Morton 5–2 Airdrie Utd". BBC Sport. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
3. Mitchell, Jonathan (18 May 2013). "Moore's bemused by youngster's Ton snub". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
4. "Two youngsters signed". Partick Thistle F.C. 21 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
5. Hosie, Tom (18 February 2015). "MCDAID SIGNS NEW CONTRACT". Partick Thistle F.C. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
6. "Decland McDaid leaves the club". Partick Thistle FC. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
7. "McDaid joins Cowdenbeath on loan". ptfc.co.uk. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
8. "Cowdenbeath 2–3 Peterhead,". BBC Sport. 20 February 2016.
9. "Declan McDaid joins United". Ayr United FC. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
10. "Declan is a Dee". Dundee FC Official Website. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
11. "Dundee 2–0 Arbroath". BBC. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
12. "Ayr United 1–2 Dundee". BBC. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
13. https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/loan-signing-declan-mcdaid-returns-to-firhill/
14. "Declan joins Partick on loan". dundeefc.co.uk. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
15. Mitchell, Jonathan (25 January 2013). "Scotland call-up for Ton youth". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
16. Mitchell, Jonathan (16 April 2013). "Dream strike against Auld Enemy". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
17. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
18. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
19. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
20. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
21. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
22. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
23. "Games played by Declan McDaid in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
24. "Games Played by Declan McDaid in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
25. "Games Played by Declan McDaid in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

External links

• Declan McDaid at Soccerbase