Aaron Boyd Player Profile

Biography

Aaron Boyd was an industrious forward who had two short spells with the Sky Blues at the start of his career under Roy Walker.

Born in Newtownards, Aaron began his football journey with Linfield progressing through the ranks to the second-string Linfield Swifts side and was a regular goalscorer by the 2009/2010 season. By this season the striker had also played in back-to-back Harry Cavan Youth Cup finals, losing the first to Ballymena United Thirds in 2009, but bouncing back to score the winner in the following year for Linfield Rangers.

His form also earned him a place in the Northern Ireland Regions Cup team for the 2010 tournament, and scoring a hat-trick against the Estonian representatives in his first game. Despite a plethora of striking options available to the Windsor Park Blues, manager David Jeffrey drafted the 19 year-old into the Linfield first-team on New Years' Eve 2010 for his debut from the bench in a shock against Donegal Celtic.

This would prove to be his only senior appearance for the club as Ballymena United manager Roy Walker moved to sign him on loan shortly after for the remainder of the 2010/2011 IFA Premiership campaign. The hard working striker impressed during his eight game loan spell, scoring two goals in a United team that limped over the finish line to finish ninth after a promising start to the campaign.

With the consent of his parent club Linfield, Aaron continued to play on another loan throughout the summer of 2011 in Canada, with newly established Hamilton Rage. On his return to Northern Ireland and with his contract at Linfield expired, Walker re-signed Aaron permanently at the Showgrounds in August 2011. However, Niggling injuries coupled with a broken arm hampered Aaron's second spell at the Braid, which ran parallel with a poor run of form leading into December 2011, ending in Roy Walker's resignation as manager. His two spells ended with a total of 19 appearances and 5 goals at Warden Street.

Having been signed on Amateur terms by the Sky Blues, Boyd was free to move to rivals Coleraine just weeks after his manager's departure. The striker finished the 2011/2012 strongly with Oran Kearney's Bannsiders but was cup-tied for their League Cup final defeat to Crusaders, but did score the winning goal live on Sky Sports against Cliftonville in April 2012. The 2012/2013 wasn't as fruitful, as he found himself down the pecking order at the club and was transferred to Lisburn Distillery in January 2013 for the remainder of the season, in which the Whites were eventually relegated.

Boyd remained in the top flight for the 2013/2014 campaign with Irish Cup holders Glentoran, but struggled for goals in Eddie Patterson's team. In June 2014, he subsequently dropped down to play for Knockbreda in the second-tier and subsequently moved to his hometown club Ards during their promotion season, winning the NIFL Championship in 2015/2016.

After a spell out of football, he returned to Ards in August 2018 under Colin Nixon, but only managed four appearances during the 2018/2019 season, which would be his last in competitive football at the age of only 28 years old.

Career
(2008) Linfield; (Jan 2011) Ballymena United – loan; (2011) Hamilton Rage; (Aug 2011) Ballymena United; (Dec 2011) Coleraine; (Jan 2013) Lisburn Distillery; (Aug 2013) Glentoran; (2014) Knockbreda; (2015) Ards; (Aug 2018) Ards

Honours
(with Linfield)
Harry Cavan Youth Cup: (winner) 2009/2010; (finalist) 2008/2009
(with Ards)
Championship: (winner) 2015/2016

International Honours
Northern Ireland Regions (2010)