Aaron McCarey

Born in Monaghan, County Monaghan, McCarey began his career at his hometown club Monaghan United in their youth system aged eight, before breaking into the first team as a 17-year-old. He established himself as the League of Ireland First Division club's first choice goalkeeper in the 2009 season, before moving to join the youth ranks of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2010, after having agreed to the transfer in September 2009. The goalkeeper gained his first experience of English football when he joined promotion-chasing Conference North club A.F.C. Telford United on 16 February 2011 on a one-month loan. He played four full matches for the club, all victories, starting with a 2–1 home win over Alfreton Town on 22 February 2011. His first clean sheet came on 5 March in his third match, a 3–0 win away to Guiseley. On 11 August 2012, McCarey was named in a Wolves matchday squad for the first time, remaining unused as Carl Ikeme played in their League Cup first round match against Aldershot Town at home, a penalty shoot-out victory. His first league call-up for the club was on 6 October, in their 1–0 away win over Blackburn Rovers in the Championship. He joined League One club Walsall on 16 November 2012 on a one-month loan, where he made his Football League debut a day later in a 2–2 draw away to Crawley Town. In February 2013, he was re-loaned to Walsall initially for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, but was recalled after a month to cover an…

McCarey was capped once for the Republic of Ireland national under-17 team, playing in a 3–1 home defeat to Poland in a friendly on 21 April 2009. Over a year later, on 11 May 2010, he made his only appearance for the under-18 team in a 1–0 friendly away defeat to Macedonia. McCarey made his under-19 debut on 9 August 2010 in a friendly against Ukraine, which finished a 0–0 draw at home. He played at the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, with the Republic of Ireland being beaten 5–0 by Spain in the semi-final on 29 July 2011. This was his last appearance for the under-19s, earning 14 caps at this level. McCarey's debut at under-21 level came as a substitute for Ian McLoughlin in a 2–1 friendly home victory over Denmark on 28 May 2012. He was capped 10 times by the under-21s in 2012 and 2013. He received his first call up to the senior Republic of Ireland national team as a replacement for Keiren Westwood, for a friendly against Spain in New York in June 2013. McCarey had to wait almost five years to get his next senior call-up, again deputising for Keiren Westwood for Ireland's friendly versus Turkey on 23 March 2018.

As of 30 November 2020