Damien McCrory

He gave away a penalty in the 3–1 defeat to Southend United in the Football League Trophy, which was saved, but made amends for his actions by scoring a then-equalizing goal from a 66th minute free kick.

Damien Paul McCrory (born 23 February 1990) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Grantham Town.

Having been signed to Plymouth Argyle's Centre of Excellence in August 2006, McCrory rose through the ranks to earn a twelve-month professional contract with the club in May 2008.

First signing professional forms with Plymouth Argyle in 2008, he spent the next two years on loan at Port Vale and Grimsby Town, before joining Dagenham & Redbridge in 2010.

He started the 2008–09 season positively by joining the first team squad in Austria on their annual tour, scoring in one of the games against SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

He was given shirt number 29 for his first professional season.

McCrory joined League Two side Port Vale on loan in October 2008, looking to gain some league experience.

He made his league debut against Shrewsbury Town on 11 October, replacing Paul Edwards on 54 minutes as Vale went on to win 2–1.

McCrory returned to Plymouth at the end of 2008, despite manager Dean Glover's best efforts to extend the deal further; Plymouth wanted him back at Home Park.

He fitted into the side well and Vale were keen to see him stay on loan until January 2009.

He returned to Port Vale on a one-month loan in late August 2009.

Vale were now under the management of Micky Adams, who initiated the loan after hearing how well McCrory had performed for the club in his previous spell from the club's chief scout Ray Williams and youth team manager Mark Grew.

Plymouth had to help pay the teenager's wages, as Vale had already spent their playing budget with limited funds.

After the spell was up McCrory was all ready to return to Plymouth, though his parent club then had a last minute change of heart and agreed to fund his loan at Vale Park for a further month.

In total he made just two starts and three substitute appearance in his two months at Vale Park, before he returned to Plymouth to try to impress the new coaching regime that had been established in his absence.

On 9 November 2009, McCrory joined League Two side Grimsby Town on an initial one-month loan.

McCrory cemented a place in the "Mariners" side, playing as the club's regular left-back for his two months at Blundell Park, being preferred to club left-back Joe Widdowson.

Argyle recalled McCrory from his loan spell the following January; he had played for Grimsby eleven times in all competitions.

He played for the "Daggers" in their victory in the 2010 League Two play-off final.

He also won international caps for his country at under-18 and under-19 levels.

Despite interest to sign him permanently from Grimsby, McCrory joined League Two club Dagenham & Redbridge in February 2010 for a five-figure fee.

He signed a 2 1⁄2-year deal with the club.

He quickly established himself as the club's first choice left-back.

He went on to play for the "Daggers" in the play-off final victory over Rotherham United; during the Wembley final, he set up Paul Benson for the first goal of a 3–2 win.

He scored his first senior goal on 10 August, as he struck a "sublime" 25 yd free kick to provide the opening goal of a 2–1 defeat to Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup.

He played a total of 23 League One games in 2010–11, as the club suffered relegation back into the Football League's basement division.

McCrory re-established himself as a consistent first team member in the 2011–12 campaign.

In June 2012, he signed a two-year deal with Burton Albion.

In May 2012, McCrory was released by Dagenham after being told he would not be offered a new contract.

In June 2012 he signed a two-year deal with Burton Albion after impressing the club's management with the way he caused problems for Jacques Maghoma the previous season.

Manager Gary Rowett said that he would provide competition to veteran left-back Aaron Webster.

He opened his goalscoring account for the club on 17 November, in a 3–2 win over former club Dagenham, and was rewarded with a place on the League Two Team of the Week.

He helped Burton to the League Two title in 2014–15 and then to promotion out of League One in 2015–16.

On 15 October, he was a key figure in the club's 3–2 defeat at home to his former club Plymouth Argyle; he provided assists for both of Dagenham's goal, only to be sent off in the 90th minute after fouling Isaac Vassell in the box – Simon Walton converted the resulting penalty to net the winning goal for Argyle.

The red card was later rescinded.

Seven days later he scored his first ever league goal, netting a free kick to provide a late consolidation goal in a 5–2 home defeat by Aldershot Town.

He joined Portsmouth on loan in August 2017.

After his seven-year spell at Burton came to an end, he moved on to Notts County in August 2019.

After two seasons with Notts County he moved on to Nuneaton Borough, before joining Grantham Town in July 2022.

He won the Lincolnshire Senior Cup with Grantham in 2023.