Quick Facts
AriesBiography
Liam Boyce (born 8 April 1991) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays for Scottish club Ross County as a striker. Boyce began his career at Cliftonville and returned to the club following a short spell at Werder Bremen II. He subsequently signed for County during the 2014 close season. Boyce has also represented the Northern Ireland national football team.
Club career
Cliftonville
Boyce began his career at Cliftonville, scoring 19 goals in his debut season. He won the IFA Premiership Player of the Month Award for April 2010, and was named the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year for the 2009–10 season. Boyce is from the Lower Falls in Belfast. He played for Immaculata for most of his youth years, during this time he attended St Joseph's Primary School Slate Street and St Mary's Grammar School, located on the Glen Road in Belfast, he spent all his secondary school years there and went on to study A Levels.
As his ability and skills in his football career developed he was spotted by Cliftonville, and they signed him. He spent his first year there playing in the reserves but in the 2009–10 season, Boyce became a first team regular.
Boyce went on trial with Scottish club Celtic in July 2010, and then held discussions in mid-August 2010 about a move to German club SpVgg Greuther Fürth. However, the move collapsed a few days later.
Werder Bremen
Boyce eventually signed for another German club, Werder Bremen, on 31 August 2010. He was released by the German club in October 2011, having only made three appearances for the club's reserves side.
Return to Cliftonville
Boyce rejoined Cliftonville in January 2012. In the 2012–13 season, he helped Cliftonville win the league title for the first time since 1998, finishing as the league's top scorer with 29 league goals. He was also named as the 2012–13 Ulster Footballer of the Year and Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year. He won a second league title with the north Belfast club in 2013–14, scoring another 21 league goals before, in July 2014, the club announced that it had withdrawn its offer of a new contract to Boyce.
Ross County
On 13 June 2014, it was announced Boyce had signed a pre-contract with Ross County. On 13 April 2015, Boyce scored County's first ever top-flight hat-trick in a 3–0 win at St Mirren.
International career
Boyce was selected to play for the Northern Ireland national under-21 football team. On 31 January 2011, Liam Boyce received his first senior call-up to the Northern Ireland squad to appear in the Nations Cup. This call-up came after his move to German club Werder Bremen in September 2010. On 9 February 2011, Boyce made his debut against Scotland in which he came on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Niall McGinn. He received his second call-up for Northern Ireland's Group C clash with Serbia in Belgrade on 25 March 2011.
Career statistics
- As of 23rd December 2016
| Club | Season | Division | League | Cups | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Cliftonville | 2008–09 | Irish Premiership | 15 | 1 | – | 15 | 1 | |
| 2009–10 | 34 | 16 | – | 34 | 16 | |||
| 2010–11 | 3 | 1 | – | 3 | 1 | |||
| Total | 52 | 18 | - | - | 52 | 18 | ||
| Werder Bremen II | 2010–11 | 3. Liga | 3 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | – | - | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 3 | 0 | - | - | 3 | 0 | ||
| Cliftonville | 2011–12 | Irish Premiership | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| 2012–13 | 36 | 29 | 8 | 3 | 44 | 32 | ||
| 2013–14 | 36 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 40 | 23 | ||
| Total | 85 | 51 | 13 | 5 | 98 | 56 | ||
| Ross County | 2014–15 | Scottish Premiership | 30 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 11 |
| 2015–16 | 35 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 42 | 20 | ||
| 2016–17 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 11 | ||
| Total | 81 | 36 | 14 | 6 | 95 | 42 | ||
| Career Total | 221 | 105 | 27 | 11 | 248 | 116 | ||
Honours
Club
- Cliftonville
- Irish Premiership: 2012–13, 2013–14
- Irish League Cup: 2012–13, 2013–14
- County Antrim Shield: 2008–09, 2011–12
- Ross County
- Scottish League Cup: 2015–16
- Wilson, Richard (13 March 2016). "Scottish League Cup Final: Hibernian 1 Ross County 2". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 March 2016.