| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ciarán Toner | ||
| Date of birth | 30 June 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Craigavon, Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Guiseley | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2000–2002 | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | → Peterborough United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2002 | → Bristol Rovers (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Leyton Orient | 52 | (2) |
| 2004–2005 | Lincoln City | 15 | (2) |
| 2005 | → Cambridge United (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2005–2008 | Grimsby Town | 94 | (14) |
| 2008–2010 | Rochdale | 50 | (1) |
| 2010–2011 | Harrogate Town | 32 | (2) |
| 2011- | Guiseley | ||
| National team‡ | |||
| 2000–2003 | Northern Ireland U21 | 17 | (1) |
| 2003 | Northern Ireland | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:12, 14 May 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Ciarán Toner (born 30 June 1981 in Craigavon) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays for Conference North side Guiseley. He has represented Tottenham Hotspur, Peterborough United, Bristol Rovers, Leyton Orient, Lincoln City, Cambridge United, Grimsby Town, Rochdale and Harrogate Town. He has also earned two caps in 2003 for Northern Ireland, before that he earned 17 caps, scoring once for the Northern Ireland U21 side.
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Toner was promoted to the first team setup at White Hart Lane at the beginning of the 2000–01 season. He failed to make an appearance for the club in his two seasons at the Premiership outfit, but spent time on loan with Peterborough United and Bristol Rovers, before being released at the end of the 2001–02 season.
His next port of call was too sign with Leyton Orient. He made his debut for the Brisbane Road club on the opening day of the 2002–03 season, with a 3–2 victory over Macclesfield Town. Toner went on to make just over 60 appearances for the club in his two season stay. He scored twice, his first coming in a 1–1 away draw with Hull City on 31 August 2002. While with Orient, Toner impressed enough to be called up to the Northern Ireland international team, where he played in two games, against Spain and Italy.
At the start of the 2004–05 season, Toner was signed by Lincoln City manager Keith Alexander on a one year deal. He became a first team regular at Sincil Bank, scoring vital goals in victories over the clubs rivals Grimsby Town and Mansfield Town. Toner made 17 appearances for The Imps, scoring twice, before being severely disciplined by the club for a "training ground incident" involving fellow team mate Marcus Richardson. The pair were both fined by the club, made available for transfer, and loaned out too other clubs. An unexpected end to the season for the Irishman and he spent the remaining two months on loan with Cambridge United. Toner made eight appearances for United, and the club were eventually relegated from the Football League at the end of the season.
Following the end of his loan deal at Cambridge, Keith Alexander decided against renewing Toner's one year deal, and he was released from Lincoln a few weeks after the end of the 2004–05 season. During July 2005, Toner joined up with Grimsby Town on an initial trial period he was one of many players on trial at the club that summer and was invited by the club to take part in there pre-season Royal Army boot camp. Shortly before the start of the season Town manager Russell Slade rewarded Toner with a one year contract, to which he accepted. In his first season with Grimsby Toner initially found it hard to break up Slade's favoured central midfield role of Paul Bolland and Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala. It wasn't until Kalala joined up with the DR Congo international side for the African Nations Cup midway through the 2005–06 season that Toner began to find his feet in the first team. Toner however would eventually lose his place again when Slade signed Curtis Woodhouse in the January transfer window. Grimsby would go on to defeat former side Lincoln City in the Play-Off semi finals before finally losing out in the final at the Millennium Stadium to Cheltenham Town, Toner however was an unused substitute in the final. In his second season at Blundell Park, Toner finished joint top scorer with eight goals, as he played a large part in keeping Alan Buckley's side in the Football League. Toner was rewarded and signed a new two-year deal in the summer of 2007. During the 2007–08 season, Toner struggled with fitness problems that curtailed his season, and eventually saw him play second fiddle to other players at the club, and at the end of the season Buckley decided to cancel his contract by mutual consent. Upon his departure from Blundell Park, he gave an interview to the local press stating that he always gave 100% and did not see any reason why the fans would not acknowledge this upon his future return. On the 26 June 2008 it was confirmed that Toner would leave the club after agreeing with the club to cancel his contract, despite having one year remaining on the deal. While at Grimsby, Toner managed to score some important goals, two of them goals came against his former side Lincoln City, in the clubs local derbys. One of them came in a 3–0 home win for The Mariners in 2005, while the other came in a 2–1 away win for Grimsby in 2007. He had previously scored in 2004 for Lincoln in the same fixture.
Immediately after his release from Grimsby, he signed a deal with fellow League Two side Rochdale. He did not feature in Rochdale's first game of the season, against former club Grimsby Town at Blundell Park and instead, Toner made his debut against Oldham Athletic in the League Cup and throughout the 2008–09 season he became a first team regular mainly featuring alongside veteran Gary Jones in the centre of midfield. Toner became an integral part of the Dale side by making 37 appearances and scoring a wonder strike against Aldershot Town. Rochdale went on to finish sixth in the league and claim a play off spot, but lost out in the final.
Toner had a race to be fit for the opening day of the 2009–10 football season after having problems with his ear drum in Rochdale's pre-season training camp in Marbella before suffering from shin splints which made him miss the rest of Rochdale's pre season matches. Toner won his race by being named as an unused substitute for Rochdale's opening day fixture to Port Vale. Dale were promoted to League One at the end of the season after finishing third in the table despite leading the league for a lengthy period of the season.
In August 2010 he signed for Conference North outfit Harrogate Town. He made his debut on 28 August 2010 in a 6–3 defeat to Boston United. On 4 September 2010, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw at home to Hinckley United.
In July 2011 he joined Guiseley.[1]
In 2003, Toner was called up to play for Northern Ireland in two matches for his country, replacing Damien Johnson in a friendly against Italy, and Thomas Doherty in a 0–0 draw with Spain.
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