The tale of Paddy McCourt's life in football begins in Northern Ireland, where he was born on December 16, 1983. Standing at 5ft 11in tall (1.82m) and weighing 11st (70kg), McCourt mainly held the position of a right attacking midfielder. He got his break into professional football at Rochdale, an English National League club, in August 2001. Through a four-year stint with them, he made a total of 79 first team appearances and netted a total of 9 goals. During this time he transferred briefly to Shamrock Rovers in Ireland's Premier Division in March 2005, however he soon found himself back on home turf with Derry City come August the same year.
In June 2008, McCourt was taken under Celtic's wing in the Scottish Premiership, for which he was bought for approximately £250k. His time here materialised into five seasons, amounting to 65 first team appearances with the Bhoys. His first season was relatively quiet, with only four league appearances. However, as the seasons progressed, his performance started heating up, peaking in the 2010 - 2011 season, when he netted seven times in 24 appearances. Unfortunately, his performance tapered down the following years, reducing to a total of 28 first team appearances over two seasons, before making his exit just before the 2013 - 2014 season.
McCourt's journey post Celtic took him back to England, where he played for Barnsley and Brighton & Hove Albion, and even Notts County where he was loaned to briefly. Though he made a fair number of appearances in his seasons across these clubs, he couldn't quite emulate his powerful scoring run from Celtic. A more notable spell followed at Luton Town, where he finished the 2015 - 2016 season with a tally of 24 first-team appearances and one goal.
Post 2016, McCourt decided to return to his roots. He transferred back to Northern Ireland, playing for Glenavon in the Premiership and hit the net once in his 12 appearances. By February 2017, he was in Finn Harps, a club in the Republic of Ireland's First Division, where he managed to score twice in 27 appearances. McCourt's last known transfer was in December 2018, after which details about his subsequent journey are less clear.
