Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce the signing of former Republic of Ireland international Amy Boyle-Carr. The 21-year-old makes a return to football for the first time since 2019 having decided to step away to commit to Donegal GAA.

The Glenties native is a well-established GAA player, but is also a highly rated football player who earned her first Irish senior cap at the age of 17. Boyle-Carr, who can operate in midfield, on the wing or as a striker, started her football career with Fintown Harps as part of the boy’s team before moving on to Sion Swifts. She represented Donegal in the Gaynor Cup and was a regular in Irish underage squads.

At the age of 16, Boyle-Carr was named in the Irish senior squad for friendlies before being handed her first start in April 2018 at the age of 17 against The Netherlands at Tallaght Stadium. In fact, it was a game she had tickets for, but they went unused as she was named in the starting 11 on the day. Having made her debut, Boyle-Carr made the decision to step away from Gaelic football.

A number of months later, she made her return to Donegal GAA, and never left since. But, with her GAA season now over, Boyle-Carr has decided to commit to Rovers for the remainder of the season. After attending training on Monday, she decided she wanted to be part of it all.

“Steve had been in touch at the start of the year, but I’d already committed to Donegal. I said I’d come down on Monday and see how I got on. I enjoyed it. “It’s brilliant, it’s a great opportunity to get. I said I’d sign and see how it goes. It will keep me fit.  

“I was training on Monday night and the training was brilliant, good and intense. I enjoyed it.”Boyle-Carr is now part of an already sizeable Donegal contingent within the Rovers squad, but she also knows players like Katie Melly, Lauren McLellan and Ruth Monaghan from her time studying at ATU Sligo, where she has just completed her degree. And now that she’s here, she can’t wait to get going.

“It’s been a while since I played (football). I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself. “The girls are great, it helped that I knew some of them. I was chatting to them and they were telling me about the backing they get from the club and the support so it’s fantastic. It will only push everyone on.”