Conor Pepper

Conor Pepper
Personal information
Full name Conor Pepper
Date of birth (1994-05-04) 4 May 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder / Defender
Team information
Current team
 Cliftonville
Number 2
Youth career
Portmarnock AFC
Cherry Orchard
2011–2012 St Patrick's Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012 St Patrick's Athletic 0 (0)
2012–2014 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 12 (2)
2014–2017 Greenock Morton 47 (2)
2018–2020 Glentoran 57 (0)
2020–2023 Linfield 34 (0)
2023– Cliftonville 23 (0)
International career
2012–2013 Republic of Ireland U19
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:40, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Conor Pepper (born 4 May 1994) is an Irish professional association football player, who plays as a midfielder or full-back for NIFL Premiership club Cliftonville.

Career

Born in Dublin, Pepper played youth football with Portmarnock AFC and Cherry Orchard. He played for St. Patrick's Athletic Under 19s and also made one first team appearance in the Leinster Senior Cup in a Dublin derby away to Shamrock Rovers, before signing for Scottish Premier League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle in July 2012.[1]

He made his first competitive appearance for Inverness on 18 August 2012. During this appearance he scored a late equalising goal in a 2–2 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle.[2] He made an assist in his second match, a 4–2 loss against Celtic. Then scored his second goal for the club in his first start away at Hibernian.

Pepper has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth international levels.[3]

Despite a promising first campaign with Inverness with Terry Butcher, Pepper failed to feature during his second season and was subsequently released by the club in May 2014 by manager John Hughes.[4]

However, Pepper stayed in Scottish football by signing for Greenock Morton.[5] He agreed a new deal with Morton in May 2016.[6] Pepper was part of the team that won the Scottish league One title in his first season at Greenock Morton. Pepper featured in every game up of his second campaign until February 2016 when suffered a knee injury and didn't feature again for the first-team. After 3 seasons with Morton, Pepper left the club in May 2017 at the end of his contract.[7]

After spending 2 years without playing first-team football, still recovering from injury, Pepper moved to Belfast to sign for NIFL Premiership side Glentoran.[8] In his first month as a Glentoran player, Pepper won the Glentoran Supporters Player of the Month Award for August 2018 with 85% of the vote.[9] Pepper was praised by his manager Mick McDermott, who said "I have said it before, and I will say it again, that we have the best two full-backs in the league"[10] After two seasons with Glentoran, Pepper signed for Big Two rivals Linfield.[11]

Honours

Morton

Glentoran

Linfield

Cliftonville

Career statistics

As of match played 28 January 2023[17]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
St Patrick's Athletic 2012 LOI Premier Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0[a] 0 1[b] 0 1 0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2012–13 Scottish Premiership 12 2 0 0 3 0 — — 15 2
2013–14 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
Total 12 2 0 0 3 0 — — 15 2
Greenock Morton 2014–15 Scottish League One 25 2 2 0 2 0 — 2[c] 0 31 2
2015–16 Scottish Championship 22 0 3 0 4 0 — 1[c] 0 30 0
2016–17 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0[c] 0 0 0
Total 47 2 5 0 6 0 — 3 0 61 2
Glentoran 2018–19 NIFL Premiership 34 0 0 0 2 0 — — 36 0
2019–20 23 0 1 0 1 0 — — 25 0
Total 57 0 1 0 3 0 — — 61 0
Linfield 2020–21 NIFL Premiership 17 0 5 0 — 1[d] 0 1[e] 0 24 0
2021–22 7 0 0 0 0 0 2[f] 0 0[e] 0 9 0
2022–23 10 0 2 0 2 0 2[g] 0 5[h] 0 21 0
Total 34 0 7 0 2 0 5 0 6 0 54 0
Cliftonville 2023–24 NIFL Premiership 23 0 2 0 1 0 — 2[i] 0 28 0
Career Total 173 4 15 0 15 0 5 0 12 0 220 4
  1. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Appearances in Leinster Senior Cup
  3. ^ a b c Appearances in Scottish Challenge Cup
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ a b Appearances in County Antrim Shield
  6. ^ 1 appearance in UEFA Champions League & 1 appearance in UEFA Europa Conference League
  7. ^ 1 appearance in UEFA Champions League & 1 appearance in UEFA Europa League
  8. ^ 3 appearances in County Antrim Shield, 1 appearance in NIFL Charity Shield & 1 appearance in Scottish Challenge Cup
  9. ^ 1 appearance in County Antrim Shield & 1 appearance in Scottish Challenge Cup

References

  1. ^ "Caley snap up Pepper". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Inverness: Butcher hails late Conor Pepper strike". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  3. ^ Reilly, Francis (16 June 2010). "Conor makes Ireland debut". Fingal Independent. INM. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Christie signs new ICT deal". Inverness Courier. Scottish Provincial Press. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Jonathan (10 June 2014). "Morton set to secure double signing". Greenock Telegraph. Clyde & Forth Press Limited. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Jonathan (5 May 2016). "Five starts to stay at Morton". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  7. ^ Mitchell, Jonathan (15 May 2017). "Player contracts update". gmfc.net. Greenock Morton F.C. Archived from the original on 12 August 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Welcome Conor Pepper". glentoran.com. Glentoran F.C. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Conor is Player of the Month". glentoran.com. Glentoran F.C. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Glentoran boss Mick McDermott reveals defensive pair he wouldn't swap for anyone". belfastlive.co.uk. Gareth Fullerton. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Interview: David Healy - 'Delighted to reveal the signing of Conor Pepper'". belfastlive.com. Linfield F.C. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Greenock Morton claim League 1 title after 3–1 win against Peterhead". Scottish Television. 2 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Irish Cup final: Glens edge Sky Blues to win Windsor decider". BBC Sport. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  14. ^ "Linfield win Danske Bank Premiership to draw level with Rangers' world record for domestic league titles". Belfast Telegraph. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Irish Cup final: Healy savours 'raw emotion' of win as Linfield beat Larne 2-1 in decider". BBC Sport. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Cliftonville end 45-year wait for Irish Cup glory". IFA. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  17. ^ "Republic of Ireland – C.Pepper". Ie.soccerway.com. Retrieved 10 March 2020.