Former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll made a surprise return to action as he started for Ballinamallard in their NIFL Championship clash against Annagh on Monday.
The 45-year-old initially retired from football at the end of the 2020/21 season, having last featured for Irish Premiership side Dungannon Swifts. But Carroll was named in the Ballinamallard XI to take on Annagh in their Bank Holiday clash, 18 months after quitting the game.
On his return to action, however, Carroll had to be substituted inside the first-half through injury and was replaced by Josh Brownlee. Ballinamallard were already losing 1-0 before Carroll was taken off in the 36th minute but The Mallards went on to lose 4-0 in the end as they started the New Year with a defeat.
Having played for Ballinamallard and Fivemiletown as a teenager, Carroll moved across to England in 1995 to join Hull as he began life as a professional football. He went on to make 50 appearances for the club in all competitions, before being sold to Wigan for a club record fee as the Tigers looked to clear mounting debts.
The former Northern Ireland stopper played 170 matches in four years for Wigan and became a firm cult hero at the Lancashire club as they won promotion to the Second Division. He was in the form of his career for Wigan before United captured his services for a fee worth around £2.5million in July 2001 as he took the next step in his career.
But the shot-stopper made just seven Premier League appearances during his first season at Old Trafford as he competed for the No.1 jersey with Fabien Barthez. It was enough for Carroll to win a top-flight winners' medal, though, and the 'keeper continued to have an impressive impact at the Red Devils, although he wasn't playing as many games as he may have wanted to.
Following Barthez's departure in 2002, Tim Howard arrived to become United's new first-choice 'keeper but the duo pushed each other all the way for the shirt. He won an FA Cup winners' medal in May 2004 when he came on as substitute for Howard in the 84th minute. This was all before Carroll was involved in the most incident.
In a FA Cup clash with Everton in February 2005, Carroll was struck on the back of the head by any of various projectiles including coins as United ran out 2-0 winners. That would prove to be one of Carroll's final matches at the Red Devils as he was released at the end of his contract in the summer.
Weeks after leaving Old Trafford and Carroll had signed for West Ham, where he made a total of 35 appearances across two seasons before leaving for Rangers. Carroll also featured for the likes of Rangers, Derby and Notts County across his career, where he played over 600 games before retirement in 2021. Carroll was also a fully fledged Northern Ireland international as he was capped 45 times.
