Smylie started playing football for his local Boys Brigade team in Richhill County Armagh. He then started playing for Lurgan Town Boys in the Lisburn league. When he turned 16 he joined the
Newcastle United youth academy. During the last two years, he trained with the first team but failed to make any first team appearances. In the 2005/06 season Smylie spent time
on loan at
Stockport County where he made his league debut. He joined
Scottish First Division club
Livingston on a
free transfer in the summer of 2006, but was released at the end of the 2006/07 season. That summer after being released, Smylie joined Swedish third-tier club
Östersunds FK and played the second half of the
2007 Swedish football Division 1 season. He returned to Östersund the next year and had enough success during the first half of the season to be signed by English manager
David Wilson who was in charge of
Allsvenskan club
Ljungskile SK. The club was relegated at the end of the year. Still, another Allsvenskan club signed Smylie,
Kalmar FF. However, he struggled for playing time and was loaned out twice to
Superettan club
Jönköpings Södra until Jönköping finally signed him permanently on a 2+1 year contract at the end of 2011. The club won promotion to Allsvenskan. On 13 January 2020, Smylie moved to Swedish
Division 1 Södra club
Assyriska IK. ==Coaching career==