33 Legends The football almanac
‹ Ireland's 33
John O’Shea
Photo: Gordon Flood · CC BY 2.0 · edited (crop, resize, colour toning, WebP format) · source
17 / Ireland · 2001–2018

John O’Shea

CB anchorclutch
Caps · Republic of Ireland
118
Goals · Republic of Ireland
3
Life
1981
Clubs
Manchester United, AFC Bournemouth, Royal Antwerp
#17
Editorial rank of 33 for Ireland
–
The people's rank, live from duel votes

Career record: 118 caps and 3 goals for Republic of Ireland; club career at Manchester United, AFC Bournemouth, Royal Antwerp.

Career sourcesCareer dates · checked 4 October 2026
Identity and career · Wikidata Q306351
Vote in Ireland's duels Build your Ireland XI

Career record

1999–2011Manchester United
2000–2000AFC Bournemouth
2001–2001Royal Antwerp
2011–2018Sunderland A.F.C.
2018–2019Reading
Republic of Ireland118 caps, 3 goals

Sources

Shared the era

Ireland legends whose careers overlapped O’Shea's

The world's great CBs

Around O’Shea in the almanac

One rank above: Ian Harte at #16.

One rank below: Niall Quinn at #18.

Ireland's editorial top five: Roy Keane · Liam Brady · Johnny Carey · Paul McGrath · Denis Irwin.

Report an error

Page: /legends/irl-john-o-shea

10 to 1,000 characters. Include a source if you can. Keep personal information out of the message.

We store your message, this page and, if provided, your email to review the correction. Email is removed on completion or within 90 days; messages within 365 days. Privacy and deletion.