Conor O'Shea

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Conor Michael Patrick O'Shea (born October 21, 1970, County Limerick) is a former rugby union footballer who played at full back for Ireland, Lansdowne R.F.C. and London Irish.

[edit] Early life and education

Conor O'Shea went to Terenure College in Dublin where he was coached by the hugely respected John McClean, which is one of the main rugby nurseries in Ireland and is currently Director of the English RFU Academy. He attended University College Dublin where he began his representative career. O'Shea received his Master's of Sports Science degree in Sports Management in 1996 from the United States Sports Academy, known around the world as America's Sports University. His father, Jerome, was a famous exponent of Gaelic football in the 1950s and won the All-Ireland Championship with Kerry in 1953, 1955 and 1959.

[edit] Rugby career

O'Shea won the Inter-provisional championship in Ireland with Leinster and the Leinster Senior Cup with Lansdowne R.F.C..

An ankle injury sustained while playing for London Irish against Gloucester R.F.C. in November 2000 curtailed his career which included 35 international caps for Ireland scoring 44 points, including six tries.

Conor served London Irish as player, captain, Director of Rugby and finally Managing Director. He joined London Irish in 1995 and made 127 first team appearances for the club scoring 412 points including 62 tries.

In 1999 he was awarded the Zurich Players’ Player of the Season Award. He then won the Zurich Rugby Director of the Season Award (jointly with Brendan Venter in 2002 after London Irish won the Powergen Cup against Northampton Saints.

Conor left London Irish in 2005 to take up an appointment with the Rugby Football Union as Director of Regional Academies. His job is to oversee the network of 14 England regional academies and will lead the selection and monitoring of players capable of developing into future England internationals.

In 2007 Conor was called upon by the RFU to give a talk to the England squad before playing Ireland for the first time at Croke Park to acquaint the players with the sporting and political history of the ground.

Conor also works as a television analyst on RTÉ in Ireland.