Jay O'Shea

James O'Shea (/oʊˈʃeɪ/ oh-SHAY; born 10 August 1988) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for A-League Men club Brisbane Roar.

While he is primarily an attacking midfielder, he can also operate as a winger and striker. O'Shea began his career with St Joseph's Boys AFC before moving on to play for Home Farm of the Leinster Senior League in 2005. He signed for Bray Wanderers after just two appearances for Home Farm and spent a year and a half with Bray. In 2008, O'Shea signed for Galway United, playing 60 games for the club in all competitions, and attracted a lot of interest from English Football League and Premier League teams.

He subsequently joined Birmingham City in August 2009 for an undisclosed fee and made his Premier League debut shortly after against Manchester United. However, he found first-team opportunities hard to come by during his first season at Birmingham and was loaned out to Middlesbrough in March 2010. O'Shea was loaned out again in October 2010, this time to League Two side Stevenage where he spent two months, and then to Port Vale in January 2011. He was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2010–11 season and joined Milton Keynes Dons. He joined Chesterfield on loan in November 2012 and joined the club permanently two months later. He played for Chesterfield in the 2014 Football League Trophy final before helping them to win the League Two title in 2013–14. He was loaned out to Sheffield United in January 2017 and helped United to win the League One title in 2016–17. He signed with Bury in July 2017 and was named on the PFA Team of the Year as Bury secured promotion out of League Two at the end of the 2018–19 season. He moved to Australia in June 2019 to sign with A-League club Brisbane Roar. He was named in the PFA A-League Team of the Season in 2020–21 and 2022–23, and on the A-Leagues All Star in 2022.

O'Shea began his career at St Joseph's Boys, a youth team located in south County Dublin that caters for players from the age of six up to 18 years old. Shortly after leaving St Joseph's, he signed for Home Farm of the Leinster Senior League in 2005, before joining Bray Wanderers a year later. O'Shea made his Bray debut in the club's 2–0 home defeat to Longford Town in September 2006 at the age of 18, coming on as a substitute in the second-half, and started his first match in a 6–0 loss to Cork City. He scored his first professional goal in a 3–0 win over Shamrock Rovers in October 2007, before signing for League of Ireland Premier Division side Galway United in December 2007. O'Shea scored his first goal for Galway in a 2–2 home draw with Finn Harps in May 2008, and finished as Galway's top scorer during the 2008 season, scoring ten goals in all competitions.

In November 2008, it was rumoured that a £400,000 deal had been agreed between Galway and English Championship side Derby County, with the player expected to move when the transfer window reopened in January 2009. O'Shea went on trial with the club in November 2008 and scored twice in a behind closed doors friendly against Notts County in a match which an experienced Derby side won 5–2. However, when Derby manager Paul Jewell resigned the move was put on hold and then cancelled. Carlisle United manager Greg Abbott said the club also came "within minutes" of signing O'Shea ahead of the 2009–10 season, but lost out after trying to sign the player for three months. In January 2009, O'Shea spent two weeks on trial with Birmingham City but returned to Galway ahead of the club's league campaign. The 2009 season witnessed O'Shea score six goals in 23 appearances for Galway, as well as captaining the team throughout the campaign. His final game for the club was a 2–1 win over his former employers, Bray Wanderers, a game in which he scored the winner in injury time. In his last two games for Galway, O'Shea was watched by scouts from Portsmouth, Derby County, Birmingham City, Middlesbrough, Watford, and Falkirk respectively.

On 10 August 2009, O'Shea signed a two-year contract, with the option of a further two years, with Birmingham City of the Premier League. The fee was undisclosed. He made his debut for the club as a second-half substitute in Birmingham's opening match of the season, a 1–0 defeat at Manchester United. He started his first game for Birmingham nine days later, playing 45 minutes in the club's 2–1 League Cup win over Southampton. He also featured in the following round, this time playing 63 minutes in Birmingham's 2–0 away loss at Sunderland before being replaced by Lee Bowyer. It was to be O'Shea's last appearance of the season for Birmingham. In March 2010, O'Shea joined Middlesbrough on loan for a month. He made his debut – both for the club and in the English Football League – as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 draw at home to Crystal Palace on 3 April. He started the next game, away at Plymouth Argyle, but made no more first-team appearances.

Early in the 2010–11 season, Birmingham manager Alex McLeish attempted to find a Football League club for O'Shea to join on loan so that he could play regular football. In October, he had a trial with Scunthorpe United, during which he played for the club's reserve team in a game against Lincoln City reserves which ended 1–1. Scunthorpe manager Ian Baraclough said he "wanted to take a further look at O'Shea" ahead of a reserve game against Leeds United, but he did not feature in the match. Towards the end of October, McLeish expressed surprise and concern that no club had taken the player on loan: "I'm surprised nobody has come for him because I think he's a decent young player and it would be great to get him that league experience. Playing in reserve games every now and then is probably not the right thing for a young player with potential." On 26 October, O'Shea joined League Two club Stevenage on a one-month loan deal. He was assigned the number 22 shirt. Having scored in a reserve match against Ipswich Town the day after signing, O'Shea started in Stevenage's 0–0 home draw with Chesterfield on 30 October. After six appearances, four in the League and two in the FA Cup, O'Shea's loan was extended until 16 January 2011.

He returned to Birmingham at the end of his loan spell, and a few days later, he went out on loan again, this time to League Two club Port Vale for one month. He scored his first goal in English football at Vale Park, with a well taken strike against Rotherham United on 1 February. He made a total of five starts during his loan spell, before returning to Birmingham. Later in the season Vale's caretaker manager Mark Grew attempted to re-sign O'Shea. However, the deal was reported to have fallen through because of the player's wages. After Birmingham's relegation from the Premier League, O'Shea was one of several players released when their contracts expired at the end of the season.