Born on this day, former Sunderland skipper, multiple Premier League and Champions League winner, John O'Shea.
A competent and reliable defender when he arrived on Wearside on an undisclosed fee, he was past his best some would say but he certainly done a job for Sunderland and would become an almost permanent name on the team sheet, even in his late 30s. He signed for SAFC in 2011 after 12 years in the North West which saw 5 Premier League titles, a Champions League, a FIFA Club World Cup, an FA Cup, 2 League Cups and 4 Community Shields.
When fit, he would be almost ever-present for Sunderland under ever manager from Steve Bruce to Chris Coleman and everyone in between, captaining Sunderland to Wembley in 2014 under Gus Poyet in the Capital One Cup final, only to lose 3-1 to Manchester City. He would score a rare and his final club goal against Derby County in a 4-1 win at Pride Park in 2018 which gave SAFC a glimmer of hope to avoid Championship relegation but it wasn't to be and O'Shea saw his second successive and only career relegations. He left at the end of the season, following his contract expiring and joined Reading. He would play a further season in Berkshire before announcing his retirement on his 38th birthday, he would play a few more times before the end of the season and received a guard of honour from all players in his final professional game.
He started as a youth player at Ferrybank then Waterford before leaving his native Ireland to sign for Manchester United, he would break into the first team at Old Trafford in 1999, the year they won that historic treble, after beating Bayern in the final. He would be loaned out to Royal Antwerp in Belgium as well as AFC Bournemouth at the turn of the millennium but would soon establish himself in the first team at United. He would also be capped a staggering 118 times for the Republic of Ireland, receiving his first in 2001 and last in 2018!
He would be a versatile defender for Sir Alex Ferguson, although a centre half by trade, it wasn't unknown for him to play at right back and once even filled in, in goal when Edwin van Der Sar had to go off injured with a broken nose and all of the substitutes had been used! He kept a clean sheet and joked that he wanted van Der Sar's clean sheet bonus in his post-match interview.
