Brendan O'Callaghan
Encyclopedia
Career
Born in BradfordBradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
on 23 July 1955, he began his career with Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers F.C.
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is an English football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship, after being promoted via the League One play-offs in 2008, and have remained there since.The club was founded in...
making his full league debut on 1 September 1973 against Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
. He went on to play almost five full seasons with Rovers scoring 65 goals in his 187 appearances
In March 1978 O'Callaghan was sold to Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
for a fee of £50,000 and while there he played over 250 League games, appeared in the top flight and won six caps for the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
.
In his Stoke City debut as a 75th minute substitute in the home match against Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
on 8 March 1978, Stoke were waiting to take a corner when he came on and he went straight to the penalty area and headed home the cross into the back of the net. In actual game time he had not been on the pitch for more than five seconds and this must therefore be one of the quickest debut goals ever scored.
In February 1985 he signed for Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is an English association football club based at Boundary Park, on Sheepfoot Lane in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The club currently competes in the Football League One, the third tier of the English league...
, but shortly after his career was ended by a serious knee injury. O'Callaghan now lives in Staffordshire and works as an area fund-raising manager for the Save The Children charity.