Shelbourne set to name former Shamrock Rovers defender as chief executive

Shelbourne are set to unveil the former Shamrock Rovers and Limerick defender David O'Connor as their new chief executive officer.

The Meath native will take over the commercial side of the Drumcondra club, where he will work alongside new investor Andrew Doyle.

26-year-old O'Connor - a former extratime.ie columnist - took the decision to step away from playing professional football at the end of last season in order to focus on his longer-term career path.

That's taken him to Shels, where he'll put into practice a sports management degree, earned online with the assistance of the PFAI, while at Rovers.

Doyle – who was previously a board member at Shamrock Rovers – is poised to complete a takeover of the club that will see him invest a potential half a million euro in the Reds.

He was one of the first names appointed to the new Rovers board after Ray Wilson organised a €1.5 million investment into the club used primarily in developing the club's underage structure at Roadstone.

Shelbourne are a sleeping giant of Irish football, having won the League of Ireland 13 times, second only to Shamrock Rovers.

The club has fallen on hard times over the past decade, however, and have spent just two seasons in the Premier Division since financial issues saw them relegated by the FAI in 2006.

The club announced recently they had cleared their historic debts – believed to be several million - and would move in as joint tenants with Bohemians at Dalymount Park.

They recently launched a new scholarship initiative in partnership with DCU that will offer male and female players opportunities to further their footballing ambitions while studying for a university degree.



About Dave O'Connor:

O’Connor was part of a very successful Belvedere Schoolboy side that won two All-Irelands and a number of DDSL titles before he moved into senior football with UCD.

He made one league start in 2010, in a 4-1 defeat away to Shamrock Rovers on 23 August.

The following year he became a first-choice centre back for the Students and scored his first league goal for the club against St Patrick's Athletic on 30 May 2011.

He remained at the heart of the UCD defence for three seasons and in that time he scored six league goals in 85 league appearances.

During his time in Belfield, O’Connor earned an Arts degree and, on a footballing scholarship, completed a master's in Geography.



He played 40 league games with Shamrock Rovers from 2014 to 2016. He last lined out with Limerick in the Premier Division in 2017, making 19 league appearances.

During his time at Rovers O'Connor undertook an online level 8 Sports Management degree through a college in Denmark which was facilitated by PFAI.

Additional reporting by Macdara Ferris.