Daniel O'Reilly (born 11 April 1995) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Early life

O'Reilly was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He grew up in

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

and attended

Salesian College Celbridge Salesian College Celbridge is a secondary school catering for male students aged 12–19 around the County Kildare village of Celbridge. History The Salesian College, Celbridge was originally formed in 1981 in a disused primary school on the H ...

Club career

O'Reilly played underage football for Cherry Orchard before being signed by

Fulham Academy The Fulham F.C. Academy is a football academy in London. The Academy, headed by director Hew Jennings, runs along the lines of many of the English football academies as deemed appropriate by the national governing body, and recently awarded Catego ...

in November 2010 aged 15. On 30 January 2014, O'Reilly was sent to Walton Casuals on a one month loan. He stayed at Fulham in four years before being released, then had a brief stay at Southern Premier League

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

in 2014 before the club collapsed. He subsequently moved to

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

and then returned to Ireland to play with

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

. After a brief period at Eastbourne Borough, O'Reilly returned in 2016 to the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

, playing with

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

and

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

. At the end of the 2019 season he was voted Supporter's Player of the Year at Finn Harps. In November 2019 O'Reilly signed for Shelbourne. In December 2020 he moved to

2020 League of Ireland First Division The 2020 League of Ireland First Division season was the 36th season of the League of Ireland First Division. The league began on 21 February 2020 and concluded on 27 October 2020. Drogheda United won the league title for a record 5th time, win ...

Winners

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

ahead of their first season back in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

, where he was voted Club Player of the Year in his only season at the club. On 1 January 2022, Daniel’s agency (Stephen Hunt Management) announced that O'Reilly had signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

, after rejecting several offers from Ireland.

International career

O'Reilly was selected as an unused sub for the Republic of Ireland U17 team in 2012, in a qualifying game against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Career statistics

Honours

Individual

;Longford Town * PFAI First Division Team of the Year: 2 (2017, 2018) ;Finn Harps *Supporter's Player of the Year: 1 (2019) ;Drogheda United *Supporter's Player of the Year: 1 (2021)

References

External links

Profile on Shelbourne F.C. website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Daniel 1995 births Living people Republic of Ireland association footballers Drogheda United F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Cherry Orchard F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players People from Celbridge League of Ireland players Association football fullbacks Association footballers from County Kildare Scottish Professional Football League players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Irish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland