Mark Ryan O'Hara (born 12 December 1995) is a Scottish professional

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 as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club St Mirren. He has previously played for

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, Lincoln City and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Club career

Kilmarnock

A member of Kilmarnock's under-20 squad O'Hara made his first team debut on 28 August 2012, coming on as a 13th-minute substitute in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

match against

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

, replacing the injured

Jeroen Tesselaar Jeroen Tesselaar (born 16 January 1989) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a left back for Tweede Divisie club Quick Boys. He has previously played for AZ Alkmaar, Telstar, Kilmarnock, St Mirren and De Graafschap. Career AZ Tesselaar started ...

in a 2–1 defeat. Aged just 16 on his debut, O'Hara became the fifth youngest person to play competitively for Kilmarnock and only the second youngest in that competition. On 27 October 2012, he made his first start and league debut in a 2–0 win over

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

, Kilmarnock's first win at the venue since 1955.

Dundee

O'Hara signed for

in June 2016. Upon signing for Dundee, he was moved into an attacking midfield position by manager

Paul Hartley Paul Hartley (born 19 October 1976) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Scottish Championship side Cove Rangers. As a player, Hartley won trophies with both Hearts and ...

, who said he didn't know why O'Hara had previously been playing as a defender. On 13 August 2016, he scored his first career goal, in Dundee's 2–1 defeat against Rangers. He then scored again in the following match, getting the equaliser in a 1–1 draw against

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 ...

. On the 19th of February 2017, he scored the opening goal as Dundee won 2–1 against Rangers, the first time since 1992 that Dundee had beaten them at home in the league. Following Paul Hartley's departure from Dundee, O'Hara scored in new manager

Neil McCann Neil Doherty McCann (born 11 August 1974) is a Scottish football manager, pundit and former professional player who played as a left winger. His most recent role in football was a stint as the caretaker manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. ...

's first match in charge, a 3–2 win against Motherwell. O'Hara scored an equalising goal in a 1–1 draw in the

Dundee derby The Dundee derby is a football match between Dundee and Dundee United. The clubs are based yards apart in the city of Dundee, the fourth-largest city in Scotland. History Dundee is the older of the two, having been founded in 1893, compare ...

against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in the Scottish league cup group stage. He scored again against Rangers, getting both goals in a 2–1 home win on 24 November 2017, this was O'Hara's fourth goal against Rangers in his third home game against them.

Peterborough United

O'Hara moved to

in May 2018 under freedom of contract, with Dundee receiving a compensation fee. He started his career at London Road in goalscoring form, netting three goals in his first two games in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. Fourteen starts and eight sub appearances followed in the first half of the 2018–19 season, but the end of manager Steve Evans' tenure at the club coincided with a loan move to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Lincoln City. His aggressive and tenacious midfield style saw him make an instant impact with the Imps, making 17 appearances as

Danny Cowley Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English professional football coach who was most recently manager of EFL League One side Portsmouth. He has previously managed Concord Rangers, Braintree Town, Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and P ...

's side won the league title by six points over

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

and

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

. He was transfer-listed by Peterborough United at the end of the 2018–19 season. On 2 September 2019, O'Hara joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.

Motherwell

On 24 June 2020,

announced the signing of O'Hara on a permanent deal from

for a nominal fee, signing a two-year contract.

St Mirren

In May 2022 following the expiry of his Motherwell contract, O'Hara signed for fellow

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side St Mirren on a two-year deal, having previously signed a pre-contract agreement with the ''Buddies'' in March. In March 2023, O'Hara extended his contract until the summer of 2026 after establishing himself as a regular in the Saints team.

International career

O'Hara represented Scotland at the under-19 and under-21 levels.

Career statistics

Honours

Lincoln City *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Mark 1995 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Kilmarnock F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Peterborough United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players People educated at St Luke's High School Sportspeople from Barrhead Footballers from East Renfrewshire English Football League players Men's association football midfielders