Shane Supple (born 4 May 1987) is an Irish coach and former

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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. In 2015, he made a return to competitive football, after initially retiring in 2009, by signing for non-league Crumlin United, before returning to top-flight football in 2016 when he signed for

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

Prior to his initial retirement, he spent his career mainly with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, having been a graduate of Ipswich's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

. He also played for

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

and

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

and was capped once by the Republic of Ireland U21 side.

Club career

Ipswich Town

In the 2004–05 season, he was part of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

-winning Ipswich team. On 13 August 2005 he made his first appearance for the Ipswich first team, when an injury to first-choice goalkeeper

Lewis Price Lewis Peter Price (born 19 July 1984) is a retired Welsh international professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the First-Team Goalkeeping Coach for League One club Milton Keynes Dons. Apart from making 6 Premier Leag ...

forced Supple to play for an hour of the match against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

; Supple kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

. He retained the number one spot for Ipswich Town, and in the summer of 2006,

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

made a number of bids for the Republic of Ireland player, but Ipswich manager

Jim Magilton James Magilton (born 6 May 1969) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. He started hi ...

rejected all them.

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

also showed interest but Ipswich informed the public that no bid had been made. He mainly featured among the Ipswich substitutes during the 2006–07 season with Lewis Price being first-choice keeper. In the summer of 2007, Price was sold to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, and Scottish international

Neil Alexander James Neil Alexander (born 10 March 1978) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player. He began his career in the Scottish Football League with spells at Stenhousemuir and Livingston, before joining Cardiff City in May 200 ...

was signed after having been released by

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

at the end of the 2006–07 season. Alexander was the first-choice goalkeeper in the 2007–08 season, consigning Supple once again to the bench. In 2008, Alexander left Ipswich, in a move to

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

for an undisclosed fee.

Stephen Bywater Stephen Michael Bywater (born 7 June 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He has made appearances for thirteen clubs, most notably for Derby County, where he made over 150 appearances and won the 200 ...

was immediately brought in on loan from

, while Supple was allowed to move to

on loan. Ahead of the 2008–09 season, Ipswich signed former player, Richard Wright from

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. The former

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Everton and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

was made first-choice keeper. On 26 February 2009 Supple was linked with a loan move to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, but this was put on hold by Ipswich in order for the club to find a replacement for the departing keeper. Subsequently, the move fell through. Shane Supple

Falkirk (loan)

On 31 January 2008, Supple, along with teammate Billy Clarke joined

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

on loan. Supple was signed due to the injury to Falkirk's first choice goalkeeper Tim Krul, where he made four appearances for ''the Bairns''.

Oldham Athletic (loan)

Supple was loaned out to

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 ...

side

on 18 March 2009, following Ipswich Town's signing of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

goalkeeper,

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Millwall. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton in 2006. After six years at Southampton, h ...

until the end of the season.

Retirement from football

Supple played his last professional game in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on 11 August 2009, a game in which Supple saved a penalty from

Jake Robinson Jake David Robinson (born 23 October 1986) is an English footballer who plays for Worthing. Robinson plays either as a winger or striker. Career Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton-born Robinson made his debut in September 2003 against Middle ...

in the shootout to help his side progress to the next round. Nine days later, Ipswich Town announced that they had agreed to cancel Supple's contract at the request of the player, allowing him to pursue a career outside professional soccer. He said that he had "fallen out of love with the game" and wished to pursue a different career path. His desire to play

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

with the Dublin county team was a major motivating factor.

Return to football

Supple returned to playing football when he signed for intermediate club Crumlin United in 2015. On 15 June 2016, it was announced that he had signed with

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 ...

side

, marking his return to top-flight football. Supple made his first team debut on 9 July 2016 in a mid-season friendly at home to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He made his league debut for Bohemians in a 1–0 defeat to

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

. He would go on to be voted Bohemians Player of the Year for the 2018 season. Supple announced his retirement from football in November 2018 due to an ongoing hip injury.

International career

Supple has represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

at under-21 level, his only cap in a UEFA European Under-21 qualification game at home to

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

on 25 March 2008, which ended 1-1. He was called up to the

side on 21 May 2018 by

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

ahead of upcoming friendlies against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Coaching career

In January 2021, he was named as Gaelic football goalkeeping coach of the Meath under-20 county team under the management of

Bernard Flynn Bernard Flynn (born 26 June 1965) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Meath county team. As a teenager he attended secondary school in St Mary's of Drogheda. He enjoyed success play inter-county football in the 1980s and ...

. When Flynn prepared his management team to succeed

Andy McEntee Andy McEntee is a Gaelic football manager. He has been the manager of the Antrim county team since 2022. He managed his native Meath between 2016 and 2022. Career McEntee managed Meath to the final of the 2012 All-Ireland Minor Football Champ ...

as Meath senior manager when that vacany next arose in 2022, Supple was included. However,

Colm O'Rourke Colm O'Rourke (born 31 August 1957) is a Gaelic football manager, former player, retired secondary school principal, sports broadcaster and columnist. He has been manager of the Meath county team since 2022. O'Rourke's league and championship ...

was then appointed manager instead of Flynn. Supple later joined O'Rourke's management team as goalkeeping coach.

Career statistics

Honours

;Ipswich Town *

: 2004–05 ;Individual *

PFAI Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Team of the Year (often called the PFAI Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to the group of eleven players voted by their fellow players as having perform ...

: 2018 Premier Division *Bohemians Player of the Year: 2018

Gaelic football career

Supple plays

, also as a goalkeeper, for St Brigid's. In 2010, he became a member of the senior

Dublin county football team The Dublin county football team represents Dublin in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Dublin GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Irela ...

, being substitute goalkeeper for their

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

game against Mayo in March, although he did not play any part in the game. Supple excelled in his first full season with his home club St Brigid's, acting as vice-captain in their superb run to the final of the

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of the ...

in 2010. Supple was nominated for a Blue Star award due to his performances for Brigid's during the season. In November 2011, Brigid's won the

References

External links

Shane Supple player profile
at itfc.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Supple, Shane 1987 births Living people People from Castleknock Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Association football goalkeepers Home Farm F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Crumlin United F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football goalkeepers Gaelic football goalkeeping coaches St Brigid's (Dublin) Gaelic footballers People educated at St. Declan's College, Dublin