Thomas Paul O'Sullivan (born 18 January 1995) is a Welsh 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

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

. A

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

youth international, he began his professional career with

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 ...

in 2012, making his debut 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 ...

in August 2012. He made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

debut on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in February 2015. After two loan spells at Newport County during the 2015–16 season, he signed for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in January 2017. He joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2017–18 season in January 2018. Having been released by Colchester, he signed with Hereford in October 2018. He spent just under two years with

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

before making the move to Gloucester City in August 2020. After three seasons with Gloucester he moved on to Brackley Town.

Club career

Cardiff City

Born in

Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mountain Ash ( cy, Aberpennar) is a town and former community in the Cynon Valley, within the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a population of 11,230 at the 2011 Census, estimated in 2019 at 11,339. It includes the districts and ...

, O'Sullivan progressed through the

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

to sign his first professional

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

in 2012. His made his professional debut when he came on as a substitute for

Stephen McPhail Stephen John Paul McPhail (born 9 December 1979) is an Irish former professional footballer and the sporting director of Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland Premier Division. A play-making central midfielder, McPhail started his career at ...

19 minutes into a 2–1

defeat to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

Sixfields Stadium Sixfields Stadium is a 7,798-capacity all-seater sports stadium in the Sixfields area on the west side of Northampton, England. It has been the home ground of Northampton Town Football Club following their move from the County Ground in Octo ...

on 14 August 2012. He also went on to make an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

appearance on 5 January 2013, as City lost 2–1 to

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

side

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

. O'Sullivan joined

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 a one-month

on 2 February 2015;

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of the Wales national team. In an 18-year career in the Premier League and the English Football League, he made 550 competitive ...

signed O'Sullivan to replace injured creative midfielder

Louis Dodds Louis Bartholomew Dodds (born 8 October 1986) is an English footballer who plays for side Hanley Town. He can play either as a midfielder or as a striker. After many years at the Leicester City Academy, he turned professional at the club in ...

, having been familiar with him from his time as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

with the Welsh youth teams. He returned to Cardiff on 2 March after only one substitute appearance at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

. Ten days later he was re-signed by Page on another one-month loan, after the departure of

Chris Lines Christopher John Lines (born 30 November 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Bath City. Lines turned professional at Bristol Rovers, and made his first team debut in January 2006. He played in the 20 ...

created a midfield vacancy in Vale's first team picture. The loan deal was later extended to cover the rest of the 2014–15 season. He made five appearances for the Valiants. On 5 October 2015, O'Sullivan was named as Welsh Young Player of the Year by the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

. Eight days later he joined Newport County on an initial one-month loan, subsequently extended until 7 January 2016. He made his debut on 17 October in 1–0 home defeat by

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 ...

, and on 24 October, he scored his first professional goal in Newport's 4–1 win at

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 ...

. In total he made 13 appearances for the club during the loan spell, which was not extended despite Cardiff manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional association football, football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve t ...

being encouraged by O'Sullivan's progress. On 10 March 2016, O'Sullivan returned to Newport County on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season. He made a further nine appearances for County during his second spell.

Colchester United

After failing to make an impact on the Cardiff first team during the 2016–17 season, O'Sullivan joined

on trial in January 2017, completing a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

to the club for an undisclosed fee on 20 January 2017. He made his debut as a substitute for

Drey Wright Drey Jermaine Wright (born 30 April 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone. The son of former Ipswich Town and Southampton midfielder Jermaine Wright, Wright progressed thro ...

after 78-minutes of Colchester's 4–0

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 ...

win at home to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

on 8 April. He made three first-team appearances in 2016–17. On 4 January 2018, O'Sullivan signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut two days later in a 4–0 defeat at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. He played a total of seven games for

Gary Owers Gary Owers (born 3 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer, and football manager. He most recently managed Torquay United. He was previously manager of Bath City and Forest Green Rovers as well as the assistant manager at Alde ...

's "Gulls", who ended the season being

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

into the

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

. Upon his return to the

Colchester Community Stadium Colchester Community Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the JobServe Community Stadium, is a football stadium in Colchester, England. It is the home of Colchester United Football Club. It has a capacity of 10,105 and opened in August 200 ...

at the end of the 2017–18 season he was released by manager

John McGreal John Leslie McGreal (born 2 June 1972) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is currently an U21s coach at Ipswich Town. He began his career at Tranmere Rovers, making his debut in the 1991–92 season. He becam ...

Hereford

On 25 October 2018, O'Sullivan signed with

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

after a successful trial period at

Edgar Street Edgar Street is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was wound up. It is now the home of Hereford FC, a phoenix club formed to rep ...

. He featured 31 times for the "Bulls" over the course of the 2018–19 season. He was re-united with former Cardiff manager Russell Slade in September 2019, following Marc Richards' departure from the club, and O'Sullivan's 96th-minute winner against

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

on 17 September secured Slade's first victory at

. He scored two goals in 22 appearances in the 2019–20 season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...

, with Hereford in 15th-place.

Gloucester City

On 7 August 2020, O'Sullivan joined Hereford's National League North rivals Gloucester City, becoming manager James Rowe's fifth summer signing. He made 21 appearances before the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season was curtailed due to the ongoing pandemic. He featured 36 times under

Lee Mansell Lee Richard Samuel Mansell (born 23 September 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played for Luton Town, Nuneaton Borough, Oxford United, Torquay United and Bristol Rovers. He was most recently the first team manager of Nation ...

in the 2021–22 season, in what O'Sullivan called "a transitional time" at Meadow Park. He made 32 appearances in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign, including in the play-off quarter-final defeat at

Brackley Town

On 26 June 2023, O'Sullivan signed with Brackley Town upon the expiry of his contract with Gloucester.

International career

O'Sullivan has represented

at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level. He made his competitive debut for the under-17s starting in a 3–2 defeat to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

on 17 October 2011. He made five appearances for the under-17 side. On 13 November 2013, he had a goalscoring debut for the under-19 team, featuring as a substitute in Wales' 5–1 defeat to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He scored six goals in six appearances for the under-19 team. Prior to his under-19 debut, O'Sullivan had already made his under-21 debut, starting in their 4–0 victory over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

on 15 October 2013. For his first goals at under-21 level, he scored a brace against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

during a 3–1 win on 31 March 2015. He scored three goals in 15 competitive under-21 games between 2013 and 2016.

Style of play

O'Sullivan is a creative box-to-box

with a good touch, awareness and technique.

Coaching career

In 2022, he was coaching in the academy at Cardiff City.

Personal life

Tommy's elder brother, Sam O'Sullivan, played 152 times for Newport County before leaving the club in 2008.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OSullivan, Tommy 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Mountain Ash, Wales Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Cardiff City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Hereford F.C. players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Brackley Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Cardiff City F.C. non-playing staff