Gregory O'Shea (born 23 March 1995) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team, usually as a fly-half. In July 2019, O'Shea partnered with Amber Gill won the fifth series of '' Love Island''.

Early life and education

O'Shea is from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. His father Niall O'Shea and mother Carol O'Shea (née Ho) were both sprinters for Ireland. O'Shea's family is from Limerick, except his maternal grandfather who is from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. O'Shea's maternal grandfather, Peter Ho, emigrated to Limerick from Hong Kong after World War II, opening up Limerick's first Chinese restaurant. O'Shea started playing rugby with local club Shannon when he was seven years old. O'Shea went to Scoil Íde in Corbally. He then attended Crescent College Comprehensive. In 2017, O'Shea graduated from the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

School of Law with a law degree.

Sports career

At Crescent College, O'Shea won a Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup with the school in 2013 when they defeated Rockwell College in the final, having also won Junior Cups in 2010 and 2011. In addition to playing rugby, he was also a sprinter; when he was 16 he competed for Ireland at the 2011 European Youth Olympics 100m where he finished sixth. It was O'Shea's last competitive race, as he decided to leave athletics behind and focus on rugby. O'Shea joined the

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

academy in 2013, playing mostly

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

and fullback. O'Shea encountered a setback in 2015 when he fell off a bicycle and lacerated his achilles tendon, which took him a year until returning to full health. Despite the injury, Munster extended his academy place for an additional year. O'Shea was unable to earn a place on the Munster senior team, and he left the province. O'Shea then began playing with the Ireland national sevens team. He played for Ireland at the 2017 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series, where Ireland finished in second behind

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. O'Shea struggled with injuries and missed the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifying tournament, although he did make the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens squad. O'Shea made the Ireland squad for the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier, helping the team win the tournament and qualify for the World Rugby Sevens Series. In June 2019, O'Shea played on the Paris 7s team. He was part of Ireland's Rugby Sevens squad which began training in August 2019 for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. In November 2019 he was named in Ireland's squad for the World Sevens.

Television

In 2019, O'Shea won the fifth series of '' Love Island'' alongside Amber Gill, with 49% of the final public vote. O'Shea joined Virgin Media Television in November 2022 as a presenter on '' The 6 O'Clock Show''.

Leadership

* 2019–present: Rugby Players Ireland, Executive Board Member

References

External links

*
Greg O'Shea
at

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, ...

Greg O'Shea
at

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

(Ireland 7s)
Greg O'Shea
at

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

(Six Nations U20) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:OShea, Greg Living people 1995 births People educated at Crescent College Rugby union players from Limerick (city) Irish rugby union players Shannon RFC players Ireland international rugby sevens players Irish people of Chinese descent Irish people of Hong Kong descent Rugby union wings Virgin Media Television (Ireland) presenters Olympic rugby sevens players for Ireland Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Love Island (2015 TV series) contestants Alumni of the University of Limerick Broadcasters from County Limerick