Darren O'Dea was born on 4 February 1987 and is an Irish retired professional football player, who is the head coach of Celtic B and professional player pathway manager at Celtic.
22 Facts About Darren O'Dea
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Darren O'Dea began his career on the youth team of Celtic, with whom he played from 2006 to 2012.
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Darren O'Dea's stint was cut short due to the Ukrainian political situation, and he returned to England with Blackpool.
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Darren O'Dea then became a coach at Motherwell, while playing semi-professionally for East Kilbride.
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Darren O'Dea represented Ireland at the 2012 UEFA European Championship.
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Darren O'Dea made his first league starting appearance against Dunfermline Athletic four days after his Champions League debut.
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Darren O'Dea was appointed stand-in captain after Stephen McManus went on loan to Middlesbrough and Gary Caldwell left for Wigan.
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Darren O'Dea said he would play for another club if he did not have first-team opportunities at Celtic, since he felt that playing was "not about sitting on a bench".
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Darren O'Dea won the award in a ceremony held in February 2012.
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Darren O'Dea said he "had a great time at Celtic and have a lot of friends there so it was important for me that I left properly".
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Darren O'Dea was employed at left back for the 2013 season after the regular player at that position was injured.
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Darren O'Dea played a total of 26 times for Toronto, scoring one goal and setting up three, and was succeeded as team captain by Steven Caldwell.
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Darren O'Dea left the club in August 2014, terminating his contract two years early due to the unrest in Ukraine.
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Darren O'Dea described the situation in the country as "hostile and intense, but surreal".
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Darren O'Dea was injured in a match against Nottingham Forest in February 2015, forcing him to miss the game with Blackburn Rovers.
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Darren O'Dea signed a short-term contract with Dundee in January 2016.
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In June 2017, Darren O'Dea was named as permanent club captain by Dundee, having performed the role during the previous season in place of the injured James McPake.
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On 7 May 2019, Darren O'Dea announced in a long-form announcement on his Twitter account that he would be leaving Dundee at the end of the season, and that this would mark the conclusion of his last season as a full-time professional footballer.
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Darren O'Dea signed for his local side East Kilbride in May 2019 but left in August without making a single Lowland league appearance for the club.
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Darren O'Dea left to focus on his coaching commitments with Motherwell full time.
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Less than a week later, Darren O'Dea was named to the international squad for Ireland's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group D matches on 24 and 28 March.
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Darren O'Dea was appointed to a coaching position with Motherwell in May 2019.