Darren O'Dea

[Charlie Darwin]

Assuming he only travelled over when he signed, he must have still been adjusting to the time. It'll be a long season for him, especially if they reach the Europa League.

edit: actually they were knocked out!

[Closed Account 2]

Were they knocked out? I thought they hadn't played yet and are to play against an Albanian team next week. I think the only Ukrainian team to play in Europe so far was Chernomorets Odessa, who beat Dacia Chisinau in the "derby" and now play Red Star Belgrade next week. Dinamo Kiev and Dnipro enter the Europa league at next stage (play-off) like Spurs, Fiorentina etc.

[tetsujin1979]

correct, Metalurgh are playing Ks Kukësi of Albania on 1st August

[Charlie Darwin]

Ah, my mistake, I was looking at last year's.

[Closed Account 2]

Irish players left in European competitions.

Irish players in Europa League:
James McCarthy, Chris McCann, Rob Kiernan* (all Wigan) - At least Group Stage
Kenneth McEvoy*, Roman Michael-Percil* (both Spurs), McGeady (Spartak Moscow) - At least play-off Stage
Patrick Cregg (St. Johnstone)- At Least Qual R3

Irish players in CL:
Liam Lawrence (PAOK), Anthony Stokes, Paul George* (Celtic) - At least Qual R3 (if defeated will enter Europa League play-off stage)

* = Youth player

There are other players in academies (like McConnell and Byrne at Man Utd) but these haven't generally played first team football at any clubs.

[tetsujin1979]

Cillian Sheridan in the Champions League as well with APOEL, playing Maribor on Wednesday

[EastTerracer]

Darren got his first goal for Metalurg this weekend. It was a tap-in but you can see it here (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12e9sc_ворскла-металлург-д-0-2-даррен-о-ди_sport)

i almost didn't recognise him with the new haircut.

[Stuttgart88]

Did he even score it? I love the name on the back of his shirt - "O D"

[EastTerracer]

Did he even score it? I love the name on the back of his shirt - "O D"

O'Dea admitted himself on twitter that it was an OG but the commentators seemed to give it to him and he listed as the goalscorer on the FIFA results page.

[AlaskaFox]

Did he even score it? I love the name on the back of his shirt - "O D"

It's O'Di isn't it?

[pineapple stu]

O Dи.

Sounds like the commentator's about to say "Oh Je...sus" though.

[ArdeeBhoy]

It was normally "Oh Dear" in some of the club games I've seen him appear in...

[tetsujin1979]

taken off after 34 minutes tonight in the Europa League, can't find if it was an injury, or tactical

[DeLorean]

Seems to be in and out of the team/squad, or has he been injured lately? They seem to know him simply as Darren.
(http://metallurg.donetsk.ua/en/matches/archive)

http://metallurg.donetsk.ua/data/img/team_2013.jpg

[tetsujin1979]

started their last game, a 1-0 loss on 1st September, and has been in the matchday squad more than out of it since he joined: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/ClubDetails?clubID=8010
Next game is Hoverla on Sunday afternoon

[DannyInvincible]

They seem to know him simply as [URL="http://metallurg.donetsk.ua/en/matches/archive"]Darren.

Probably ensures he feels more at home playing with his silky Brazilian team-mates, Alexandre and Daniel.

[Closed Account 2]

O'Dea played 50 mins in the Donetsk derby (home to Shakhtar) on Saturday, he was then subbed off. Metalurg were 1-0 up, they ended up drawing 2-2.

[DeLorean]

Four minutes their clean sheet lasted minus Darren... clearly a game changer!

[tetsujin1979]

surprised at the lack of coverage on his omission from the squad - no mention of whether or not he was informed prior to the announcement, etc

[Stuttgart88]

I thought King said something like he's got a right to feel disappointed but that's life. The press have highlighted O'Dea, alongside Keogh and Cox, as a Trap stalwart left out. I don't think it warrants much more discussion really. Nice lad, very committed, head screwed on and a decent player but it's a moot call as to whether he's more deserving than McShane of a place.

[Closed Account 2]

I would say on current form most people would pick O'Dea ahead of McShane, simply because O'Dea has at least been playing. McShane's only featured in the league cup this year for Hull, one match where they won 1-0 at L'Orient, he hasnt played a minute in the PL and that would be a slight worry at this stage.

[tetsujin1979]

Vote for Darren O'Dea (Даррен О`Ди) as Metallurg Donetsk player of the season: http://metallurg.donetsk.ua/ru/vote/?votename=20

[DeLorean]

Done. He's looking good with almost 60% of the votes so far! :)

[DannyInvincible]

Just voted for him there.

So, how has he been playing this season?

[tricky_colour]

Vote for Darren O'Dea (Даррен О`Ди) as Metallurg Donetsk player of the season: http://metallurg.donetsk.ua/ru/vote/?votename=20

Well looks like he doesn't need my vote, he is well in the lead.
As I have never seen the team play I would not too keen on voting anyway, I mean we would not want players selected
based on Martin and Keane looking as some dubious rigged internet poll results would we!!
If it was a close run thing I might throw in a vote for him though!!!

Aside form that it seems like in Ukrainian an 'r' is a 'p' and a 'n' is a 'h'. the vowel a e o seem to be the same and the и is an e.
It's seem to be pretty much the same as the Russian Alphabet and perhaps the Greek, so it might come in handy if i ever get stranded
in such desolate places!!!

[DannyInvincible]

Well looks like he doesn't need my vote, he is well in the lead.
As I have never seen the team play I would not too keen on voting anyway, I mean we would not want players selected
based on Martin and Keane looking as some dubious rigged internet poll results would we!!
If it was a close run thing I might throw in a vote for him though!!!

Ah, c'mon, sure if Ronnie O'Brien can be Time Magazine's 'Man of the Century', there's no reason why Darren O'Dea shouldn't be Metallurg's 'Player of the Season'.

[Closed Account 2]

The Ukrainian League has now been postponed indefinately. Darren was due to play a home match vs Chernomorets Odessa last weekend (which obviously didn't happen) and the away fixture (vs Arsenal Kiev) had already been cancelled as Arsenal had been expelled from the league a few months ago. There are rumours that the Metalist Kharkov owner has pulled the plug on that team (and Devic, the league's top scorer, has already been sold to Rubin Kazan) and Chernomorets have released most of their foreign players, but Metalurg Donetsk's owner (Taruta) has just been made govener of the region, and they still seem to be signing players from overseas... Either way it could be a while before Darren is playing competitive football again.

[Charlie Darwin]

As far as I know, Kharkiv's owner hasn't pulled the plug, but he has fled the country. The club was in disarray already over long-standing non-payment of wages, etc.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Think the stick O'Dea gets is out of line. He never put a foot wrong for us, apart from the Germany game, and nobody came out of that one smelling like roses.

[Stuttgart88]

The Ukrainian League has now been postponed indefinately. Darren was due to play a home match vs Chernomorets Odessa last weekend (which obviously didn't happen) and the away fixture (vs Arsenal Kiev) had already been cancelled as Arsenal had been expelled from the league a few months ago. There are rumours that the Metalist Kharkov owner has pulled the plug on that team (and Devic, the league's top scorer, has already been sold to Rubin Kazan) and Chernomorets have released most of their foreign players, but Metalurg Donetsk's owner (Taruta) has just been made govener of the region, and they still seem to be signing players from overseas... Either way it could be a while before Darren is playing competitive football again.He could come back to play in the LOI. His experience of the Ukrainian League's chaos and other shenanigans could serve him well.

[Closed Account 2]

He could come back to play in the LOI. His experience of the Ukrainian League's chaos and other shenanigans could serve him well.

Uh oh, that'll upset some people!

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Why don't you support an Irish club instead of following VFB Stuttgart ya bleedin' barstooler? I bet ya aren't even German.

:p

[Closed Account 2]

Stuttgart Kickers, perhaps?

[Charlie Darwin]

Uh oh, that'll upset some people!
The most insulting part is the insinuation that Ukrainians have endured even a fraction of the chaos and upheaval as LOI fans have.

[geysir]

I see Ukraine played USA in a friendly last night.
Interesting, until I saw that they played it in Cyprus.

[Stuttgart88]

That lily livered bunch, the USA.

[geysir]

Lets not forget, we went fearlessly into the belly of the beast in 1993 to secure world cup qualification.
That counts for something, we can wear that badge should anyone dare mention Georgia or pester us about Yugoslavia.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/10686232/Darren-ODea-I-left-my-wife-and-family-to-return-to-Ukraine-it-was-the-right-decision-I-cannot-walk-out.html

O'Dea on the tension in Ukraine.

[SolitudeRed]

http://www.isidewith.com/news/article/anti-maidan-protesters-storm-regional-govt-building-in-donetsk

apparently the owner of Metallurgh Donetsk is a local oligarch who was also appointed as the regional govenor of the Donbass region by the new regime in kiev so politics and football obviously do mix out there!

[tricky_colour]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/10686232/Darren-ODea-I-left-my-wife-and-family-to-return-to-Ukraine-it-was-the-right-decision-I-cannot-walk-out.html

O'Dea on the tension in Ukraine.


He seems to cause trouble wherever he goes!! Was it something he said?

[Closed Account 2]

Metalurg have had one competitive (league) match since the break and crisis. That was last weekend 1-1 draw with Illichevets (of Mariopol) he was an unused sub.

[DannyInvincible]

'Darren O'Dea hoping to earn Ireland recall': http://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/3942/ireland/2014/04/19/4762125/darren-odea-hoping-to-earn-ireland-recall


...

The 19-time Ireland international has not played for his country since August 2013, and knows that his move to Ukraine makes it more difficult to capture manager Martin O'Neill's attention.

“When I came out to Ukraine last summer, I wasn’t stupid," O'Dea told the Mirror. "I knew it would be ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

"But the standard here is as good, if not better, than the Championship when I was making squads, so it’s nothing to do with the standard of football."

However, O'Dea feels that European qualification will bring him back into contention, and is hoping to help his team qualify for the Europa League. "If we got into the Europa League, I feel it would help my cause with Ireland a lot," O'Dea admitted.

"Maybe it would be harder to ignore me then but I’d love nothing more than to play for my country again."

[Crosby87]

DO did a quick Q&A on Twitter. The last question "How do you make a career as a footballer while being sh!te." I give him credit for taking it head on!
http://theemeraldexiles.com/2014/04/28/what-we-learned-darren-odeas-twitter-q-and-a/

[Charlie Darwin]

He stepped over that one Phil Babb style, nice. There are so many hilarious people on the internet. Luckily I'm not one of them.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUh0XixPg5w

Darren O'Dea scores and subsequently gets taken off with a concussion as Metalurh lose 3-1 away to Dnipro. Even with a loss, Metalurh do enough to qualify for the Europa League.

[Olé Olé]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/22/shakhtar-donetsk-douglas-costa-ukraine-deadly-risk

A number of South American Shakhtar Donetsk players have refused to return to Donetsk as they "run a deadly risk" by returning to the region.

It had been suggested by the club that the infamous agent, Kia Joorabchian, was trying to capitalize financially on the unrest, but Douglas Costa (once thought to be a target of Fergie) has claimed otherwise.

Hope the unrest isn't affecting Darren and his family (Darren playing for Metalrurh of the same city).

[Charlie Darwin]

Looks like O'Dea has negotiated his way out of Ukraine. No word on whether he has a new club or not.

Darren O'Dea @odea_darren (https://twitter.com/odea_darren) · 5m (https://twitter.com/odea_darren/status/505339784743505921)

My Ukraine adventure has come to an end!


Darren O'Dea @odea_darren (https://twitter.com/odea_darren) · 1m (https://twitter.com/odea_darren/status/505340600107794432)

Would like to thank the club for been nothing but great with me. Leave a lot of friends.. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds!

[tetsujin1979]

interview with BBC on his current state of affairs - http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29053600
some insight into the conflict in Ukraine as well

[DeLorean]

My God, some experience. The final couple of paragraphs read like he was preparing his CV!

Fair play to Celtic for looking after him for the time being.

[Wangball]

Given the start Celtic have made to the season they could do far worse than re-sign O'Dea. A big fan favourite during his time at Celtic. He scored a few important goals, had a deep association with club legend Tommy Burns and bashed a couple of Rangers fans on a night out once. They'd love to have him back!