Diarmuid O'Carroll

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Diarmuid O'Carroll

| image =

| fullname = Diarmuid O'Carroll{{Hugman|24792|accessdate=11 March 2017}}

| height =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1987|3|16}}

| birth_place = Killarney, Ireland

| currentclub = Newcastle United (U21 manager)

| position = Forward

| youthyears1 = 1995–2002 | youthyears2 = 2002–2003 | youthyears3 = 2003–2006

| youthclubs1 = Killarney Athletic | youthclubs2 =Home Farm | youthclubs3 = Celtic

| years1 = 2003–2008

| years2 = 2007

| years3 = 2008–2009

| years4 = 2009–2010

| years5 = 2010

| years6 = 2011–2012

| years7 = 2012–2014

| years8 = 2014–2016

| years9 = 2018

| clubs1 = Celtic

| clubs2 = → Ross County (loan)

| clubs3 = Morecambe

| clubs4 = Airdrie United

| clubs5 = Valur

| clubs6 = Glenavon

| clubs7 = Cliftonville

| clubs8 = Crusaders

| clubs9 = Dungannon Swifts

| caps1 = 0

| goals1 = 0

| caps2 = 15

| goals2 = 2

| caps3 = 29

| goals3 = 5

| caps4 = 30

| goals4 = 5

| caps5 = 6

| goals5 = 0

| caps6 = 33

| goals6 = 4

| caps7 = 65

| goals7 = 12

| caps8 = 53

| goals8 = 13

| caps9 = 4

| goals9 = 0

| totalcaps = 231

| totalgoals = 41

| nationalyears1 = 2006

| nationalteam1 = Republic of Ireland U21

| nationalcaps1 = 4

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| club-update =

| manageryears1 = 2015–2017

| managerclubs1 = Crusaders Strikers

| manageryears2 = 2019

| managerclubs2 = Glentoran Women

| manageryears3 = 2019–2021

| managerclubs3 = Motherwell U18

}}

Diarmuid O'Carroll (born 16 March 1987) is an Irish retired professional footballer, who manages Newcastle United U21. He has worked in various roles in football such as for the Irish Football Association as Club and Community Development Officer within the Football Development Department.

Club career

Diarmuid O'Carroll started his youth career with Home Farm before joining Celtic's Youth Academy, he had featured for Celtic's reserve side for several years,{{cite web|url=http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_061207111302.aspx|title=O'Carroll makes point with strike|publisher=celticfc.net|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215184545/http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_061207111302.aspx|archivedate=15 December 2007}} but did not play for the first team. In 2007, he had a loan spell with Ross County F.C. and, in July 2008, it was announced that O'Carroll had signed a one-year deal with English League Two side Morecambe.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/morecambe/7483163.stm|title=Morecambe snap up Celtic striker|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=1 July 2008 | date=1 July 2008}}

In the summer of 2009 O'Carroll had many trials, including one at Újpest FC, but he did not agree a deal with the Hungarian club. He played for Shamrock Rovers in their win over Hibernian F.C. in July but was not offered a contract{{cite web |url=http://www.shamrockrovers.ie/news/34-2009-match-reports/902-report-rovers-1-hibernian-fc-0 |title=Report – Rovers 1 Hibernian FC 0 |accessdate=2009-08-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731120149/http://shamrockrovers.ie/news/34-2009-match-reports/902-report-rovers-1-hibernian-fc-0 |archivedate=31 July 2009 }}. One month later he signed a one-year deal with Airdrie United.{{cite news|publisher=BBC Sport|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/airdrie_united/8268448.stm|title=Striker O'Carroll joins Diamonds|date=22 September 2009|accessdate=22 September 2009}} Due to financial cutbacks at the club, he left in May 2010. O'Carroll then went on trial at Raith Rovers. He scored his first goal for Raith as a trialist away to Forfar Athletic in a pre-season friendly on 13 July 2010. On 30 July he signed for Icelandic side Valur where he also worked as a youth coach.{{cite web| url = http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/O'Carroll,+Diarmuid| title = O'Carroll, Diarmuid – The Celtic Wiki}}

In November 2010, after returning from Iceland O'Carroll signed a pre-contract agreement with Glenavon in Northern Ireland. He became eligible to play from January 2011.{{cite news

| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/9222868.stm

| title = Glenavon sign former Airdrie striker Diarmuid O'Carroll

| publisher = BBC Sport

| date = 24 November 2010

| accessdate = 12 September 2011

}}

In an Irn-Bru league cup match on 20 September 2011, O'Carroll scored a double hat trick{{cite web |url=http://glenavonfc.com/blog/?paged=3 |title=Glenavon FC News | All the Official News from Mourneview Park | Page 3 |accessdate=2011-09-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401181407/http://glenavonfc.com/blog/?paged=3 |archivedate=1 April 2012 }} Until this time, he played for amateur side Dollingstown to maintain his match fitness.

He signed for Cliftonville on 3 January 2012 [https://web.archive.org/web/20140501235802/http://glenavonfc.com/blog/?p=11773] and scored on his debut at Leonidas [https://web.archive.org/web/20140502001946/http://www.cliftonvillefc.net/report_leonidas_060112.html] O'Carroll also worked as a youth coach for the club's academy as well as a consultant for the agency The Copius Group.

Later career

On 7 May 2014, O'Carroll was confirmed to have left Cliftonville after winning back to back league titles and league cups. He then joined Crusaders, signing a two-year pre-contract for the club. During his time at Crusaders as a semi-professional player, O'Carroll was also appointed manager of Crusaders Newtownabbey Strikers in April 2015 (left in January 2017).[https://uk.linkedin.com/in/diarmuid-o-carroll-98b3b523 Diarmuid O'Carroll profile at LinkedIn], linkedin.com On the expiration of this contract, Diarmuid had won 4 back to back titles with 2 clubs and then O'Carroll decided to retire from football to focus on coaching.

On 23 November 2018, O'Carroll came out of retirement, signing a short-term deal at Dungannon Swifts.

O'Carroll has completed a number of coaching badges and has a long-term ambition of pursuing this area after he retires from playing. On 27 February 2019, he was appointed manager of Glentoran Women.[https://www.glentoran.com/news/diarmuid-ocarroll-new-head-coach-cup-winners Diarmuid O'Carroll is new Head Coach of the Cup Winners], glentoran.com, 27 February 2019 He left the position in June 2019, to become the Director of Coaching for Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club.[https://downtownlvsc.com/banner/diarmuid/ Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club Welcomes Diarmuid O'Carroll], downtownlvsc.com, 29 June 2019

On 23 September 2019 he took over the role of coach to Motherwell FC's Under 18s. This was a post that had briefly been filled by Darren O'Dea who had moved on to coach the under 18s with Celtic.[https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2019/09/23/diarmuid-ocarroll-joins-coaching-staff/ DIARMUID O'CARROLL JOINS COACHING STAFF], motherwellfc.co.uk, 23 August 2019

On 7 June 2021, O'Carroll joined Morecambe as a first-team coach, joining Stephen Robinson after they had worked together at Motherwell.{{cite web|url=https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2021/june/stephen-robinson-announced-as-new-shrimps-boss/|title=STEPHEN ROBINSON ANNOUNCED AS NEW SHRIMPS BOSS|website=morecambefc.com|date=7 June 2021}} On 9 January 2022, O'Carroll took charge of Morecambe in a 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, after manager Stephen Robinson tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the match.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishnews.com/sport/footballsoccer/2022/01/11/news/managing-against-spurs-a-career-highlight-former-cliftonville-striker-diarmuid-o-carroll-2557054/|title=Managing against Spurs a career highlight: Former Cliftonville striker Diarmuid O'Carroll|website=The Irish News|date=11 January 2022}}

On 22 February 2022, O'Carroll was appointed as Robinson's assistant manager at St Mirren.{{cite web|url= https://www.stmirren.com/all-news/4318-st-mirren-delighted-to-announce-stephen-robinson-as-new-manager|title= ST MIRREN DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE STEPHEN ROBINSON AS NEW MANAGER|website=stmirren.com|date=22 January 2022}} On 13 March 2023, O'Carroll joined Michael O'Neill's backroom staff with the Northern Ireland national team as a senior coach, whilst remaining in his assistant manager role at St. Mirren.{{cite web|url= https://www.stmirren.com/all-news/4844-diarmuid-o-carroll-named-in-northern-ireland-backroom-team|title= DIARMUID O'CARROLL NAMED IN NORTHERN IRELAND BACKROOM TEAM|website=stmirren.com|date=13 March 2023}}

International career

O'Carroll has been capped at every youth level and under 21 for Ireland, but has never played for the Republic of Ireland at full international level.{{cite news

| url = http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/ocarroll-stepping-back-to-go-forward-1990187.html

| title = O'Carroll stepping back to go forward

| work = Irish Independent

| date = 27 December 2009

| accessdate = 12 September 2011

}}

Charity work

O'Carroll started his charity work by running a half-marathon in aid of Suicide Awareness in June 2010 in Belfast and continued that in October of that year by running the Dublin City Marathon for the same cause.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}