Eunan Charles O'Kane ( ; born 10 July 1990) is a professional footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Leeds United.
Born in Northern Ireland, he represented the country at various youth international levels before switching to the Republic of Ireland at U21. He was named as a standby for Republic of Ireland national team's squad for Euro 2016 without being included in the final 23-man squad for the tournament.
Early life
O'Kane grew up in Feeny, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the eldest child of Charlie O'Kane and Lorraine O'Kane. He has one younger sister, Cora. O'Kane played gaelic football in his youth for Banagher GAC while his father helped to coach the Derry GAA hurling minors to their last Ulster title success in 2001. O'Kane went to primary school in St. Canice's and received second-level education in St. Patrick's College, Maghera. He joined Maiden City Soccer Academy at the age of 10 and was being scouted by Manchester City among other clubs from the age of 12. O'Kane decided to give up Gaelic football at the age of 16 to instead focus on his association football career.
Club career
O'Kane spent two years with Everton as a youth team player before joining Coleraine in September 2009. At Coleraine, O'Kane scored on his professional league debut in a 3–2 loss against Glenavon and in his 10th appearance, O'Kane scored a double in a 3–0 win over Glenavon.
Torquay United
O'Kane extended his contract with the club in December before spending time on trial with Torquay United at the turn of the year. It proved to be successful, and he subsequently signed a contract with the club until June 2010. He made his debut for the club in a 1–1 draw against Chesterfield and scored his first goal in a 3–1 win over Darlington on 6 March 2010. In his second half of the season at Torquay, O'Kane made a good impression, resulting in the club awarding O'Kane and Chris Robertson a two-year deal.
The following season, O'Kane continued to make an impression for the club as he scored six time and continued to set up goal 6 times this season against Crewe (scored again later on this season), Stockport County, Rotherham United, Hereford United and Northampton Town. O'Kane scored his first FA Cup goal in third round and the only goal in a 1–0 win over Carlisle United. Also in the season, Torquay reached 7th place, resulting to participate the Play-off to get promoted to League One. In the semi-final of the play-off, O'Kane scored the second goal in the goal with a 2–0 win over Shrewsbury Town which Torquay win in the second leg to progress to the final against Stevenage, who dominated against Accrington Stanley. But lost to Stevenage following the only goal in the game from John Mousinho, preventing Torquay to get promoted to League One and in the first half of the season, O'Kane signed a new contract extension, keeping him until 2014. Through the season, O'Kane continued to make an impression for the club as he scored 5 (against Macclesfield Town, Wimbledon, twice against Plymouth Argyle and Aldershot Town) and continued to set up goal 9 times.
Towards the end of the season, he was among 3 Torquay player (Bobby Olejnik, Kevin Nicholson and Lee Mansell) named in the PFA Team of the Year of League Two and it was the first time he received an honour. Once again, Torquay United reach 5th place, resulting to participate the play-offs and played their first game against Cheltenham Town but Torquay lost in both legs.
After the end of 2011–12 season, O'Kane was linked with Newly promoted League One side Swindon Town. Crawley Town was interested signing him after the club made an offer for him about £175,000 and the offer was accepted by the club. However, O'Kane rejected the move to Crawley Town after talks with negotiations had stalled. After a move to Bournemouth, O'Kane made an explanation rejecting Crawley Town, claiming the move wasn't for him.
Bournemouth
In mid-July, the club accepted a bid from an unknown club in the League One side, which later turns out to be Bournemouth. The move was officially made on 26 July 2012. O'Kane made his debut for the club in a 1–1 draw against Portsmouth on the opening game of the season. His first goal for the Cherries came in an FA Cup game against Carlisle United in a 3–1 win. Twenty-eight days later, Kane scored his first league goal, in a 3–0 win over Crawley Town. Then just a few days after scoring his first league goal, Kane scored again in an FA Cup game against Wigan, in a 1–1 draw, which results playing again.