Karl Sheppard retires from League of Ireland football

Former Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, Galway United and Shelbourne forward Karl Sheppard has retired from League of Ireland football.

The 29-year-old spent the 2020 campaign with Shels – but he was unable to help the Reds avoid relegation to the First Division.

The Portmarnock native retires having made 365 professional appearances and scoring 89 goals.

The former Irish underage international made the move to England at 16 years of age to join Everton, before later coming home and joining Galway United.

After a spell with Galway, Sheppard joined Shamrock Rovers ahead of the 2011 season and scored 15 times in 24 appearances for the Hoops in 2011.

After an impressive year with Rovers, Sheppard made the move back to England to join then Championship side Reading.

However, after finding few chances of first-team football in England, Sheppard made the return to Shamrock Rovers on loan in 2013.

He would then join the Hoops again for 2014, but he could only score once in 19 games for the club.

The forward would then join Cork City and John Caulfield where he won a league title and two FAI Cup’s under John Caulfield.

After five years on Leeside, Sheppard joined Shelbourne ahead of the Reds’ top-flight return in 2020.



While at Tolka Park, he made 11 appearances for the club in the league, and one in the FAI cup.

And he has now confirmed that he has retired due to a medical condition hampering much of his last two seasons.