Shane O’Keeffe

Shane joined the club in 2017 having moved to Horley to be with his partner Nat. He came along to pre-season and looked a handful in training, but caught everyone’s attention when he bagged a brace for the 4th team in a friendly.

He then proceeded to make 7 first team appearances in the Surrey Elite League, bagging his only goal of the season in a 2-2 draw v Godalming & Farncombe the following season, Shane became more of a regular making 14 appearances in the Surrey South-Eastern Intermediate Division One, notching 3 goals in the process. the 19/20 season was a rollercoaster for Shane, having struggled with injury but then discovering the exciting news he is to become a dad for the first time, which meant that football took a bit of a back seat in what ended up being a shortened season due to the pandemic anyway. his most fruitful season came in the 21/22 title winning season when he hit 7 goals in 15 games, forming an excellent relationship with James Long in particular.

Shane is known for occupying centre-halves with his willingness to come to feet, run in behind, shoot from distance, be on the end of tap-ins and being an aerial threat. He loves a snap-shot and quite often, his team mates aren’t quite sure what he’s going to do next, so he’s sure to keep the opposition guessing. What we do know, is that he battles, works incredibly hard for his team and is capable of producing the impossible, whether it be a scuffed shot into the corner or a 40 yard screamer!

He grabbed himself a brace last week with a headed goal from a Chris Parsons corner and what some would describe as a ‘mazy’ run from his own half to beat four defenders before knocking the ball past the Willingdon keeper. others would describe it as a trademark’ Shane bulldozing his way to goal’. Either way, he finds himself in some great form at the moment having scored 5 and assisted 1 in the past 4 games.

– Programme #8 (Saturday 4th March 2023)