Playing Career
He made his League of Ireland debut for Kilkenny City at Bray Wanderers on 21 November 1993. After one season at Buckley Park he moved home to Home Farm where in 4 seasons he won the First Division Shield.
He won five league titles and one FAI Cup with Shelbourne after making his debut against Finn Harps at Tolka Park in September 1998. He accompanied Dermot Keely, his former manager at Home Farm F.C. (whom Heary had captained) to Shelbourne.
Heary, a right-sided full-back noted for his robust tackling, general fitness and frequent sorties up the right flank in support of his attack, was elected Player of the Year for the 2001/2002 season by his peers in the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland.
Heary was unveiled as a Bohemians player at a press conference on 22 January 2007 and has since slotted into the side with ease, playing a huge part in Bohs' great defensive record. Owen captained Bohs to the 2008 league title and FAI Cup in a fantastic season for the right back.
He collected a bucketful of personal honours during the season, being voted on to the Eircom League of Ireland Premier Division Team for 2008, receiving 42% of the votes for the right back position and named the eircom/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) player of the month for October . This was topped off when he was named the SWAI Personality of the Year on 4 December.
Heary struggled with injuries during the 2009 season, only making 20 league appearances.. However he collected his first ever League Cup winners medal in the September as Bohs beat Waterford United 3-1 at the RSC.
In November 2009, Heary as captain, collected the Premier Division trophy for the Bohemians first back-to-back league wins. In doing so, he equalled Johnny Matthews record of 7 league winners medals.
Despite captaining the club to the Setanta Sports Cup, Bohemians had a disappointing 2010 season where the club lost their league title on goal difference and failed to make an impact in Europe where they made an embarrassing exit to Welsh side The New Saints.
Owen took his first steps into management during 2011 when he took charge of Bohs' A Team and under 19 team and also managed the first team during their Leinster Senior Cup matches. When Pat Fenlon departed for Hibernian F.C., Owen became Aaron Callaghan's assistant manager for the 2012 season.
Read more about this topic: Owen Heary
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