Eunan Charles O'Kane (/ˈjuːnən/ YOO-nən; born 10 July 1990) is a professional footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Leeds United.
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.
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.
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.
[17] In a 3–1 loss against Walsall on 19 January 2013, O'Kane penalised for handball after picking the ball up because he thought a free-kick had been awarded, which led to a penalty and ended the club's 15-game unbeaten run in League One.
[18] After the match, O'Kane made apology on his Twitter account, which Manager Eddie Howe has since forgiven him and commenting the incident, believing it's should not be a penalty; instead, a free-kick.
[19] Though the incident, Walsall's assistant manager Richard O'Kelly believes that O'Kane should be short-listed for the FIFA fair play award.
[20] Later in the season, O'Kane would play an important role to help the club gain promotion to the Championship following a 3–1 win over Carlisle United on 20 April 2013, but finished second place following Doncaster Rovers' 1–0 victory over promotion-chasers Brentford.
[22] He played 17 times in all competitions, scoring one goal during the 2014–15 season as Bournemouth won the Championship and earned promotion to the Premier League.
On 31 August 2016, transfer deadline day, whilst away on Republic of Ireland duty for a friendly against Oman,[24] O'Kane signed for Championship side Leeds United for an undisclosed fee on a 2-year deal.
[27][28] However, on 29 November 2016, O'Kane played only 28 minutes of a 2–0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury originally picked up on international duty with Republic of Ireland and had to be substituted for Kalvin Phillips.
[34] He returned from a three-match suspension on 10 February, when he was named as captain in new head coach Paul Heckingbottom's first game in charge of Leeds, in a 2–1 defeat against Sheffield United.
[38] On 31 August 2018, O'Kane joined Luton Town on loan until January 2019[39] but the move was cut short after he broke his leg in the victory over Bristol Rovers on 15 September.
[2] On 31 August 2016, O'Kane returned to the Republic of Ireland squad in their first fixture since Euro 2016, for a friendly against Oman, where he was named as an unused substitute in a 4–0 victory in a match that turned out to be teammate Robbie Keane's final game for the national side.