Dennis Patrick Shiels (born 24 August 1938) is a Northern Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

outside right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

. He began his career with

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

before moving to England where he had spells with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and Retford before returning to Ireland to finish his career with

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

. He made two appearances for the Northern Ireland B national team.

Club career

Born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland, Shiels began his career as a schoolboy with

, with whom he won the

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

in 1958 and was selected to represent Northern Ireland at schoolboy international level. He moved to

in October 1958, along with fellow Distillery player Harry Orr for a combined fee of £9,000. Shiels spent six seasons with United but failed to ever really make the transition to the first team, spending most of his time playing in the reserves. The most successful period of his time at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

came during the 1959–60 season when he made 18 first team appearances and won his two Northern Ireland B caps. Both Shiels and Orr left the Blades to sign for

in July 1964 for a combined fee of £5,000. After just one season Shiels was on the move again, this time to

before moving on to non–league Retford in July 1966 and then back to Ireland to play for

in February 1967.

International career

Shiels was selected to play for the Northern Ireland B team in 1959 and duly made his debut in a 1–1 draw against

France B France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 11 November of that year. He made one more appearance for Northern Ireland B, appearing once more against France in a 5–0 defeat on 16 March 1960.

Personal life

Shiels was the son of former

player Paddy Shiels. He trained to be an accountant and his transfer to

was made on the understanding that he would be able to continue his studies. During his full-time football career in England, he continued his education which began at St Malachy's College, Belfast 1952–57, gaining additional qualifications leading to B.ED.Phys. Ed., Sheffield Univ. and MSc Sports Psychology, Manchester.Met.Univ. As an UEFA A Coach he worked for The FA Coach Education Programme and setting up and developing College Football Academies in Manchester and Northamptonshire.

Honours

Distillery *

: 1958 Sheffield United *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

runner-up: 1961

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiels, Dennis 1938 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football forwards Northern Ireland men's B international footballers English Football League players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players