When Charles O’Neill began hand-making footballs and hurling balls on Capel Street in Dublin in 1918, he could hardly have imagined that a century later his surname would sit on the shirts of clubs across Ireland, Britain and beyond. The company that grew from that back-room operation, O’Neills Irish International Sports Company, is today Ireland’s largest sportswear manufacturer, with production anchored in Dublin and a major plant in Strabane that turns out teamwear not only for Gaelic games but also for association football.
Although O’Neills’ heritage is bound tightly to Gaelic football and hurling, the brand’s football footprint has expanded significantly over the past two decades. A useful way to understand that growth is to follow three strands: manufacturing capacity, club partnerships and the kind of cultural storytelling that increasingly surrounds modern kits.
Made in Ireland
O’Neills’ manufacturing model is unusual in an industry dominated by overseas mass production. The company still makes at scale on the island of Ireland, with Strabane serving as a key site for apparel across multiple sports. That factory employs hundreds of staff and sits alongside the firm’s Dublin operation, enabling short lead times, extensive customisation and the ability to serve clubs at all levels with bespoke designs. The business professionalised its direct-to-consumer side with the launch of an online store in 2010 and further expansion in 2013, and by 2024 employed roughly 1000 people across Ireland, the UK, Australia and the United States.
The “Our Story” timeline the company publishes makes the through-line explicit: balls first, then textiles, then kit manufacturing at scale. That evolution matters for football, underpinning an offering that combines club identity with flexible, small batch production, which many professional, semi professional and community teams need when they want something more tailored than a catalogue template.
From Dalymount to Gander Green Lane
The quickest way to see O’Neills’ football presence is to browse its “Soccer” club directory. You will find League of Ireland names and a long list of grassroots and semi-pro sides, a scatter of UK non-league teams and diaspora clubs from North America to Australia. It is not just an online storefront; in many cases O’Neills is the official kit supplier.
Two high-profile League of Ireland partnerships illustrate the point. Bohemian FC, one of the country’s most storied clubs, sells its replica shirts under the line “made in Ireland by our official kit supplier O’Neills,” a partnership that has produced some of the most talked-about football shirts of recent years.
Shelbourne FC, reigning League of Ireland champions, recently announced a multi year extension that keeps O’Neills as the club’s official kit supplier across first team, women’s and academy programmes, evidence that the brand’s service model suits professional level as well as community football.
Across the Irish Sea, Sutton United offer a useful case study in England’s professional tiers. The club announced O’Neills as its kit partner in 2022 and has since released multiple seasons of match and replica wear through the Irish manufacturer, underscoring O’Neills’ intent “to make our mark in the professional football market in England.”
Treaty United of Limerick provide another example from the League of Ireland First Division. The club moved to O’Neills in 2023 and has rolled out home and third kits under the partnership, with regular releases promoted directly by both brand and club.
The broader point is that O’Neills has built a mixed portfolio: flagship Irish clubs, English Football League representation, and an extensive long tail of grassroots outfits that benefit from the company’s domestic production and custom options. That club-first approach is visible on O’Neills’ site, where teams from Shelbourne to Sutton have dedicated hubs for replica and leisurewear.
Culture on a shirt
If manufacturing and partnerships explain the “how,” club storytelling explains the “why.” Football shirts have become cultural artefacts that say something about a club’s place in its community. O’Neills’ partnership with Bohemian FC is the clearest expression of that trend.
In 2020, Bohs released a shirt designed with Amnesty International carrying the message “Refugees Welcome,” an unapologetically social design that soon appeared worldwide in EA Sports’ FIFA 21 as part of a joint initiative. The jersey’s visibility and sales raised funds and awareness for refugee rights while reinforcing the club’s identity as a socially engaged institution, and O’Neills proved a nimble manufacturing partner for a project that fell well outside the usual sponsor logo formula.
In December 2024, Bohemians unveiled a 2025 third shirt created with Dublin band Fontaines D.C. Proceeds supported Medical Aid for Palestinians, with club and band using the platform to direct funds to urgent relief while foregrounding a piece of design rooted in contemporary Irish music. The club’s official store details the concept, credits Fontaines guitarist Carlos O’Connell and makes the charitable mechanics clear; independent coverage amplified the story globally.
That concept carried into 2025 with a headline collaboration with Oasis on Bohemians’ FAI Cup jersey. The club’s announcement set out the profit split between Bohemians, Music Generation Ireland and Irish Community Care Manchester, underscoring the social-impact model as more than a one-off gimmick. Here, too, O’Neills handled production for a shirt that needed quick delivery and international fulfilment.
Bohemians’ earlier Bob Marley tribute shirt, a nod to the singer’s 1980 concert at Dalymount Park, shows how these stories travel. It sold globally, lived far beyond matchdays and remains a point of connection between club and city. O’Neills’ presence on the label is part of that narrative: a local manufacturer making a local story wearable around the world.
What O’Neills brings to football clubs
Three attributes explain why O’Neills fits so well into this moment in kit culture.
Local production and customisation. Because patterns can be cut and sublimated close to home, O’Neills can offer clubs intricate, story-driven designs without the long lead times associated with far-flung production. That was true for Bohemians’ Amnesty and charity shirts, and it is visible in the rhythm of League of Ireland kit releases that drop with club-specific details rather than generic templates.
Breadth of service. The brand is as comfortable outfitting an English League Two side as it is supplying a county GAA team or a diaspora club in North America. The internal capability stretches beyond playing kits to training wear and lifestyle ranges, which is why Shelbourne’s renewal explicitly covers men’s, women’s and youth teams as well as leisure apparel.
Capacity to scale stories. Charity partnerships and cultural tie-ins rely on dependable fulfilment. When Oasis and Bohemians announced their FAI Cup jersey with a defined profit split, the credibility of the project rested partly on getting product to buyers quickly and transparently. That is the sort of logistics where a mature manufacturer with its own e-commerce infrastructure makes a difference.
Beyond Professional football
O’Neills’ club directory reads like a map of the game’s social architecture. There are schoolboy and schoolgirl clubs, university sides, Sunday-league teams, Irish-diaspora outfits and women’s programmes from Helsby JFC to Sandwich Town to St James’ Swifts. Many of these clubs would struggle to command attention from global kit giants but find in O’Neills a partner willing to handle small-batch runs and frequent re-orders. In practical terms, that keeps badge, colours and sponsor intact without forcing committees into surplus stock or multi-year compromises.
Grassroots relationships also create pathways upward. Sutton United’s senior partnership sits alongside deals with affiliated youth organisations, knitting together academy and first team visually and commercially. The result is coherent club identity from minis to matchday.
An Irish manufacturer in a globalised shirt market
The economics of football shirts usually favour brands with vast offshore production and global marketing budgets. O’Neills offers a different proposition: domestic manufacturing, rapid custom work and a brand identity that aligns with clubs eager to say something distinctive about who they are.
That story begins with the facts of the company’s growth, from Capel Street ball making to a two site Irish production base and a 1000 strong workforce spread across multiple continents, but it comes alive on the pitch in Dublin, Limerick and South London.
In Bohemians’ case, O’Neills has enabled shirts that double as social statements, from “Refugees Welcome” to Fontaines D.C. and Oasis collaborations that direct significant proceeds to charity. In Shelbourne’s case, it has provided the breadth and reliability required by a club with senior silverware and a full pathway of teams. For Sutton United and dozens of others, it has meant a partner responsive enough to make professional-grade kit viable on sensible timelines and budgets.
As football shirts continue to serve as canvases for local history, music, social values and supporter identity, an Irish manufacturer with deep community roots and flexible production has found its moment. The O’Neills story, now more than a century old, is still being written on pitches across the game, from League of Ireland terraces to English Football League grounds and community changing rooms everywhere.
