TURNS OUT THAT Karl Sheppard is not a broken man whose body has failed him.
He actually looks like a healthy 34-year-old.
“I’m happier. I’m less anxious, more relaxed. I’ve found life after football amazing,” Sheppard says.
“My body isn’t in pain and my mind is better because of that. I feel great.”
He laughs because he knows this is not always what people who know part of his story expect when they meet him at this stage of his life.
Arthritis forced him to retire from football at the age of 29. One misconception people might have is that it’s a disease that might just affect certain joints.
Arthritis gets into the blood, attacking the body when there is inflammation. When you’re a footballer, that tends to happen a lot, so pain swirled from his back to hamstring joints and even his face.
From what Sheppard felt was the peak of his powers in 2016, a year later he was effectively a prisoner to pain. This lasted for around a year after he retired in January 2021.
He had weekly doses of Humira and Cosentyx for arthritis that he had on prescription, injecting into his stomach.
“That takes a lot out of you over time,” he says.
Before his diagnosis, the pain had been so bad that his legs were covered by cirrhosis when he went for his initial consultation. One of the side effects of those weekly doses was that his eye lids became so swollen it put so much pressure on his sockets that he was unable to see properly and would have to lie down for relief.
“Even my wife now, thankfully, she’s stuck with me through that time. I don’t know how, because I was always so agitated. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I was always a moaney, grumpy fucker when I was playing, but I’d like to think it was coming from a good place, wanting to be better and the team to be better.
“But by the end I was just in pain and I wasn’t nice. That’s why my life since I stopped has been better. I feel better in every way.”
Conor McCormack (left) remains one of Sheppard's best friends and they will be at Sunday's final together. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
When Covid-19 interrupted the 2020 season that allowed him to pause for thought. He was struggling at Shelbourne to the point he was finding it hard to get out of bed due to back pain, so called it quits in January ’21.
He did so as a two-time League of Ireland winner and two-time FAI Cup winner. His first medal was won with Shamrock Rovers and his last at Cork City.
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Sheppard will be at Aviva Stadium when his old sides meet in the FAI Cup final on Sunday, along with former teammates Johnny Dunleavy and Conor McCormack.
Ciaran Kilduff also remains one of his closest friends from their time at Rovers, although he admits he will be “slightly leaning” towards Cork at the weekend.
His time at both clubs didn’t just straddle different times in his own life, but also the League of Ireland.
He was a young pup rediscovering his way in a professional environment at Rovers under Michael O’Neill when they qualified for the group stages of the Europa League and also won the Premier Division in 2011.
Sheppard had returned home from Everton and by 21 found a kindred spirit in O’Neill, a manager who took the time to do one-on-one coaching sessions with him to help with an adjustment from out-and-out striker to right winger.
“I liked it better when there was tension or there was something on the line, or I was feeling like there was me against somebody,” Sheppard says.
“It was funny, Michael would have it like it’s us against the board [of the club] and it was us against the fans, and no one appreciates how well we’re doing and he’d drive that.”
It was also a time to enjoy life – with the manager’s blessing.
“There were times it was just a piss up after a win at the weekend, and a night out during the week.”
Still, Sheppard’s progress under O’Neill led to a move to Reading in January 2012, who earned promotion to the Premier League a few months later.
He would return to Rovers in 2014 before Cork, and John Caulfield, came calling.
“That was a love/hate relationship,” Sheppard says. “But I love John, I invited him to my wedding, he had a match the next day so couldn’t come but he did send a card. He was always very honest and truthful with you.
John Caulfield with the FAI Cup. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Sheppard bought into the mentality Caulfield instilled, one in which fines were issued to his players if they spoke to rivals or even shook hands in the hour or so before kick-off.
“At times he’d be like are you f***ing afraid to go up against him, are you f***ing afraid? You can f***ing show it today or not.
“If I wasn’t playing, he’d say it straight ‘you’re not in good form, but if there was a cup final tomorrow, you know I’m going to start you’. That’s the trust he had.”
That was put to the test when, in the build up to the 2017 showpiece it emerged that Sheppard had agreed a pre-contract agreement with opponents Dundalk.
Despite admitting there was “hatred” in the rivalry, Sheppard does credit Stephen Kenny’s side with changing the game when it came to strength and conditioning.
Seani Maguire, who will lead Cork out at the Aviva on Sunday, was one to get the benefit of Caulfield appointing a S&C coach after they were beaten in the 2015 final.
“He gained a yard and a half pace. His quads became like something I’ve never seen in the space of 18 months. He was always a strong enough little lad but Jesus, he became a monster,” Sheppard says.
Incredibly, that ‘15 final was the first of four consecutive meetings, and it was ahead of the ’17 installment that Sheppard was looking to return home to live in Dublin with his fiancee – now wife.
Michael O'Neill (centre) with Sheppard (left) at a Rovers press conference ahead of a Europa League game with PAOK. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO
Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
Oriel Park was the best option but the news leaked in the days before the game. At their pre-match meeting the day before the final, Caulfield gathered the players together “to address the elephant in the room” of the imminent departure.
“[Goalkeeper] Mark McNulty stands up and goes ‘Yeah, sorry lads, I shouldn’t have f***ing told [Stephen] Kenny to fuck off on that night out’. That was a big thing at the time. John said something like ‘Sit down, you’re a f***ing eejit, it’s nothing like that’. So then he goes we know Shep is gone to the Dundalk, blah blah blah. He said he was going to start me because he knew he could trust me to put in the effort. He had already pulled me aside for that conversation.”
Sheppard delivered in the final with an assist in extra time to force penalties, and then converted from the spot in a 5-3 shootout win.
A few days later, after calling Kenny about how news of his pre-contract became public, he also performed a dramatic U-turn and stayed with Cork.
It was now that his body began to fail him and, approaching the fifth anniversary of making the decision to retire, he finally feels in a good place.
“When I look back, I feel sad about things because I don’t think I was able to come out of myself properly and develop into the type of man I could have been. You don’t feel like you become the person that you should be. Football clubs in England try to mould you into someone that I wouldn’t see myself as at all,” Sheppard told The 42 in a 2019 interview.
Now he is pain free and no longer taking weekly injections.
Sheppard (left) with Kevin O'Connor holding the FAI Cup. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
In his job as sales and marketing manager for Cuco Coffee is currently helping the company’s expansion in Manchester. He travels over twice a month for four days at a time, and while he no longer plays football his body has allowed him to start running marathons.
Dublin was the most recent, Prague is on the agenda as is a return to Barcelona. Boston and New York are on the bucket list further down the line.
“I did Dublin in three hours 17 [minutes] the other week but I wanted to break three hours so that was a disappointment.”
At least that’s a pain he can live with, and even enjoy.
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The FAI Cup winner who was forced to retire with arthritis but is now running marathons
TURNS OUT THAT Karl Sheppard is not a broken man whose body has failed him.
He actually looks like a healthy 34-year-old.
“I’m happier. I’m less anxious, more relaxed. I’ve found life after football amazing,” Sheppard says.
“My body isn’t in pain and my mind is better because of that. I feel great.”
He laughs because he knows this is not always what people who know part of his story expect when they meet him at this stage of his life.
Arthritis forced him to retire from football at the age of 29. One misconception people might have is that it’s a disease that might just affect certain joints.
Arthritis gets into the blood, attacking the body when there is inflammation. When you’re a footballer, that tends to happen a lot, so pain swirled from his back to hamstring joints and even his face.
From what Sheppard felt was the peak of his powers in 2016, a year later he was effectively a prisoner to pain. This lasted for around a year after he retired in January 2021.
He had weekly doses of Humira and Cosentyx for arthritis that he had on prescription, injecting into his stomach.
“That takes a lot out of you over time,” he says.
Before his diagnosis, the pain had been so bad that his legs were covered by cirrhosis when he went for his initial consultation. One of the side effects of those weekly doses was that his eye lids became so swollen it put so much pressure on his sockets that he was unable to see properly and would have to lie down for relief.
“Even my wife now, thankfully, she’s stuck with me through that time. I don’t know how, because I was always so agitated. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I was always a moaney, grumpy fucker when I was playing, but I’d like to think it was coming from a good place, wanting to be better and the team to be better.
“But by the end I was just in pain and I wasn’t nice. That’s why my life since I stopped has been better. I feel better in every way.”
When Covid-19 interrupted the 2020 season that allowed him to pause for thought. He was struggling at Shelbourne to the point he was finding it hard to get out of bed due to back pain, so called it quits in January ’21.
He did so as a two-time League of Ireland winner and two-time FAI Cup winner. His first medal was won with Shamrock Rovers and his last at Cork City.
Sheppard will be at Aviva Stadium when his old sides meet in the FAI Cup final on Sunday, along with former teammates Johnny Dunleavy and Conor McCormack.
Ciaran Kilduff also remains one of his closest friends from their time at Rovers, although he admits he will be “slightly leaning” towards Cork at the weekend.
His time at both clubs didn’t just straddle different times in his own life, but also the League of Ireland.
He was a young pup rediscovering his way in a professional environment at Rovers under Michael O’Neill when they qualified for the group stages of the Europa League and also won the Premier Division in 2011.
Sheppard had returned home from Everton and by 21 found a kindred spirit in O’Neill, a manager who took the time to do one-on-one coaching sessions with him to help with an adjustment from out-and-out striker to right winger.
“I liked it better when there was tension or there was something on the line, or I was feeling like there was me against somebody,” Sheppard says.
“It was funny, Michael would have it like it’s us against the board [of the club] and it was us against the fans, and no one appreciates how well we’re doing and he’d drive that.”
It was also a time to enjoy life – with the manager’s blessing.
“There were times it was just a piss up after a win at the weekend, and a night out during the week.”
Still, Sheppard’s progress under O’Neill led to a move to Reading in January 2012, who earned promotion to the Premier League a few months later.
He would return to Rovers in 2014 before Cork, and John Caulfield, came calling.
“That was a love/hate relationship,” Sheppard says. “But I love John, I invited him to my wedding, he had a match the next day so couldn’t come but he did send a card. He was always very honest and truthful with you.
Sheppard bought into the mentality Caulfield instilled, one in which fines were issued to his players if they spoke to rivals or even shook hands in the hour or so before kick-off.
“At times he’d be like are you f***ing afraid to go up against him, are you f***ing afraid? You can f***ing show it today or not.
“If I wasn’t playing, he’d say it straight ‘you’re not in good form, but if there was a cup final tomorrow, you know I’m going to start you’. That’s the trust he had.”
That was put to the test when, in the build up to the 2017 showpiece it emerged that Sheppard had agreed a pre-contract agreement with opponents Dundalk.
Despite admitting there was “hatred” in the rivalry, Sheppard does credit Stephen Kenny’s side with changing the game when it came to strength and conditioning.
Seani Maguire, who will lead Cork out at the Aviva on Sunday, was one to get the benefit of Caulfield appointing a S&C coach after they were beaten in the 2015 final.
“He gained a yard and a half pace. His quads became like something I’ve never seen in the space of 18 months. He was always a strong enough little lad but Jesus, he became a monster,” Sheppard says.
Incredibly, that ‘15 final was the first of four consecutive meetings, and it was ahead of the ’17 installment that Sheppard was looking to return home to live in Dublin with his fiancee – now wife.
Oriel Park was the best option but the news leaked in the days before the game. At their pre-match meeting the day before the final, Caulfield gathered the players together “to address the elephant in the room” of the imminent departure.
“[Goalkeeper] Mark McNulty stands up and goes ‘Yeah, sorry lads, I shouldn’t have f***ing told [Stephen] Kenny to fuck off on that night out’. That was a big thing at the time. John said something like ‘Sit down, you’re a f***ing eejit, it’s nothing like that’. So then he goes we know Shep is gone to the Dundalk, blah blah blah. He said he was going to start me because he knew he could trust me to put in the effort. He had already pulled me aside for that conversation.”
Sheppard delivered in the final with an assist in extra time to force penalties, and then converted from the spot in a 5-3 shootout win.
A few days later, after calling Kenny about how news of his pre-contract became public, he also performed a dramatic U-turn and stayed with Cork.
It was now that his body began to fail him and, approaching the fifth anniversary of making the decision to retire, he finally feels in a good place.
“When I look back, I feel sad about things because I don’t think I was able to come out of myself properly and develop into the type of man I could have been. You don’t feel like you become the person that you should be. Football clubs in England try to mould you into someone that I wouldn’t see myself as at all,” Sheppard told The 42 in a 2019 interview.
Now he is pain free and no longer taking weekly injections.
In his job as sales and marketing manager for Cuco Coffee is currently helping the company’s expansion in Manchester. He travels over twice a month for four days at a time, and while he no longer plays football his body has allowed him to start running marathons.
Dublin was the most recent, Prague is on the agenda as is a return to Barcelona. Boston and New York are on the bucket list further down the line.
“I did Dublin in three hours 17 [minutes] the other week but I wanted to break three hours so that was a disappointment.”
At least that’s a pain he can live with, and even enjoy.
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Cork City countdown to aviva FAI Cup final FAI CUP FINAL COUNTDOWN Karl Sheppard Shamrock Rovers