FORMER OFFALY FOOTBALLER Liam O’Connor, who set up the most famous goal in GAA history, has passed away at the age of 58.
O’Connor was a member of the Offaly team that defeated Kerry in the 1982 All-Ireland senior football final and it was his pass that set up Seamus Darby for the match-winning goal which ended the Kingdom’s five-in-a-row dreams.
O’Connor played for the Walsh Island club and was a member of the famous Connor football family. His brother Tomás played in the 1982 team alongside him, as did his cousins Richie and Matt.
In ‘Kings of September’ – Michael Foley’s book about that iconic game – O’Connor describes his pass:
‘I could say it was a pinpoint pass but it was just a case of getting it up and into the forwards. That was when the stamina stood to us, that you were up there and able to take a ball. We weren’t going to lose because of fitness.’
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O’Connor is survived by his wife Maria, sons Mark, Thomas, Matthew, Luke and Andrew, daughter Emily, mother Nanette, sister Marian McGee and his brothers Murt and Tomás.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
