A JOYOUS END for Mark O’Connor to a wild football ride through the winter.
Last September he lost an AFL Grand Final in his adopted colours of the Geelong Cats, yesterday he won an All-Ireland club final with his native Dingle.
A thoroughly unexpected journey culminated on a dizzingly high note. Little wonder that a day after his 29th birthday, O’Connor was struggling to absorb the magnitude of this sporting occasion as Dingle reached the summit of club football with extra-time success over St Brigid’s after a breathless encounter.
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve played here and obviously never played here in the red and white, so there’s a lot of emotion coming in which wasn’t easy to keep a lid on. It was actually very strange to see a few Geelong faces in the crowd next to my family.
“One of the streets was actually lined with Dingle people on the way in on the bus. Some fellas were probably trying to avoid it just because the emotions were probably getting a bit too high.
“I think we managed to stay calm through it all today, through everything that was thrown at us with the two-pointer there at the end of normal time.
“It means the world. As Paul (Geaney) said, the club is everything. With the stuff of inter-county fellas who will come to the weddings and all that kind of stuff which is great, but it is the Dingle boys that will be under the coffin someday. It just means the world.
Advertisement
“We have such a small population but it’s a quality population. It was just great to see all those faces in the stand today.”
Mark O’Connor celebrates with his AFL team's Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield after he won the game.
Dingle’s Mark O’Connor celebrates with former AFL team mate Cameron Guthrie. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
There has been a lack of clarity in the public domain surrounding O’Connor’s availability throughout the club championship, but privately the towering midfielder had such a good working relationship with his Aussie Rules employers that it paved the way for them to greenlit his role in this West Kerry crusade.
“They’ve been phenomenal and they didn’t actually need any convincing. With the Munster campaign, we won the county championship and I was like, ‘This is everything, this is the best thing ever.’
A boyhood dream come true 🥹🏆
Congratulations to Mark O’Connor and Dingle on winning the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final! pic.twitter.com/DQIepC2EZU
“I was going to go and do right by Geelong now and be back for day one (of pre-season) and ready to go. The more that I thought about it, the more that I was like, it will keep me fit anyway. I love this club. I knew I couldn’t watch it. So then I was like, can I get two more games, and they needed no convincing.
“They were like, ‘Just come back for January or whatever’. I was like, perfect. I was literally taking it game by game.
“Again, when we won Munster, I went back. I wanted to do a bit of training, get a few things organised and then I rang them again. I said, ‘Look, there’s another game on January 3rd.’
“Again, they just said, ‘Look, you go for it, we know what it means to you.’
“Then as soon as that happened, there was talk of the other players coming over and actually supporting me, which is something else.
“I suppose when I was thinking of professional sport, I thought of something completely different where it was cut-throat and fight for your spot every day.
Mark Daly and Shane Cunnane with Mark O'Connor. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“You’re probably competing against the fella next to you, so it mightn’t be so friendly, but it couldn’t have been any more different with Geelong.
“I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t still be in Australia if it wasn’t for Geelong. I’m just so grateful to them and how they’ve handled all of this.”
The rest of Dingle are just as indebted to Geelong for releasing their prized talent. HIs availability tipped the scales in their favour.
“We felt that if Mark was on board as well, that we felt that we could come to Croke Park and win a club (championship),” outlined captain Paul Geaney.
Related Reads
Dingle's All-Ireland match-winner: 'I didn't think I had enough in it, it just creeped over'
Late Geaney point secures dramatic All-Ireland win for Dingle against St Brigid's
Dingle's Paul Geaney and Mark O’Connor celebrate. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We also are aware that when you do come here, that you might not get a second bite at it as it’s such a small club and obviously depopulation well documented stuff in Kerry and West Kerry and South Kerry and North Kerry.
“So we knew when we got the chance, we had to try and take it and our stars aligned this year. We talked about when things were going against us, did we think were we going to pull through?
“But the fact is, I was, I don’t know, maybe it could be arrogance, I was convinced that we were going to win the All-Ireland really throughout, deep down..
“I couldn’t envisage any other outcome. So maybe that deep belief kind of just helped. I think all the boys were on the boat, there was just that belief.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Mark O'Connor: 'The Dingle boys will be under the coffin someday. It just means the world'
A JOYOUS END for Mark O’Connor to a wild football ride through the winter.
Last September he lost an AFL Grand Final in his adopted colours of the Geelong Cats, yesterday he won an All-Ireland club final with his native Dingle.
A thoroughly unexpected journey culminated on a dizzingly high note. Little wonder that a day after his 29th birthday, O’Connor was struggling to absorb the magnitude of this sporting occasion as Dingle reached the summit of club football with extra-time success over St Brigid’s after a breathless encounter.
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve played here and obviously never played here in the red and white, so there’s a lot of emotion coming in which wasn’t easy to keep a lid on. It was actually very strange to see a few Geelong faces in the crowd next to my family.
“One of the streets was actually lined with Dingle people on the way in on the bus. Some fellas were probably trying to avoid it just because the emotions were probably getting a bit too high.
“I think we managed to stay calm through it all today, through everything that was thrown at us with the two-pointer there at the end of normal time.
“It means the world. As Paul (Geaney) said, the club is everything. With the stuff of inter-county fellas who will come to the weddings and all that kind of stuff which is great, but it is the Dingle boys that will be under the coffin someday. It just means the world.
“We have such a small population but it’s a quality population. It was just great to see all those faces in the stand today.”
There has been a lack of clarity in the public domain surrounding O’Connor’s availability throughout the club championship, but privately the towering midfielder had such a good working relationship with his Aussie Rules employers that it paved the way for them to greenlit his role in this West Kerry crusade.
“They’ve been phenomenal and they didn’t actually need any convincing. With the Munster campaign, we won the county championship and I was like, ‘This is everything, this is the best thing ever.’
“I was going to go and do right by Geelong now and be back for day one (of pre-season) and ready to go. The more that I thought about it, the more that I was like, it will keep me fit anyway. I love this club. I knew I couldn’t watch it. So then I was like, can I get two more games, and they needed no convincing.
“They were like, ‘Just come back for January or whatever’. I was like, perfect. I was literally taking it game by game.
“Again, when we won Munster, I went back. I wanted to do a bit of training, get a few things organised and then I rang them again. I said, ‘Look, there’s another game on January 3rd.’
“Again, they just said, ‘Look, you go for it, we know what it means to you.’
“Then as soon as that happened, there was talk of the other players coming over and actually supporting me, which is something else.
“I suppose when I was thinking of professional sport, I thought of something completely different where it was cut-throat and fight for your spot every day.
“You’re probably competing against the fella next to you, so it mightn’t be so friendly, but it couldn’t have been any more different with Geelong.
“I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t still be in Australia if it wasn’t for Geelong. I’m just so grateful to them and how they’ve handled all of this.”
The rest of Dingle are just as indebted to Geelong for releasing their prized talent. HIs availability tipped the scales in their favour.
“We felt that if Mark was on board as well, that we felt that we could come to Croke Park and win a club (championship),” outlined captain Paul Geaney.
“We also are aware that when you do come here, that you might not get a second bite at it as it’s such a small club and obviously depopulation well documented stuff in Kerry and West Kerry and South Kerry and North Kerry.
“So we knew when we got the chance, we had to try and take it and our stars aligned this year. We talked about when things were going against us, did we think were we going to pull through?
“But the fact is, I was, I don’t know, maybe it could be arrogance, I was convinced that we were going to win the All-Ireland really throughout, deep down..
“I couldn’t envisage any other outcome. So maybe that deep belief kind of just helped. I think all the boys were on the boat, there was just that belief.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Dingle GAA Mark O'Connor the wizard of Oz