KERRY’S MARK O’CONNOR is set to make his AFL debut this weekend for Geelong Cats, capping a remarkable rise in his first season playing Aussie Rules.
O’Connor has been upgraded to the Geelong senior list for Saturday’s Round 8 game against Essendon at the MCG in Melbourne and has been named in the half-forwards.
There’ll plenty other Irish interest in that game with Zach Tuohy from Laois an established half-back for Geelong, while Tyrone’s Conor McKenna is amongst the backs for Essendon.
It’s a huge achievement for the 2015 All-Ireland minor winning captain O’Connor, who has made the jump after only four games of reserve action with Geelong’s team in the Victorian Football League.
O’Connor only made his debut for Geelong in the VFL on 16 April but the Dingle man has made rapid progress since then.
After being listed as a ‘Category B’ rookie, he has been added to the senior list after teenager Brandan Parfitt was placed on the long-term Geelong injury list.
Speaking to The42 last month, O’Connor had revealed his ‘ambitious’ target to make an AFL debut in 2017.
“It’s exciting times. I’d love to play an AFL game this year but I know that’s very ambitious. Obviously I want to learn as much as possible.
“Ultimately you’re out here to play with the best. That’s always going to be the goal. It’s something I really want to be part of.”
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O’Connor signed for Geelong last October after impressing during the AFL Draft Combine and made the move to Australia full-time in November to take up a new sporting career.
He won two All-Ireland minor football medals with Kerry in 2014 and 2015, along with Hogan Cup honours with his school PS Chorca Dhuibhne in both those years.
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The League of Ireland is in a sorry state. This carry on is is not going away. As a Drogheda United we know more than most what its like when ones club chases the rainbow. How any player in the lower echelons of League of Ireland think its a good idea to be a footballer in Ireland is beyond me. All of these players will be out of contract at the end of the season, claim the dole and then go back to earning peanuts again. Its hardly a long term career plan. The FAI should use the their competition as a measure of how they as an association are performing….well its failing miserably. I’d love to see it get better, even to see it get to a Scottish standard with stadiums, facilities and televison deals would be enough but we are light years away from that.
@Patrick McHugh: so long as we keep ploughing our money into the EPL and the plastic paddy’s up north then we will never have a decent domestic league. Always love coming on here and seeing guys who proclaim to be Irish fans but will then on an EPL thread announce themselves as fans of UTD or Liverpool. The FAI don’t help though that much is true. If ever proof we’re needed then just look at the photos of Delaney or Mo’N in Inchicore poring over plans for the Richmond Bowl and on TV saying how good it will be for the game here. Oh, wait you can’t, Because they don’t exist!
@David Lawlor: Hi David, what do you mean by ‘ploughing money into the EPL and the plastic paddy up north’?
@Sean McFadden: Spending millions on trips to England and Glasgow Celtic. Non Irish teams.
@David Lawlor: Ok I get the EPL connect. The other part a reference to Hoops supporters from the North in particular?
@Sean McFadden: where does it say anything about people from the North? Very clearly talking about Celtic being north of England
fai imposes stoopid faux “licencing” bs scheeme on clubs wastes money on junkets 4 blazers & psuedo corporate fluff stuff (eg. Consultants) organization needs complete restructure & repurpose. Ireland’s soccer set up is unsustainable for long term ignoring grass roots development & proper investment in & development of local LofI &subsidiary league clubs & structures.
All our senior clubs have faced financial crises in recent times. The dundalks corks rovers etc included all hv faced financial catastrophe. FAI top brass response 2 ongoing recurring situations is 2 further distance itself from domestic scene.
Soccer is no.1 sport in ireland in terms of active players and reach, yet unlike other orgs like gaa irfu fai is appalingly run wthout proper strategic leadership or direction
When will the FAI realise that you can’t sustain a two division league system in this country and how many more teams have to go out of business for them to realize this and how do many of them get a licence year on year .Have one league with 14/ 16 teams but we all know its about money from UEFA ????????
@James Kelly: I think there’s some stipulation that you have to have at least 2 leagues to allow teams qualify for European competitions. I think
@Zossima: Nah, Gibraltar (the obvious one I could think of!) only have one division.
Love to see what that chancer Fran Gavin has to say about this.
It’s sad when this happens a club . Players have to be paid at the end of the day ! Some junior players are getting paid and they hold down jobs also , this is a stumbling block also to the clubs , why would a guy bother playing and travelling all around the country to train and play ! FAI have a lot of work to do when they get their heads out of the sand