Chris O'Connor (born 7 May 1985) is an Australian goalkeeper.

Club career

O'Connor signed for

Rochedale Rovers Rochedale Rovers are a semi-professional football club which plays at Underwood Park in Priestdale, Queensland, Australia and competes in the Football Queensland Premier League with junior teams competing in both Football Queensland and Fo ...

senior team in the Brisbane's Men's League at the age of 15. He was the youngest player ever to be signed in the Queensland State League. He went on to play for Queensland at U-16 and U-19 level. He was signed for

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

in 2003 at age 18 and represented the Eircom League in the U-21s Four Nations Tournament in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 2004. The PFAI named O'Connor as the goalkeeper of the year for first division in 2004 after Bray were promoted to Premier League after that season. O'Connor's form was seen as a major reason for the Bray's promotion in 2004 as he kept 15 clean sheets (a new club record) in 33 league games. Despite his youth O'Connor remained as Bray's first choice goalkeeper throughout the majority of his stay at the Carlisle Grounds and his form was rewarded at the end of the 2009 season when he was nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year in the League of Ireland. Bohs' Brian Murphy went on to win that award for the third successive year but in light of Murphy's departure from the club,

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland titles ...

brought O'Connor to

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known as D ...

in time for the 2010 season. O'Connor made an impressive competitive debut for Bohs on 13 March in the

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of I ...

match against

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

, and was selected to feature in his first league game for the club 3 days later, away to UCD Chris spent most of the first half of the season as second choice goalkeeper for

's side but regained his place midway through the season after some poor performances from Barry Murphy. Unfortunately for Chris and Bohs, they would lose the league title on goal difference. On 23 December 2011, it was revealed that

Gold Coast United FC Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian Association football, soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first ...

had signed O'Connor for the glitter-strip side as an injury replacement signing for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

international Goalkeeper

Glen Moss Glen Robert Moss (born 19 January 1983) is a retired New Zealand goalkeeper who played for New Zealand at international level. A foundational member of both the New Zealand Knights and Wellington Phoenix, Moss has competed in 14 seasons of the ...

. On 1 February 2011 he made his

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

debut against

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

International career

Chris O'Connor made his international debut for Australia in 2005 in the U-20 side in the

World Youth Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

qualifiers in the Solomon Islands. After not playing for Australia for 3 years he was brought into the final U-23 Olympic selection camp in Darwin in June 2008 where he played against the Chilean U-23 side. From his performance during the camp O'Connor was selected in the 22-man squad to travel to Beijing for the Olympics.Olympic torch lights up for Bray ace
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Honours

Bohemians *

(1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

Bray Wanderers profile, 2003

FFA - Olyroo Profile

Gold Coast United Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Chris 1985 births League of Ireland players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Living people Bohemian F.C. players Soccer players from Brisbane Australian men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers