Cillian O'Connor (born 1992) is an Irish
Gaelic football
Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...
er who plays for
Ballintubber and the
Mayo county team. O'Connor is the leading all-time top scorer in the
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
.
Career
O'Connor made his Ballintubber club debut whilst still a teenager in 2010.
A year later, he made his county debut for Mayo in the
Connacht Senior Football Championship against
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
at
Emerald GAA Grounds in
South Ruislip after being called up by former Ballintubber manager
James Horan James Horan may refer to:
* James Horan (actor) (born 1954), American character actor
* James Horan (cricketer) (1880–1945), Australian cricketer
* James Horan (Gaelic footballer) (born 1972), two-time and current Mayo manager
* James Horan (mo ...
, who had given O'Connor his Ballintuber debut as well.
O'Connor was named as the captain of Mayo in 2013 after having won two Young Player of the Year awards in the previous two years and led them to the
2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 2013 All-Ireland Football Final, the 126th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, Dublin on 22 September 2013. Mayo were defeated by Dubli ...
.
In 2014, he was awarded a
GAA GPA All-Star Award after being the top scorer in the 2014 season and leading Mayo to the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-finals.
He won his second GAA GPA All Stars award for the his performance in the 2020 season.
In 2015, O'Connor was in the running for the Golden Boot and initially finished tied for top with
Fermanagh
Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...
's
Seán Quigley. However, following a review of Mayo's championship winning DVD, the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
realised they had incorrectly noted O'Connor's score as they had recorded him as having scored 1-6 but he had actually scored 1–7. As a result, O'Connor's tally was increased by 1 which allowed him to claim the Golden Boot.
In 2019, O'Connor became the highest scoring player in the
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
, surpassing
Kerry's
Colm Cooper's record.
He had done this by scoring in all of his previous 51 previous Championship matches prior to the record breaking match, except for one game against London in 2013 when he had been
black carded.
He broke the scoring record for a single championship game with four goals and nine points in the
2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park.
O'Connor sustained an injury to his
achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ...
in the first half of his county's
2021 National Football League promotion play-off win against
Clare Clare may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land
Australia
* Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley
* Clare Valley, South Australia
Canada
* Clare (electoral district), an electoral district
* Cl ...
at
Cusack Park and later underwent surgery. It was his 100th appearance for the team. The injury meant he could not play for Mayo again that season. He made his return to Senior Inter County Football off the bench after 56 minutes in the 2022 National League Final.
Scoring record
Honours
;Inter-county
*
Connacht Senior Football Championship (6): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2020 ,2021
*
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
(1): 2019
*
FBD League
The FBD, also called the FBD Insurance League, FBD Connacht League, the Connacht FBD Football League or FBD Insurance Connacht GAA Senior Football Competition, is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by Connacht GAA and sponsored by ...
:
2023
Events
Predicted and scheduled events
* January 1
** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law.
** Croatia will adopt the eu ...
;Club
*
Mayo Senior Football Championship
The Mayo Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connacht Gold Mayo Senior Football Championship'') is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Mayo GAA clubs.
Westport are the title hol ...
(5): 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018, 2019
* Mayo U21 A Football Championship (2): 2009, 2010
;Individual
*
All Stars Young Footballer of the Year
The GAA & GPA All Stars Young Footballer of the Year (often called the All Stars Young Footballer of the Year, or simply Young Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given at the end of the Championship season to a young footballer aged 21 ...
(2) 2011, 2012
* All Star: (2) 2014, 2020
* Mayo Footballer of the Year (1) 2011
References
External links
Interviewwith ''
The Mayo News
''The Mayo News'' is a weekly local newspaper published in Westport in Ireland.
History and profile
The ''Mayo News'' was established in Westport in 1892. In 1968 the paper changed from Broadsheet to Tabloid to sell better. After writing sever ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Cillian
1992 births
Living people
Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin
DCU Gaelic footballers
Ballintubber Gaelic footballers
Irish schoolteachers
Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers
People educated at St Gerald's College, Castlebar
People from Castlebar