Garreth O'Connor (born 10 November 1978) is an Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He started out playing for Bannow Celtic in Dublin where he soon caught the attention of

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco * Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

. He started his senior career in the Bohemians B team but with a breakthrough to the first team proving elusive, he moved to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

making his debut on 14 March 1999 against Derry City. He then returned to Bohemians where he played for just one season (1999–20), gaining an

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

Runners up medal before being snapped up on a free transfer by English

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

, where he played 168 league games and scored 24 goals. In May 2005 he moved on a Bosman transfer to play in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

with Burnley where he played regularly during the 2005–06 season, mainly scoring his goals from set-pieces. One of his most memorable goals was a 25-yard free-kick against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, in a match which Burnley won 1–0. However, his appearances became less regular during the second half of the season and he spent the 2006–07 season as a little used substitute and squad player. He did though score Burnley's second goal in the 3–2

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

after coming on as a substitute. He was placed on the

transfer list The transfer market is the arena in which football players are available for transfer to clubs. The transfer market consists of a list of players available for transfer, and also the money moving between clubs as they contest to purchase and sell t ...

at the end of that season. On 12 June 2007 O'Connor returned to Bournemouth on loan and made 9 appearances, before returning to Burnley. There he found himself frozen out of the first-team squad by Steve Cotterill and not even given a squad number. One of new manager

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Indian Super League club Chennaiyin. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one appearanc ...

's first actions in regards his first-team squad was to give O'Connor a first team squad number for the remainder of the 2007–08 season. Nevertheless, O'Connor was released at the end of the season. He made just one appearance in his final season for Burnley as a late substitute against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in January 2008. On 6 October 2008, O'Connor signed for League Two side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

after a three-week trial. Luton boss

Mick Harford Michael Gordon Harford (born 12 February 1959) is an English football manager and former professional player. He is the chief recruitment officer at Luton Town, a club where he has spent a large portion of both his playing and non-playing career ...

had been impressed by O'Connor's performances in reserve games, scoring three goals in two games. Rather unfortunately, Garreth never made the impact at

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road, known affectionately as The Kenny, is a association football, football stadium in the area of Bury Park, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The sta ...

that had been hoped for, and after just 7 appearances for

(3 coming in the League), he was released by manager

as the January 2008 transfer window opened. With money tight, Harford released both Garreth and fellow midfielder

Kevin Watson Kevin Edward Watson (born 3 January 1974) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. After his retirement from playing, he became a non-league coach. Playing career Watson started his career as a trainee with his local sid ...

from their deals, thus freeing up money to bring in some new faces. On the eve of the 2009 season, O'Connor returned to Dublin and signed for

St. Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played ...

after non fruitful trials with Bohemians and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

. Garreth scored a memorable goal in the 2–1 defeat to Steaua București in the Europa League play-off during St Pats 2009 European campaign. Agreed a contract with Drogheda along with Glen Fitzpatrick in January 2010. After spells in Australia and at

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Monaghan Cavan League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to play in the B Division, the First Division an ...

, O'Connor returned to Bohemians in August 2012 for his third spell at the

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

club.

Honours

AFC Bournemouth *

Football League Third Division play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

*
O'Connor signs for St. Pats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Garreth 1978 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football midfielders Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Burnley F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Monaghan United F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Belvedere F.C. players Association footballers from Dublin (city)