Michael O'Connor (born 8 October 1960) is an Irish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager.

Club career

O'Connor made his

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

debut for

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

on 4 March 1979. During his time at

St Mel's Park St Mel's Park, named for Mél of Ardagh., is the former home of Athlone Town F.C., who played in the ground until 2007 when they moved into the Athlone Town Stadium. The stadium was built in 1929 and hosted the famous 1975–76 UEFA Cup tie betw ...

he was twice top scorer in the League of Ireland in 1981/82 and 1984/85. He is also the all-time leading scorer for Athlone. He scored in the

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

in the first round of the

1981–82 European Cup The 1981–82 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the only time by Aston Villa in the final against Bayern Munich. The final is remembered mainly for the performance of young stand-in goalkeeper Nigel Spink who made a ...

. O'Connor signed for Shamrock Rovers in October 1985 and made his debut in a 3–0 win over Bohemians on 27 October. He scored his first goal for the Hoops on 17 November 1985 at Home Farm. He played in a memorable friendly win over Arsenal in February 1986 when his fellow Athlone man and ex-teammate

Noel Larkin Noel Larkin (born 6 January 1955, in Athlone) is an Irish former footballer who played for Athlone Town, Shamrock Rovers and Derry City F.C., Derry City. Biography Noel made his League of Ireland debut in 1971 at Tolka Park against Shelbourne a ...

scored the winner. He played no part of the 1986/87 season due to a broken leg. He made one appearance in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in September 1987. He left in October 1987 to sign for his brother

Turlough O'Connor Toirdhealbhach Mór Ua Conchobhair (old spelling: Tairrdelbach Mór Ua Conchobair; 1088 – 1156) anglicised Turlough Mór O'Conor, was King of Connacht (1106–1156) and High King of Ireland (ca. 1120–1156). Family background and early life ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

where he stayed for one season before returning to his hometown club. In May 1995 he scored the decisive penalty to keep Athlone in the Premier Division. At the end of the

2012 League of Ireland The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finis ...

season O'Connor is joint twenty seventh in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 117 league goals

International career

On 25 February 1981, O'Connor played for Republic of Ireland U21 at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

Management

In May 1992 O'Connor was appointed player manager at Athlone Town. In the

1993–94 League of Ireland First Division The 1993–94 League of Ireland First Division season was the 9th season of the League of Ireland First Division. Overview The First Division was contested by 10 teams and Sligo Rovers F.C. won the division. Under player manager Willie McStay and ...

season he guided them to promotion. However they got relegated by penalties in 1996 with Michael retiring as a player and resigning as manager. He was appointed manager again for a second spell for the 2006 season.O'Connor wields the axe at Athlone
BreakingNews.ie, 14 December 2005 His first game in charge was also the club's first game at their new stadium in Lissywoollen but he resigned in July 2007.Athlone Town part company with O'Connor
RTÉ Sport, 6 July 2007

Personal life

The O'Connor name is synonymous with

as another brother

Padraig O'Connor Padraig O'Connor was an Irish soccer player in the League of Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Bohemians from 1973 to 1978 winning 2 league titles and making 147 league appearances (8 as sub), scoring 11 goals. He also made 14 ...

played for the club.

Honours

Athlone Town *

(2): 1980–81, 1982–83 *

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

(3): 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83 Shamrock Rovers *

(2): 1985–86 Dundalk *

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

(1): 1988

References

Sources

* ''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins () {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Michael 1960 births Living people Association footballers from Athlone Athlone Town A.F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players Athlone Town A.F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football forwards Republic of Ireland association football managers