Sean O'Connell was a
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 ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
and player who featured for the
Derry county team in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
in the
1958 All-Ireland Championship – winning an
Ulster Championship with the county that year, and three more in 1970, 1975 and 1976. For his performances in the
1967 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The 1967 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 81st staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 23 April 1967 and ...
, O'Connell won a Cú Chulainn Award (the awards which ran between 1963 and 1967 were the forerunner to the modern day
All Star Awards).
O'Connell played his club football for
Ballerin Sarsfields. He was instrumental in helping Ballerin reach the 1976–77
All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final, where they were defeated by
Austin Stacks of
Kerry. He also won two
Derry Championships and an
Ulster Senior Club Football Championship
The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...
with the club.
He is regarded as a Derry legend, and an all-time great of the game.
He was in particular known for scoring exploits – he is ninth in the all-time list of top Ulster scorers in Championship football with a tally of 11–118 (11 goals and 118 points—each goal equals 3 points; 11 × 3 + 118 = 151 points, see
GAA scoring rules). In the centenary year of 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 ...
(1984), O'Connell was named in the Football Team of the Century comprising players who never won an All-Ireland.
Former Derry County Board chairman Gerard O'Kane said of O'Connell "everyone growing up when Sean O'Connell was playing wanted to be Sean O'Connell".
Background and early life
Sean O'Connell was born in
Garvagh in the 1930s; his father Pat was a farmer and a talented soccer player.
His mother Brigid (née McKenna), originally from Slaughtneil, was a school teacher.
He had four brothers and four sisters.
His elder brother Seamus was a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
and played with Derry in the 1950s.
His other brothers Paddy and Gerard played at Under 21 level for Derry, while Cahir was a decent club player in the 1960s and early 1970s.
His cousin
Seamus O'Connell
Seamus O'Connell (11 January 1930 – 24 February 2013) was an English amateur footballer who played in the Scottish Football League for Queens Park and in the Football League for Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Carlisle United during the 1950s.
O'C ...
played soccer for the likes of
Chelsea F.C. in England
where he helped the club win their first ever
League title in 1954–55.
Sean boarded at
St Columb's College in Derry.
O'Connell tried his hand at
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
in his youth and was a member of Garvagh Boxing Club.
He worked as a teacher and was principal of St Patrick's College in
Dungiven
Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the ...
for many years.
He lived in
Limavady for many years and he and his wife Margaret had four children.
He died in July 2003 and is buried in Limavady.
Playing career
Playing style
One of O'Connell main attributes was his amazing and consistent scoring tallies.
He frequently scored double-figures in games for both Ballerin and Derry, and was top scorer in both the 1974 and 1975 All-Ireland Championships.
He was particularly known for being able to evade his marker by his incredible use of the sidestep dummy.
He was also an extremely reliable free-taker.
His tally of 11 Championship goals is one of the highest ever in
Ulster football history.
Inter-county
O'Connell along with some of his Ballerin club-mates represented Derry at Minor level,
– breaking into the Minor in 1955 and made his Senior debut two years later.
In 1958 he played for Derry against
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...
in the Wembley Tournament (a tournament played in
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
, London, England, for Irish people in the city to watch). He scored the first ever Gaelic football point scored in the stadium, but Derry lost out to Galway.
That year O'Connell as was part of Derry's first ever
Ulster Senior Football Championship
The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is us ...
winning team,
beating
Down
Down most often refers to:
* Down, the relative direction opposed to up
* Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place
* Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing
* Downland, a ty ...
in the final by four points (1–11 to 2–04).
On 24 August, Derry caused one of the biggest shocks in the history of Gaelic football when the first-time Ulster Champions beat
Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final 2-06 to 2–05
– O'Connell's "brilliant solo goal" proving decisive.
They met
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
in the
All-Ireland final but Derry were defeated.
It has been claimed a series of poor refereeing decisions in that game cost Derry greatly,
but Derry captain Jim McKeever said in a 2002 interview that it should also be noted that "It was an exceptionally good Dublin team".
The 1950s was a decade of very high standards of football and was a very difficult era to win an All-Ireland, with the likes of
Mayo,
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...
, Kerry,
Louth,
Cavan
Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Ba ...
,
Meath Meath may refer to:
General
* County Meath, Republic of Ireland
**Kingdom of Meath, medieval precursor of the county
** List of kings of Meath
** Meath GAA, including the intercounty football and hurling teams
** Diocese of Meath, in the Roman Cath ...
and Dublin having very strong teams at the time.
Unfortunately for Derry, they never quite managed to keep that team together, and only O'Connell from that starting 15 would ever win another Ulster title and play in another All-Ireland semi-final.
They did however reach the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
final in both 1958/59 and 1960/61, but they lost out to Kerry on both occasions, partly due to O'Connell being suspended for both deciders – he was suspended because he played soccer, which was against GAA rules at the time (Rule 27).
O'Connell won a Cú Chulainn Award (forerunner to the
All Star Awards) in 1967 and won further Ulster Championships in 1970, 1975 and 1976
– and was
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
for the 1970 triumph.
In addition to being top scorer in the 1971 Ulster Championship,
he was top scorer in both the 1974 and 1975 All-Ireland Championships.
O'Connell's goal in the
1975 All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin has been called one of the greatest ever scored in
Croke Park
Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and h ...
.
He was a replacement All Star in 1976.
In the 1976 Ulster decider replay against Cavan, he came off the bench in extra-time and played a vital role in securing the title for Derry.
He was 37 years old when he played in 1975–76 National League final against Dublin – Derry lost by a point in what has been described as the "greatest ever League final".
Club
O'Connell made his debut for the Ballerin Senior team in 1953.
That year, as a fifteen-year-old year he played for Ballerin in both the
Derry Minor and
Derry Senior Championship finals – both on the same day in
Magherafelt.
Ballerin however, were defeated in both finals – by
Bellaghy and
Desertmartin respectively.
In 1957 however, Ballerin won their first ever Derry Championship, beating
Ballymaguigan in the final on a scoreline of 3–08 to 2–06.
Playing for Ballymaguigan that day was fellow Derry footballing legend
Jim McKeever.
O'Connell, now a 19-year-old, scored four points in that decider.
Ballerin won their second ever Derry Championship in 1976, this time defeating
Dungiven
Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the ...
in the final by 0–09 to 0–03, with O'Connell playing a starring role.
They went on to win that year's
Ulster Senior Club Football Championship
The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...
– defeating St. Joseph's (
Donegal) in the quarter-final, Enniskillen Gaels (
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 ...
) in the semi-final and
Clan na Gael of
Armagh
Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , " Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...
in the decider – O'Connell's performances once again proving vital to the club's success.
The team easily beat
Killererin
Killererin ( ga, Cill Fhir Iarainn) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the Tuam area in County Galway, Ireland. The club is a member of the Galway GAA. A Gaelic football club, Killererin fields underage teams up to U-16s play in th ...
of
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...
in the 1976–77
All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship semi-final, setting up a final clash with
Austin Stacks of Kerry.
The two teams were very closely matched the whole match, with Austin Stacks effectively winning the game in the last three minutes – the game finishing 1–13 to 2–07.
Such was the esteem in which O'Connell was held that virtually all the Austin stacks players rushed to commiserate with him after the match. His role in bringing Ballerin to the All-Ireland final cannot be underestimated – with two seventeen-year-olds, an eighteen-year-old and a nineteen-year-old among the six forwards, his experience and ability were irreplaceable.
He retired from club football in 1978, bringing an end to an incredible playing career.
Province
O'Connell played for
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
for many years and won five
Railway Cup
The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...
medals with the province (1965, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1971).
He was captain for the 1971 success.
School
While O'Connell was at St Columb's, the school didn't compete in open competitions, such as the
MacRory Cup, therefore his football at the school was confined to house and class matches.
Other sports
O'Connell played some soccer with
Irish League side
Coleraine F.C., playing in the
centre half position.
Other smaller soccer clubs he lined out for included Park
and Dungiven Celtic.
He was an outspoken critic of the GAA's
Rule 27 which prohibited its players from playing foreign sports,
and received a ban for playing the sport. He was also a decent golfer and in his youth participated in boxing
as well as basketball.
Managerial career
O'Connell was manager when Derry Minors won the
Ulster Minor and
All-Ireland Minor Championships in 1965.
He was also manager of the Derry Under 21 team who won
Ulster Under 21 and
All-Ireland Under 21 Championships three years later in 1968.
Many were surprised that he was never given the job of Derry Senior manager.
He also served five years as manager of Ballerin and was also Chairman of the club for five years.
Honours
County
*
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 ...
:
** Runner up: 1958
*
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 ma ...
:
** Runner up: 1958–1959, 1960–1961, 1975–76
*
Ulster Senior Football Championship
The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is us ...
:
** Winner (4): 1958, 1970, 1975, 1976
** Runner up: 1957, 1971
*
Dr McKenna Cup:
** Winner (5):
Years?
*
Dr Lagan Cup
The Dr Lagan Cup was an inter-county Gaelic football competition in the province of Ulster. The competition was discontinued in 1967 when Donegal won the competition. The Lagan Cup was the trophy for a Senior Football League, which at the time wa ...
:
** Winner (1):
Year?
Club
*
All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship:
** Runner up: 1976–77
*
Ulster Senior Club Football Championship
The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...
:
** Winner (1): 1976
*
Derry Senior Football Championship
The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champio ...
:
** Winner (2): 1957, 1976
** Runner up: 1953, 1964, 1965, 1972
Province
*
Railway Cup
The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...
– Winner (5): 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971
Individual
*
All Star:
** Winner (1): 1967
** Replacement: 1976
** Nominated (runner up): ??
* Derry Senior football captain: Ye
* Captain of Derry Ulster Championship winning team: 1970
* Captain of Ulster Railway Cup winning team: 1971
* Top scorer in All-Ireland Championship: 1974, 1975
Manager / coach
Derry Under 21s
*
All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship
The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ...
:
** Winner (1): 1968
*
Ulster Under-21 Football Championship:
** Winner (1/2??): 1967??, 1968
Derry Minors
*
All-Ireland Minor Football Championship
The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under ...
:
** Winner (1): 1965
*
Ulster Minor Football Championship:
** Winner (1): 1965
St Patrick's College, Dungiven
* Ulster title:
** Winner (1): 1965
References
External links
Hogan Stand article on O'Connell (January 1993)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Sean
1930s births
2003 deaths
Ballerin Gaelic footballers
Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers
Gaelic footballers who switched code
Gaelic football managers
Gaelic games club administrators
Heads of schools in Ireland