Alan O'Connor (born 10 September 1992) is an Irish professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. He was Ulster's player of the year in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, and won the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

's Tackle Machine award for 2021–22. A native of

Skerries, County Dublin Skerries () is a coastal town in Fingal, in the north of County Dublin, Ireland. Skerries was historically a fishing port and later a centre of hand embroidery. These industries declined in the early 20th century, however, and it became both a ...

,Jonathan Bradley
"Centurion Alan O'Connor refusing to rule out shock Ulster victory in Leinster"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 20 December 2019 he played club rugby for

Skerries RFC Skerries RFC is an Irish rugby team based in Skerries, Dublin in the province of Leinster. They play in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. The club was founded and became a member of the Leinster Branch of the IRFU in 1926. They played th ...

until he was eighteen, then for University College Dublin R.F.C. for two years, and was part of

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

's sub-academy."Ulster search for a new hero", ''Belfast Telegraph'', 21 December 2012 He appeared for the Ireland under-20s in the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under-20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championship ...

, bringing him to the attention of Allen Clarke, who signed him for Ulster's academy. He made 13 appearances for the senior Ulster team while still an academy player, making his debut against Leinster in December 2012. He was awarded the

Jack Kyle John Wilson Kyle (10 February 1926 – 27 November 2014), most commonly known as Jack Kyle, was a rugby union player who represented Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians during the 1940s and 1950s. Kyle was a member of the I ...

Bursary by the Ulster Rugby Supporters Club for the 2014–15 season, and signed a development contract in March 2015, moving to a full senior contract for the 2016–17 season. He made 14 starts in the 2016–17 season, winning 48 lineouts, third on the team behind

Iain Henderson William Iain Henderson (born 21 February 1992) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team, and has been selected for two tours with the British & Irish Lions ...

and

Franco van der Merwe Franco van der Merwe (born 15 March 1983 in Paarl) is a South African rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is lock, although he can also operate as a flanker. Previous clubs include Irish side Ulster in the Pro12, London Irish ...

. In the 2017–18 season he made 24 appearances and led the team with 226 tackles, and captained the side for the first time against the

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They w ...

in February 2018. In the 2018–19 season he made 25 appearances and 265 tackles. He made his 100th appearance for Ulster against Leinster in December 2019. He made 23 appearances and led the team in tackles with 242 during the 2020–21 season, and was named Ulster's Player of the Year at the 2021 Ulster Rugby Awards."Henderson Leads The Winners At Ulster Rugby Awards"
IrishRugby.ie, 7 June 2021 He made his 150th appearance against the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

in March 2022. He won the URC Tackle Machine award for the 2021–22 season, after making 195 tackles with a 97.5% success rate. He made his 200th appearance for Ulster against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in October 2024. He left Ulster at the end of the 2024–25 season."Eight players set to leave Ulster at the end of the season"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 22 April 2025 Ulster forwards coach Roddy Grant has praised him for his leadership, intelligence and toughness: "He’s a pleasure to coach, a real treat to have in your forward pack. He’s just so consistent. He’s really intelligent, reads the game well. He speaks well in terms of the leadership role when he needs to speak tactically, he runs the lineout incredibly well, he’s very good at leading a lineout defence and maul; he’s a proper tough player ... You hear him before the game in the dressing room and it gives me goosebumps." His younger brother David O'Connor played lock for Connacht, having formerly played for Ulster."David O'Connor: Ulster recruit second row to join brother Alan in senior squad"
BBC Sport, 24 June 2019

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland U20 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Alan 1992 births Living people Irish rugby union players Rugby union locks Ulster Rugby players People from Skerries, County Dublin Rugby union players from Fingal University College Dublin R.F.C. players