Chris O'Connor (born 7 May 1985) is an Australian goalkeeper.

Club career

O'Connor signed for Rochedale Rovers senior team in the Brisbane's Men's League at the age of 15. He was the youngest player ever to be signed in the Queensland State League. He went on to play for Queensland at U-16 and U-19 level. He was signed for

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

in 2003 at age 18 and represented the Eircom League in the U-21s Four Nations Tournament in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 2004. The PFAI named O'Connor as the goalkeeper of the year for first division in 2004 after Bray were promoted to Premier League after that season. O'Connor's form was seen as a major reason for the Bray's promotion in 2004 as he kept 15 clean sheets (a new club record) in 33 league games. Despite his youth O'Connor remained as Bray's first choice goalkeeper throughout the majority of his stay at the

Carlisle Grounds The Carlisle Grounds is a football stadium in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...

and his form was rewarded at the end of the 2009 season when he was nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year in the League of Ireland. Bohs'

Brian Murphy Brian Murphy may refer to: Sportspeople * Brian Murphy (Jamaican cricketer) (born 1973), Jamaican cricketer * Brian Murphy (Zimbabwean cricketer) (born 1976), Zimbabwean cricketer * Brian Murphy (baseball) (born 1980), American head baseball coac ...

went on to win that award for the third successive year but in light of Murphy's departure from the club,

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland title ...

brought O'Connor to

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., ...

in time for the 2010 season. O'Connor made an impressive competitive debut for Bohs on 13 March in the

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football (soccer), football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from ...

match against

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

, and was selected to feature in his first league game for the club 3 days later, away to UCD Chris spent most of the first half of the season as second choice goalkeeper for

's side but regained his place midway through the season after some poor performances from Barry Murphy. Unfortunately for Chris and Bohs, they would lose the league title on goal difference. On 23 December 2011, it was revealed that

Gold Coast United FC Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian Association football, soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first ...

had signed O'Connor for the glitter-strip side as an injury replacement signing for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

international Goalkeeper

Glen Moss Glen Robert Moss (born 19 January 1983) is a New Zealand former football goalkeeper who is goalkeeping coach for Macarthur FC. He played for New Zealand at international level. A foundational member of both the New Zealand Knights and Welling ...

. On 1 February 2011 he made his

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

debut against

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under North American professional sports leag ...

International career

Chris O'Connor made his international debut for Australia in 2005 in the U-20 side in the

World Youth Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

qualifiers in the Solomon Islands. After not playing for Australia for 3 years he was brought into the final U-23 Olympic selection camp in Darwin in June 2008 where he played against the Chilean U-23 side. From his performance during the camp O'Connor was selected in the 22-man squad to travel to Beijing for the Olympics.Olympic torch lights up for Bray ace
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Honours

Bohemians *

(1):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

Bray Wanderers profile, 2003

FFA - Olyroo Profile

Gold Coast United Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Chris 1985 births League of Ireland players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Living people Bohemian F.C. players Soccer players from Brisbane Australian men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers 21st-century Australian sportsmen