Michael O'Connell (born 4 January 1937) is an Irish former

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er. Throughout his 25-year club career, he played for Young Islanders, winning seven South Kerry Championship titles during a

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

for the club; he also played for divisional side South Kerry, and experienced success in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

. At inter-county level, he captained Kerry to win the 1959 All-Ireland Championship; he later claimed a further three All-Ireland medals, as well as Munster Championship and

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

successes.

Early life

Mick O'Connell was born on

Valentia Island Valentia Island () is one of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's most westerly points. It lies in Dingle Bay off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

in 1937. His father was a fisherman who also worked on the family's small farm on the island. From an early age, O’Connell showed his footballing talent and "inimitable signs of excellence".

Playing career

Club

O’Connell began his club football career with neighbouring Waterville. When a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club, Young Islanders, was founded on Valentia Island, as per GAA rules O'Connell switched allegiance to his local parish team. He won three Kerry County Championship medals with the South Kerry divisional side.

Inter-county

Underage

O'Connell's career with Kerry began in 1955 when he lined out in the Munster Minor Championship. Kerry lost the replayed Munster final to Tipperary.

Senior

He quickly joined the Kerry senior football team, making his debut in 1956 against Tipperary in the Munster Championship. He later lined out in the Munster final against Cork, but lost out in a replay. Two years later, in 1958, O'Connell won the first of eight

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

titles in a row; however, Kerry suffered a shock defeat by

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final. In 1959 O’Connell was captain when Kerry won the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. He later guided his native county to another Munster title; however, he had to retire injured in Kerry's

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

victory over

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. Following a second National League victory in 1961 O'Connell captured his second All-Ireland medal in 1962 when Kerry defeated

Roscommon Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...

in the final. A third National League victory quickly followed at the start of 1963. After two All-Ireland defeats by

in 1964 and 1965 Kerry surrendered their provincial crown to Cork in 1966 and 1967. O'Connell won a ninth Munster title in 1968; however, Kerry lost out to Down in the All-Ireland final. This defeat was followed by a great year of success in 1969 as O'Connell added a fourth National League medal to his collection before winning a tenth Munster title. He later won a third All-Ireland medal following a victory over Offaly. In 1970 O'Connell entered the third decade of his inter-county football career, winning an eleventh Munster title in the process. A fourth All-Ireland medal quickly followed after a victory over Meath in the first 80-minute All-Ireland final. O'Connell claimed two more National League medals in 1971 and 1972, before winning his twelfth and final provincial medal in 1972. That year Offaly later defeated Kerry in O'Connell's last All-Ireland final appearance. In spite of this loss, he was still presented with an

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

award. O'Connell retired from inter-county football in 1973.

Retirement

In retirement from playing O'Connell published his autobiography, ''A Kerry Footballer'', in 1974. Ten years later in 1984, the GAA's centenary year, his reputation as one of the all-time greats was recognised when he was named in the midfield position on the GAA's Football Team of the Century. In 2000 O'Connell was also named on the associations 'Football Team of the Millennium'.

Personal life

In 1972 O'Connell married his wife Rosaleen. They have three children, Máire, Mícheál and Diarmuid. Mícheál married Emma, daughter of then-President

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

in December 2009.

Career statistics

Honours

;Valentia Young Islanders *South Kerry Senior Football Championship: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1979 *Kerry Novice Football Championship 1975 ;South Kerry *

Kerry Senior Football Championship The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 18 ...

: 1955, 1956, 1958 ;Kerry *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

(c),

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, 1969,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Associatio ...

: 1958,

(c),

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, 1969,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

: 1958–59 (c), 1960–61, 1962–63, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73 ;Munster *

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () 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 and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

: 1972

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Mick 1937 births Living people All-Ireland–winning captains (football) All Stars Awards winners (football) 20th-century Irish farmers Irish fishermen Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Texaco Footballers of the Year Valentia Young Islanders Gaelic footballers Waterville Gaelic footballers Winners of four All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)