Niall O'Connor (born 7 July 1987) is a former

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. O'Connor's playing position is at

Fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

Early years

O'Connor was born on 7 July 1987 and was educated at Limavady Grammar School in the town of his birth. He went to University before he joined the Ulster Academy and began his Rugby career.

Career

O'Connor has played for Ulster and Connacht.

Ulster 2007-2011

O'Connor was selected as a young kid to come and play 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 spent one year in the Ulster Academy before signing a professional contract with the senior team in 2007. His overall statistic of his time at Ulster was that he had played 51 times and scored 212 points. He made his debut for Ulster aged 21 against the Ospreys which Ulster won 17-16. O'Connor also kicked four penalties in that match. He played 16 times in 2007-08 and was a regular starter to the team. In the 2008-09 season he played 17 times scoring 30 points. In 2009-10 he played 12 games and scored 64 points. In 2010-11 He scored 59 points in only 6 games. He then after finishing the 2010-11 season O'Connor signed for Connacht on a two-year deal.

Belfast Harlequins

O'Connor played for

Belfast Harlequins Belfast Harlequins is a multi-sports club located off the Malone Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club name provides the overall umbrella for rugby union, men's and ladies' field hockey, hockey, and Squash (sport), squash. The club i ...

his home Province. The Belfast team came second in the 2011-12 season winning 12 of their 18 games.

Connacht

O'Connor joined

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 ...

on a 2-year deal. he has scored 86 points in the league for the western province. O'Connor has played 15 times in the pro 12 league for

scoring 1 try, 9 conversions, 1 drop goal and 20 penalties. He has played 753 minutes in the pro 12 for Connacht.

Return to Ulster

It was confirmed in June 2012 that O'Connor would rejoin Ulster.

Jersey

O'Connor joined

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

for the 2013/14 season. His goal kicking prowess was clear from the get go and helped Jersey stay up in the Greene King IPA Championship (

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

) with his boot. He left at the end of the season.

International

O'Connor was called into the Ireland A side that was defeated by

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

on 1 February 2008.

References

External links

Ulster profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Niall 1987 births Living people Rugby union fly-halves Irish rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Connacht Rugby players Belfast Harlequins rugby union players People educated at Limavady Grammar School People from County Londonderry Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players