Anthony O'Connell (born 12 February 1941) is an Irish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Shamrock Rovers

O'Connell first came to prominence as a winger in 1959 with

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

when his balance and ball skills made the league sit up and take notice. He made his first team debut in a Dublin City Cup tie on 9 September 1959. He played against the likes of

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

in Europe during his first spell at Rovers and won the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

in 1962. There was interest from England in Tony but he snubbed them to move to America where he was nominated for an "All Star" during his spell at New York. He also played for

Toronto City Toronto City was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario. Between 1961 and 1967, teams using this name competed in both the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League and the United Soccer Association. History ECPSL In 1961, along wit ...

alongside

Tony Book Anthony Keith Book (4 September 1934 – 13 January 2025) was an English football player and coach who played as a right-back. Book spent a large part of his career in Non-League football with his home town club Bath City as well as other loca ...

and

Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora a ...

in the summer of 1964. He returned to Ireland and Shamrock Rovers in time for the 1964–65 season and won his second FAI Cup winners medal as Rovers beat

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

on 28 April. He scored the first goal in the final the following year at

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., ...

as Rovers once again beat Limerick to win the Cup. He made a total of seven appearances in Europe for Rovers. He got sent off at Prater Stadium against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

on 16 September 1964.

Dundalk

O'Connell transferred to

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

during the summer of 1966 and he picked up yet more silverware as he helped Dundalk win the League of Ireland Shield and

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

title. However Dundalk lost to Rovers in the FAI Cup semi-final in 1967 and 1968. His form did gone unnoticed and he earned his first full international cap for

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

against Spain in October 1966.

Bohemians

In March 1969, he took the revolutionary step of buying out his contract with Dundalk to sign for Bohemians. In doing so, he became Bohs first ever professional after the club's members changed their 79-year-old constitution to allow payment to players. He made his debut for the club on 16 March in a 1–1 draw against his former club Dundalk. This decision by the members was vindicated the following season as Bohs won their first major silverware for 34 years with O'Connell scoring the winner in the 1970 FAI Cup Final against

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

. Within a year of this success however, Tony hung his boots and retired from playing after 42 league appearances and 10 league goals for Bohs.

Post-playing career

This was not to be the end of Tony's association with Bohs though as he initiated the first ever shirt sponsorship in Irish football when his "Jodi" company appeared on the famous red and black jerseys. He would later sponsor the new stand in

that opened in October 1999 and is still known as the "Jodi Stand". He also kept involved in football as manager of the Irish Schoolboy team and later as manager of Ashtown Villa where in 1991, he knocked Derry City out of the FAI Cup in a famous win at the Brandywell. He also had a spell as

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

's Irish scout. In 1993, he was elected as Club President by the Bohemian members. During his tenure in that position, the club finished league runners-up on two occasions. He is still a member of Bohs to this day and had the honour of Honorary Life President bestowed upon him in 1999. A further honour followed in November 2007 when Tony was inducted into the Bohemian F.C. Hall of Fame. Tony appeared at the Big Bohs Gig at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin alongside

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Joe Duffy Joseph Duffy (born 27 January 1956) is an Irish people, Irish radio and TV presenter employed by RTÉ. One of the public service broadcaster's highest-earning stars, he is the current presenter of ''Liveline'', an interview and phone-in chat s ...

and ex-boxer

Bernard Dunne Bernard Dunne (born 6 February 1980) is an Irish former professional boxer and a former WBA (Regular), and European Super Bantamweight champion. On Saturday 21 March 2009, Dunne defeated Ricardo Cordoba in the 11th round to become the WBA ...

on 19 February 2011.

Honours

Shamrock Rovers *

: 1962, 1965, 1966 * League of Ireland Shield: 1963–64 * Leinster Senior Cup: 1963–64 * Dublin City Cup: 1963–64 Dundalk *

: 1966–67 * Dublin City Cup: 1967–68 * League of Ireland Shield: 1966–67 Bohemians * FAI Cup: 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Tony 1941 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football forwards Republic of Ireland men's international footballers League of Ireland XI players League of Ireland players Bohemian F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Toronto City players Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players 20th-century Irish sportsmen