Any word on the team lads?
Good article on George O’Connor in Sunday Times. Didn’t realise he has had health issues over last few years.
Hadn’t heard he was better again so this was a nice read.
2 Likes
Can you please post the text, the link needs a subscription
Sorry, pal. Not a subscriber but it was available when I clicked on it earlier though it’s not available now.
1 Like
GAA | GEORGE O’CONNOR INTERVIEW
George O’Connor: ‘Some people recover in a very short time. It took me four years’
Wexford hero has got his life on a good footing again after it had reached its lowest ebb
Denis Walsh
May 26 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Fit and healthy: as he approaches 60, George O’Connor divides his time between landscaping and coachingJAMES CROMBIE
Share
Save
There were four O’Connor children, all boys. In their childhood the family farm was like a theme park, at the command of their imaginations. In that arena Tarzan ran wild. “If this fella is able to fly from tree to tree with a rope,” says George, “surely we can do it.” So they fixed a rope to the main beam of the big shed that housed their cattle and soared through the Piercetown jungle. “You held on for dear life because if you didn’t that was it.”
Another out-house was made of stone, held together with a steel skeleton. On the inside, under the ceiling, the supporting bars were arranged a few feet apart so you could travel the width of the shed using your arms for legs, as if it were a training drill for the US Marines. They challenged each other’s endurance for fun and without going near a gym their arms hardened and thickened like the limbs on a tree.
“What was I like as a child? Adventurous. Purely adventurous. Everything ahead of me was an adventure. I liked to entertain people. I loved nature. I liked to express myself. I always looked on life as a magical journey. I always thought of it as magical.”
O’Connor grew up to be a hero. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s every Wexford jersey he wore was infused with defiance. In that time they lost a lot of big matches: half a dozen Leinster finals, five league finals, each one held against them like a court conviction. In the eyes of the GAA public, though, George’s record was clean: for his virtuoso performances and his faithfulness to the fight he was showered with awards and admiration.
In O’Connor’s 17th season, his last, Wexford won the 1996 All-Ireland. At the final whistle he sank to his knees in Croke Park and joined his hands in a silent prayer. It is an image embedded forever on the GAA’s silver screen. You couldn’t think of George without seeing it in your mind’s eye: a blissful moment of triumph and thanks.
Giving thanks: O’Connor after Wexford won the All-Ireland in 1996
One day, about five years ago, a tipping point came in his life. He didn’t see it coming. In his day-job as a Leinster Council coach he was heading to a school in Curracloe when he blacked out behind the wheel. “The car went through a gate, across a field and ended up on top of a ditch. I only had a few cuts but I knew something wasn’t right here.
“They said I was burnt out. They called it depression, anxiety. Every ailment has to be labelled now. That’s what they called it. It’s like the electrical circuit in a house — the whole thing was overloaded. And bang. The trip switches went. In my mind I was throwing stuff into a pressure cooker. Because I was in such a hurry to do a, b, c, d, e, f, the whole way down to z, the things I couldn’t process straight away I threw into the pressure cooker. Next thing, the lid blew off.”
After a few months O’Connor thought he was feeling better and, gently, he tried to resume what used to be his normal life. It was too soon. Miles too soon. “I used to do little bits of coaching and I used go to matches but I wasn’t present.” He withdrew again.
“Some people recover in a very short time and more people recover over a longer period of time. It took me four years. I went everywhere. I went to doctors, I went to hypnotists. You name it, I’ve been there. I went to hospital. I was in St John of God’s in Dublin. Spent time there.
“When you’re in the middle of it, it’s very difficult to believe that you’re going to come out of it. You go to a place of darkness and blackness. It’s a really lonely place because you’re not able to engage [with people]. You’re only barely able to sleep. You’re not able to eat. I was living on eggs and milk and coffee. I couldn’t watch television, I couldn’t read the papers. I couldn’t do anything. The only trip switch that didn’t go off [in my mind] was the sacred heart lamp. Only for that I was in trouble. My faith kept me on this earth.”
It wouldn’t be pushed or pulled. O’Connor kept searching for something that would make a difference and all the while he depended on the goodness of others. He lived in the giant embrace of family and friends. And eventually things got better. He couldn’t say exactly how or when. There was no eureka moment. He kept going until he stumbled upon the right way.
“I found a formula. I wouldn’t impose the formula on anyone because it depends on your journey. I know I needed buckets and buckets and buckets of love and attention and encouragement and compassion. I did hear the old cliché, ‘Listen will you cop on to yourself. Look at everything you have. You need a kick in the backside.’ Those lines do not work.”
Two of his greatest friends, Fr Jim Finn and Liam Griffin, encouraged O’Connor to return to the land. He had left farming years ago but what they said made sense. Paud and Micheal O’Brien have a landscaping business and about a year ago they asked O’Connor if he would join them. Whatever O’Connor said they only had one answer in mind.
“When you’re not on a good footing it’s difficult to know. But they brought me on and dragged me along. The first day I started I couldn’t lift the empty wheelbarrow. I had no energy. That’s the remnants of anxiety, it just paralyses people. I was only about 11 stone. But I’m back to 13 stone now and not carrying any weight.”
Now? He feels well, looks well. There’s a lightness in his eyes. On Tuesday he walked into the room glowing of the outdoors, his biceps bulging under this t-shirt, his hands as big as dinner plates.
They haven’t changed since he last held a hurley in anger. His hands are the only parts of his body carrying a legacy of his playing days. O’Connor was fearless under the dropping ball. Opponents pulled, as they were entitled to do, and sometimes O’Connor paid the price. He reckons his hands were broken 17 times, give or take. Over time he took ownership of the process.
“The fingers I broke in the end I didn’t bother going to the hospital. Well, you have cows to milk so you just keep at it. You break a finger, you tie it up to the other one and away you go because when you go into the hospital they’d put pins in it. When I was playing the hand used to get stiff from all the catching so I used to get acupuncture in the fingers just to try to release them a little bit. My fingers are crooked now. One of them is pointing towards New Ross, another is pointing towards Enniscorthy. But they’re ok. They work. I’ve no pains.”
O’Connor’s endurance was remarkable. An inter-county career spanning 17 years is unimaginable now. Along the way the only time he nearly quit was at the end of 1993, a season of singular torment. Wexford had lost the Leinster final after a replay and lost the league final after two replays. His heart was sick of it. Two of O’Connor’s front teeth had been blown out in a match and the first person he told about his plans was his dentist. Whatever he said he talked him out of it.
After the All-Ireland, though, retirement fell into place. O’Connor was 37 years of age then with a newborn baby at home and no space missions left to attempt.
“On the Tuesday after the final I was delighted to go back milking cows. I wanted to ground myself. I played one hurling game for St Martin’s after that. We lost and were out of the championship. After that I hadn’t the drive to pick up a hurl again. The journey had been ‘drive on, drive on, drive on’ and then when you get there it’s such a relief. I played a bit of junior B football the following year but I never picked up a hurl again.”
O’Connor divides his time between landscaping and coaching now. Paudie Butler, who was brilliant as the GAA’s director of hurling for years, is one of O’Connor’s closest friends and every week they’ll strike off somewhere to give somebody a hand. Closer to home O’Connor falls in wherever he’s needed.
“I take an holistic approach. Build the whole person. Build confidence. Teach the skills but also teach them to be creative. Look for the magic. When I go to matches now that’s what I look for, the little nugget of magic.”
O’Connor will be 60 at the end of the year though you couldn’t tell from appearances. He looks fresh. Revived. Restored. “What I went through,” he says, “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But to be where I am today I would do it all again. I’m in a better place now than ever before. I wake up in the morning, I pull back the blinds and I can’t wait for the day to start.”
Amen.
Martin’s main men
Twenty-three men who played club hurling with St Martin’s have played senior inter-county hurling championship with Wexford, their roll of honour headed by Rory McCarthy (who made 42 appearances between 1994 and 2007, winning an All-Ireland medal in 1996) and Ned Wheeler (40 appearances from 1950-65, playing in seven All-Ireland finals, winning three - 1955, 1956 and 1960). Other St Martin’s All-Ireland medalists are Jim Morrissey, George O’Connor, John O’Connor amd Seamus Whelan.
Liam Mellows All-Ireland medallists
Galway and Wexford both sport a hurling club carrying the name of English-born Irish patriot Liam Mellows. Coincidentally, both boast one All-Ireland senior hurling medallist apiece. Galway City’s Liam Mellows saw Niall McInerney collect and All-Ireland medal in 1980. Eamon Scallan is Castletown Liam Mellows lone Wexford senior inter-county championship hurler, collecting an All-Ireland medal in ‘96 despite being sent off in the first half of their final victory over Limerick
4 Likes
Cathal Dunbar has cost Wexford a win two weeks in a row. A thundering disgrace.
2 Likes
Typical Ballygarret selfishness
1 Like
Karma for him
1 Like
George hurled midfield more often than not. The fucking stats have mixed up full forward and centre field. I’m outraged.
3 Likes
Wexford fairly fucked that away for a finish. A terrible game, not helped by the limerick man with the whistle.
2 Likes
He reffed our game against Galway in the round robin last year and it was a dire free ridden encounter too.
He’s of Mount Leinster Rangers stock. His father hurled in goal for Ballymurphy and he’d be a first cousin of about half the Rangers team. I can’t really credit it that such a lawless part of the world could lay claim to a referee or anyone connected with officialdom.
Davy making a show of himself today again🙄 already looking forward to the JJ Doyle era, couldn’t happen soon enough imo!
1 Like
Wexford playing like lepers, Davy comes on and makes a scene. Players respond and take control of the game and should have won. Masterstroke by Davy.
1 Like
I know what your saying but I dont think it was needed, I thought Wexford were coming back into it anyway.
Wexford would and should have won it with a bit more composure, their lack of it on the sideline was echoed on the pitch and cost them the game
This is Davy 3rd year and Lee Chin is his freetaker🙄 a blind man could tell you Lee is not a freetaker. A good hurler and great guy yes but not a freetaker.
5 Likes
Galway going through the motions… piss poor today and ye still couldn’t push on and beat them…that’s where ye are in all honesty… David rallying them with him s sending off and all…
Piss poor from Galway 
piss poor from Wexford…I’ve seen 3 better football games this season… that tells it all really
3 Likes
It’s hard to know who our best free taker is but it’s Davy’s third year and it’s probably the most important role on the team. It’s gone beyond a joke at this stage. Wasn’t happy when heard Chin was on them against the Dubs but we got away with it. Conditions were tough today but he missed one from about 30 yards and then dropped one short from 60 yards with a gale behind him. Fanning hitting the long ones wide was just stupidity.