| Mark O'Connor | |
| Fullname: | Mark O'Connor |
| Birth Date: | 17 January 1997 |
| Birth Place: | Daingean Uí Chúis, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland |
| Originalteam: | Dingle (club)/Kerry (county team) |
| Debutdate: | Round 8, 2017 |
| Debutstadium: | MCG |
| Height: | 191 cm |
| Weight: | 87 kg |
| Position: | Defender |
| Guernsey: | 42 |
| Years1: | 2017 - |
| Games Goals1: | 122 (9) |
| Statsend: | 2024 |
| Careerhighlights: | |
Mark O'Connor (ga|Marc Ó Conchúir;[1] born 17 January 1997) is an Irish professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
O'Connor is a native of Daingean Uí Chúis, a town in an Irish-speaking region of County Kerry, Ireland. Mark is the oldest of a set of triplets, with his identical sisters Sinead and Brydie still living in Ireland. Prior to leaving for Australia, O'Connor studied commerce at University College Cork.[2]
O'Connor is particularly noted for his spectacular high fielding ability in Gaelic football, being described as one of the brightest stars in Kerry football prior to his move to Australia.[3] O'Connor won two All-Ireland minor football medals with Kerry in 2014 and 2015.[4] He captained the side and won the Man of the Match award in the 2015 final.[5] [6] He also won two Hogan Cup titles with his school Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne in both those years.
O'Connor hopes to represent the Kerry senior football team in the future.[7] Colm O'Rourke wrote after the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final loss to Dublin that O'Connor was the midfielder Kerry "badly need to take some of the load off David Moran".[8]
Having had trials at five AFL sides, North Melbourne, Melbourne and Geelong all expressed interest in acquiring his services.[9] He was drafted by Geelong from the Kerry GAA in Ireland as a category B rookie in October 2016.[10] He made his debut in the seventeen-point loss against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round eight of the 2017 AFL season.[11]
In 2022, he and Zach Tuohy became only the second and third Irish players to win an AFL title, following Tadhg Kennelly in 2005.[12]
Updated to the end of the 2022 season.[13] |-| 2017 || || 42| 2 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 17 || 21 || 4|| 5 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 2.0 || 8.5 || 10.5 || 2.0 || 2.5 || 0|-| 2018 || || 42| 5 || 0 || 0 || 37 || 21 || 58 || 23 || 9 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 7.4 || 4.2 || 11.6 || 4.6 || 1.8 || 0|-| 2019 || || 42| 23 || 1 || 0 || 195 || 127 || 322 || 104 || 61 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 8.5 || 5.5 || 14.0 || 4.5 || 2.7 || 0|-| 2020 || || 42| 21 || 2 || 0 || 158 || 80 || 238 || 87 || 31 || 0.1 || 0.0 || 7.5 || 3.8 || 11.3 || 4.1 || 1.5 || 0|-| 2021 || || 42| 14 || 1 || 0 || 111 || 95 || 206 || 48 || 40 || 0.1 || 0.0 || 7.9 || 6.8 || 14.7 || 3.4 || 2.9 || 1|-| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 2022# || || 42| 22 || 0 || 4 || 171 || 106 || 277 || 84 || 56 || 0.0 || 0.2 || 7.8 || 4.8 || 12.6 || 3.8 || 2.5 || 0|- class=sortbottom! colspan=3 | Career! 87 !! 4 !! 4 !! 676 !! 446 !! 1122 !! 350 !! 202 !! 0.0 !! 0.0 !! 7.8 !! 5.1 !! 12.9 !! 4.0 !! 2.3 !! 1|}
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