Kevin seeks another jackpot
Screen star craves an upturn in footballing fortunes
WE’RE LIVING in a world filled with uncertainty at the moment, not knowing when we’ll be able to move around freely again and, most importantly, what will have been the human cost once we come through the Covid-19 crisis.
Sporting matters may seem somewhat trivial in these testing times, but its importance can’t be underestimated as dreams of running back out on the hallowed turf or watching excitedly from the stands can offer players and supporters real hope in a time of desperate isolation.
For footballer Kevin O’Connor, a native of Screen, there’s also a sense of the unknown, as his contract with Championship club Preston North End expires at the end of June, leaving his future very much up in the air.
The 24-year-old is currently on loan with Waterford F.C., the club where he started out in League of Ireland football, but with domestic action on hold until at least June 19, and quite possibly a great deal longer, it’s difficult for him to know when he’ll pull on a jersey again and, when he does, what club crest will be emblazoned on the chest.
‘For myself it’s obviously a strange time. I’ve always had security, now it’s a matter of playing a few games and getting myself back in the shop window and see where it goes from there. You’d be hoping that there would be offers out there,’ he said.
‘For now I’ll just have to take it as it comes, there’s no point in thinking too much about it. It’s one of those things. I’ll be free to go wherever I want at the end of June and I’m looking forward to it, to be honest,’ he said.
A young O’Connor honed his talents at Curracloe United from the age of four or five until his midteens, before playing under-age football at St. Patrick’s Athletic and Waterford United, and then forcing his way into the first team at the Blues.
The stylish defender then moved to Cork City, where he made a name for himself in a league and cup winning side, earning himself, along with team-mate Seáni Maguire, a move across the pond to Preston midway through the double-winning season in 2017, a campaign he looks back on with great fondness.
‘That Cork team was unbelievable. The year they won the double it was like a machine. Before we left we had just beaten Dundalk 3-0 at Oriel Park.
‘It was one of those years that you can’t take for granted, because they don’t come along too often. Once we were in the zone, we were unstoppable and were full of confidence every time we played.
‘That was probably the best time of my career so far. Looking back on it now, especially how things have gone for Cork in the last few years, it seems like a distant memory, but it was only a short time ago.
‘If you go through that team from one to eleven it was unbelievable the quality within the team and what we had at our disposal. We had everything going for us and when you have a goalscorer like Seáni up top, you’re going to win games,’ he said.
When O’Connor and Maguire arrived at Deepdale, there definitely wouldn’t have been any pangs of home sickness as there was a strong Irish presence at the club, with Greg Cunningham, Eoin Doyle, Daryl Horgan, Andy Boyle, Alan Browne and Callum Robinson also plying their trade for Preston, so initially settling in wasn’t an issue.
‘When I went over first I think there was seven or eight Irish lads in the dressing-room. There was a lot of us there so it didn’t take long to settle in. The lads were brilliant.
‘It’s funny, you always have the rivalry with the lads that signed from Dundalk but when you go over and you’re team-mates, straight away you get on and there’s no problem there whatsoever.
‘To be honest, it was easy to get on with everybody in the squad, everybody integrated well. It’s a good club and it was a great dressing-room to be part of.’
However, it wasn’t long before O’Connor fell out of favour at the Lancashire club, and he was shipped out on loan to Fleetwood Town and Crewe Alexandra in
League One and League Two respectively, before returning to Cork City last season and finally back to where it all began at Waterford this term.
Having failed to nail down a regular place and only making nine appearances for the Championship club, O’Connor could have been forgiven for being riddled with doubts, but he’s certainly not one to sit around feeling sorry for himself and tackles each obstacle as it comes.
‘Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out how I wanted it to. It was brilliant at the time to get the move, but it’s just one of those things that happens.
‘I haven’t consistently been playing in the last two and a half years so I wanted to get back playing, and I saw Waterford as a good opportunity.
‘At the start of the year I was happy with how everything was going, but then unfortunately the coronavirus kicked in and nobody could have seen this coming, but you just have to deal with it,’ he said.
‘At the moment, with what’s going on in the world, it’s hard to know what’s going to happen. We’ve been given a date of June 19, when the league could be starting back, but that’s just hoping and guessing more than anything. It’s hard to put a date on when anything could happen,’ he said.
O’Connor may not have enjoyed the success he would have dreamt of when moving to Preston, but it hasn’t knocked his confidence, and he still feels he has the ability to make his mark across the Irish Sea given the opportunity.
‘I feel I didn’t get the chance to prove myself more than anything, whether I wasn’t ready I don’t know. Everybody has their own opinions in football, it’s a game of opinions.
‘There’s not one day that I regret over there. I never thought, “I’m not bothered with this or I’m not going to give it one hundred per cent”. I always give it my all, but sometimes things just don’t work out,’ he said.
Wearing the green of Ireland is a dream for most aspiring young players in this country and O’Connor is no different.
And having been capped at Under-17 and Under-21 level, you sense he hasn’t entirely given up the ghost of becoming a senior international.
‘That’s the dream growing up, to play for your country. I was lucky enough to do it at under-age level and you always remember those days. I have the jerseys hanging in the house and they’ll always be something that bring back fond memories.
‘You look at them and you’re proud of the achievement. Not many players get to pull on their country’s jersey, and one day you’re hoping that you’ll get a senior cap. You want to play against the best players and that’s the opportunity to do it,’ he said.
O’Connor hit the front pages not long after his move to Preston when he won the top prize in the National Lottery’s Millionaire Raffle, netting himself a cool €1 million.
The ticket was bought for him by his uncle, Peadar Murphy, at Flanagan’s in Castlebridge and O’Connor said, although it was whirlwind period, he had to quickly get his feet back down to earth.
‘It was a mad time. It’s mental when it happens, but once it happened I tried to brush it under the carpet. Unfortunately, it got out before I could stop it.
‘We had a match that day so I had to put it in the back of my mind and get on with it. It’s a bit of security and it’s just a matter of trying to get on with the football. It probably took a couple of days to sink in, and then you just have to get back to business,’ he said.
His luck may have been in then, but it’s clear that what O’Connor really craves most is an upturn in his footballing fortunes.
Hopefully he can hit the jackpot with a new club in the not-toodistant future and manage to get a promising career that has veered slightly off course firmly back on track.