O’Connor vows to deliver Euro progress as parting gift

BEHIND the bleach-blonde haircut and cultured left foot, Kevin O’Connor is a hardened 22-year-old with a one-track mind geared solely towards success. You don’t survive in a John Caulfield team without guts and guile and the Wexford native has both in abundance. ‘I’m not arrogant but you have to believe in yourself because if you don’t have confidence you have nothing,’ O’Connor says. And as he prepares to play his final match for Cork City at Turner’s Cross tonight, before moving to Preston North End with team-mate Sean Maguire at the end of the month, the former Republic of Ireland Under 21 international isn’t about to allow sentiment distract him from the job at hand. ‘It will be emotional but we have to remember what’s in front us,’ he explained ahead of the Europa League second qualifying round first leg tie with Cypriot outfit AEK Larnaka. ‘This isn’t about me and Seanie. It’s about helping Cork progress further.’ O’Connor’s development over the past two-and-ahalf years since joining from Wexford Youths has been rapid. At first viewed as a useful utility player — O’Connor (right) was deployed at centre midfield in last season’s Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup win over Dundalk — leftback quickly became his own. He caught the eye of scouts in Britain with awareness beyond his years, a dangerous left foot and an impressive durability, which is becoming less and less common in the modern game. It’s just as well, because he has already played all 20 Premier Division games for Cork this year and is about to begin a gruelling Championship campaign with Preston. ‘It’s an opportunity to show how good you are at a different level. It’s something to rise to and embrace,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to be playing second fiddle to anyone, it’s going to be a challenge to get into the team but I won’t be happy to sit on the bench. You don’t go there fearing anything.’ Simon Grayson was the manager who signed both him and Maguire but he has since departed for Sunderland with former Norwich City supremo Alex Neil taking the reins. O’Connor met his new boss and team-mates on Monday as they trained together for the first time. Luckily, there were two familiar faces in the Preston dressing room to make the introductions as former Dundalk duo Andy Boyle and Daryl Horgan made the move to Deepdale last year. ‘They were bang on,’ Connor enthuses. ‘Obviously we were rivals in Ireland with Cork and Dundalk but that changes as soon as you’re on the same team. All that other stuff goes away. You’re in it together.’ For the time being, though, all eyes are on European action tonight and the same goes for Shamrock Rovers head coach Stephen Bradley. He will be hoping his charges can replicate their fine showings over two legs in the last round when they beat Stjarnar of Iceland 1-0 home and away, with the home performance particularly impressive. That is where they face Mlada Boleslav, who have only been in the Czech Republic’s top flight since 2004 but are backed by the motor company Skoda, which has its headquarters in the city based 65 kilometres from Prague. Rovers have started to make Tallaght a fortress again with an unbeaten run stretching back 11 games to St Patrick’s Day when Cork triumphed. ‘That’s what we said — nobody comes here and beats us,’ Graham Burke, the Hoops’ star of the last round, insisted. ‘This is our patch and we take pride in winning here. We don’t want to let anybody come here and beat us.’ Rovers, like Cork, have home advantage tonight. Now they must make it count.