I’VE HAD BETTER DAYS..
.. but at least this time it will be in the record books
HE broke the all- time record for the highest tally in a Championship match last Sunday – but it wasn’t even Cillian O’connor’s most prolific day in front of goal.
As impressive as his 4- 9 ( 4- 3 from play) against Tipperary was, it still fell short of the 6- 12 he hit in an under- 12 game for Bal l i ntubb e r a ga i nst Moy Davitts many years ago.
“That finished about 12- 12 to 8- 9,” O’connor l aughed . “Boyler [ Colm Boyle] wasn’t playing now, he’s about seven years older than me!
“I think I got more in that game but there was no one to record i t, I ’m afraid . It ’s a f i gment of my i magination when no one can verify it!”
His haul last Sunday outstripped Rory Gallagher’s 3- 9 for Fermanagh against Monaghan in 2002, a tally which O’connor himself matched against Limerick in 2018, and the 5- 3 that Dublin’s Johnny Joyce put on Long ford in 1960.
I t a l s o s ur p a s s e d Matt Connor’s record for an AllIrel and semi- f i nal f rom 40 years ago, when the Offaly legend struck 2- 9 against Kerry.
It meant that O’connor was a shoo- in for the PWC Player of the Month award for the AllIreland semi- finals, which he was presented with yesterday.
“When you see names like that in those kind of lists you nearly have to pinch yourself. It feels strange to be mentioned with people like that, people that your p a r e n t s a n d u n c l e s would have been talking about when you were small. Yeah, it’s kind of cool.”
With 3- 6 on t h e board by half- time, h e h a d a l r e a d y e q u a l l e d C o n n o r ’s record at that stage.
“I didn’t even realise that it was that by half- time. The six points in the first half didn’t feel like six points, they were probably five frees and I just thought I hadn’t got six points, it didn’t feel like that so, no, it didn’t cross my mind.”
The 28- year- old might have s e t a n e w mark i n t hat qualifier against Limerick two years ago had he been a little more selfish, as his team- mate Andy Moran pointed out after he had set him up for a goal.
“Aft er th e game he was giving out to me saying, ‘ Why did you pass that one on to me? You know if you’d have kept going you’d have broken a record!’.
“So I had a laugh with him about that yesterday, saying, ‘ Well, I got there eventually!’.”