O’Connor gets off Mark at the MCG

FORMER Kerry minor footballer Mark O’Connor had a losing Australian Football League debut for Geelong early yesterday. The Cats lost 116-55 against the Essendon Bombers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Bizarrely, the game was only O’Connor’s seventh-ever Aussie Rules match. The Dingle native signed as an international rookie last October, and was promoted to the Geelong senior team ahead of last night’s match.

The 20-year-old Kerryman played in two friendlies and made four appearances in the Victoria Football League, a regional developmental league, before being thrown in at the deep end following a hamstring strain to Brandan Parfitt.

Before going to Australia, O’Connor won two All-Ireland minor medals with Kerry in 2014 and 2015, and also won the Hogan Cup with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne.

In his maiden AFL game, the former Kingdom midfielder notched six disposals, one kick, five handballs, two contested possessions, one tackle and one clearance.

Geelong held a two-goal lead over the Bombers at the first change after dominating the first term at the famous MCG where Ronnie Delany won his Olympic gold medal in 1956.

Essendon’s Tom Bellchambers led a late comeback though, scoring three goals in the last five minutes as his team scored six overall in the final term.

After the heavy defeat, O’Connor and the Cats drop from fourth spot in the table to outside the eight play-off positions.