How Irishman Mark O’Connor found his niche in Geelong with the ‘Misfits’ — the AFL’s No.1 defence
The tribal nature of Gaelic football means there is always a strong pull for Geelong’s emerging Irishman Mark O’Connor. While he’s part of the AFL’s No.1 defence, there’s one thing he’s banned from doing when he returns home.
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Mark O’Connor knew it was wrong, but his fierce loyalty meant he just couldn’t help himself.
It was on a post-season trip home to Ireland last October when the Geelong defender wrestled with a dilemma.
His hometown of Dingle — a seaport village of around 2000 residents on the southwest tip of Ireland — was scheduled to play in a quarter-final of their regional championship.
O’Connor was desperate to play.
Having forsaken a burgeoning Gaelic pathway two years earlier in pursuit of a professional AFL career in faraway Australia, he felt obliged to give something back to those who had helped shape him.
“I was in the best shape of my life … it felt like the shackles were off a bit,” O’Connor, one of Geelong’s most improved footballers, explained to the Herald Sun.
“When I was back home, I felt like I was being pulled back to the game.
“Footy is so tribal (in Ireland). You play for the town you grow up in; you are playing with your best mates and family.
“I knew the risks (of playing), but I felt as if I had to give something back.”
O’Connor helped Dingle secure a memorable quarter-final victory, but inevitably the Cats found out he had played — and swiftly put a stop to it.
That meant he ended up being Dingle’s “water boy” for the next three matches — a semi-final draw, a semi-final win, and a final loss.
“That’s the most torn I had been; the shackles were back on,” he recalled.
“I felt maybe if I had played, I might have been able to chip in to help out a bit more.”
As tough as it was at the time, that experience inadvertently became a turning point for the highly-talented, articulate 22-year-old.
He has long since reconciled with the fact he can’t play when he goes back home — for obvious reasons — and the thing he calls his “Golden Ticket” — the opportunity to play professional sport in Australia — is something he cherishes more than ever.
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Seven months on, O’Connor has taken his football to a higher plain as a key part of the best defence in the AFL — the self-confessed ‘Misfits’, for their disparate backstories.
Significantly, he is also edging closer to extending his career with Geelong.
He hasn’t ruled out a return to Ireland at some stage into the future. But recent discussions with the Cats about a new deal — potentially two more years — have been promising after the one-time rookie secured a spot on the primary list this year.
After playing two games in 2017, and five last year (including the elimination final), O’Connor has played every game this year.
Remarkably, he heads into today’s clash with Gold Coast without having conceded a goal against his primary opponent.
In that time, he has played Lachie Whitfield, Luke Breust, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Shaun Higgins, to name a few.
The Cats’ investment in the affable Irishman is paying dividends, with coach Chris Scott buoyant about his form.
“He picked up things really quickly, and we are starting to see things now with his marking overhead and his kicking — which was elite at Gaelic level — but different early days with a different ball,” Scott said.
“We were of the view that sometimes you need to invest in players by giving them games short term even if they aren’t absolutely ready.
“If we waited until all our guys are absolutely ready we wouldn’t be in the position we are now.”
A junior Gaelic star, O’Connor hadn’t initially intended on anything more than a two-week holiday when urged by Sydney’s Irish 2005 premiership star Tadhg Kennelly to try out.
“I wasn’t going to stay out here,” he said.
“I was enjoying my Gaelic football because I was at a reasonable level at home, and knew if I was to come out here, I’d start at the bottom.”
As it turned out, that challenge pricked his competitiveness.
Geelong, the city, proved an instant attraction.
“It’s bigger than Dingle, but still had a good laid-back feel to it,” he said.
Geelong, the club, presented a few initial hiccups.
One of his first sessions involved Geelong assistant coach and one-time champion defender Matthew Scarlett, who presides over the ‘Misfits’.
“Scarlo was telling me the story about how he played on one of Ireland’s marquee players (Des Dolan) in International Rules, and how he punched him in the nose,” O’Connor said.
At the same time older brothers — John, 26 (currently living in Melbourne) and David, 24 — joked to their mother, Mary, and father, John, that Australian football was “organised chaos”.
He joked: “My brothers were messing with mum’s head a bit.”
Luckily, his mother wasn’t there for his first session with the Cats when Harry Taylor laid a bone-jarring tackle on him.
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In hindsight, it was precisely what he needed, and he has learnt to tackle just as effectively.
Tellingly, the full-time training and medical access has seen him shrug off serious tendinitis which frustrated him in Ireland.
His knowledge of Australian football was initially limited, derived from some Youtube clips, from which he taught himself the rules, and tales of Irish pioneer Jim Stynes.
“I wish I had got the chance to meet (Stynes),” he said. “As a kid, I read his book, but it was tough to get through, so I had to read it two and a half times.”
Irish teammate Zach Tuohy, who joined the Cats from Carlton in the same off-season that O’Connor chose the Cats over North Melbourne and Melbourne, and Kennelly remain mentors.
“Tadhg copped heaps of criticism (for recommending him),” he said.
When that criticism reached fever pitch in Ireland, O’Connor felt so strongly that he composed a rare tweet — assisted by Tuohy — in support of Kennelly.
With all due respect @tomas5ky, I simply can't agree with that article. pic.twitter.com/KUbjWacYOI
— Mark O'Connor (@MarkOConnor15) May 21, 2017
O’Connor says of Tuohy: “It was just an amazing stroke of luck he came to Geelong at the same time as I did.”
“It fast-tracks your development to have someone who has experienced the highs and lows as he has.”
Scarlett, too, has played a huge role, getting him to focus on a few specific things rather than a myriad.
O’Connor answers to two nicknames.
The first is “Merrick”, which came about because someone misunderstood his introduction as ‘Mark’. The other is “The Shark”.
He explains: “One day there was a ‘Mark ‘The Shark’ O’Connor’ Appreciation Facebook page. I was sure it was one of the ‘Misfits’, but it ended up being Tom Stewart’s mate.”
He is thriving alongside the other ‘Misfits’, thankful of the support of his teammates and coaches.
O’Connor used to have to balance his Gaelic football with a commerce university course, along with weekend work in Dingle’s iconic ‘O’Flaherty’s Bar’.
He doesn’t do shifts at O’Flaherty’s when he returns home now, but he’s still got a presence behind the bar.
The jumper he wore in his first AFL game in 2017 is on display — a reminder of the kid who took his chance on the other side of the world.
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