Cillian O'Connor (born 1992) is an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

er who plays for Ballintubber and the Mayo county team. O'Connor is the leading all-time top scorer in the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

Career

O'Connor made his Ballintubber club debut whilst still a teenager in 2010. A year later, he made his county debut for Mayo in the Connacht Senior Football Championship against

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at Emerald GAA Grounds in South Ruislip after being called up by former Ballintubber manager

James Horan James Horan may refer to: * James Horan (actor) (born 1954), American character actor * James Horan (cricketer) (1880–1945), Australian cricketer * James Horan (Gaelic footballer) (born 1972), two-time and current Mayo manager * James Horan (mo ...

, who had given O'Connor his Ballintuber debut as well. O'Connor was named as the captain of Mayo in 2013 after having won two Young Player of the Year awards in the previous two years and led them to the

2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2013 All-Ireland Football Final, the 126th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, Dublin on 22 September 2013. Mayo were defeated by Dubli ...

. In 2014, he was awarded a GAA GPA All-Star Award after being the top scorer in the 2014 season and leading Mayo to the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-finals. He won his second GAA GPA All Stars award for the his performance in the 2020 season. In 2015, O'Connor was in the running for the Golden Boot and initially finished tied for top with

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...

's Seán Quigley. However, following a review of Mayo's championship winning DVD, the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

realised they had incorrectly noted O'Connor's score as they had recorded him as having scored 1-6 but he had actually scored 1–7. As a result, O'Connor's tally was increased by 1 which allowed him to claim the Golden Boot. In 2019, O'Connor became the highest scoring player in the

, surpassing Kerry's Colm Cooper's record. He had done this by scoring in all of his previous 51 previous Championship matches prior to the record breaking match, except for one game against London in 2013 when he had been black carded. He broke the scoring record for a single championship game with four goals and nine points in the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park. O'Connor sustained an injury to his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ...

in the first half of his county's 2021 National Football League promotion play-off win against

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at Cusack Park and later underwent surgery. It was his 100th appearance for the team. The injury meant he could not play for Mayo again that season. He made his return to Senior Inter County Football off the bench after 56 minutes in the 2022 National League Final.

Scoring record

Honours

;Inter-county * Connacht Senior Football Championship (6): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2020 ,2021 *

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(1): 2019 *

FBD League The FBD, also called the FBD Insurance League, FBD Connacht League, the Connacht FBD Football League or FBD Insurance Connacht GAA Senior Football Competition, is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by Connacht GAA and sponsored by ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

;Club *

Mayo Senior Football Championship The Mayo Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connacht Gold Mayo Senior Football Championship'') is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Mayo GAA clubs. Westport are the title hol ...

(5): 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018, 2019 * Mayo U21 A Football Championship (2): 2009, 2010 ;Individual *

All Stars Young Footballer of the Year The GAA & GPA All Stars Young Footballer of the Year (often called the All Stars Young Footballer of the Year, or simply Young Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given at the end of the Championship season to a young footballer aged 21 ...

(2) 2011, 2012 * All Star: (2) 2014, 2020 * Mayo Footballer of the Year (1) 2011

References

External links

Interview
with ''

The Mayo News ''The Mayo News'' is a weekly local newspaper published in Westport in Ireland. History and profile The ''Mayo News'' was established in Westport in 1892. In 1968 the paper changed from Broadsheet to Tabloid to sell better. After writing sever ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Cillian 1992 births Living people Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin DCU Gaelic footballers Ballintubber Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers People educated at St Gerald's College, Castlebar People from Castlebar