Conán F. O'Donnell (born 23 May 1996) is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He plays as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

Early life

O'Donnell was born in

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

. In his youth he played a number of sports, including

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

and

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

. He first played rugby with

Strandhill Strandhill or occasionally Larass () is a coastal town and townland on the Coolera Peninsula in County Sligo, Ireland. , the population was 1,753, an increase of 10% from the 2011 census. The old name appears to be ''Ros Dragnige'' (see Killa ...

based club,

Sligo RFC Sligo Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Strandhill, County Sligo, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the islan ...

. Initially a winger, O'Donnell switched to

at under 11 level. O'Donnell was a pupil of

Summerhill College Summerhill College (aka The College of the Immaculate Conception) is a Roman Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys located in the town of Sligo in north-west Ireland. History The school was founded in 1857 by then-bishop of Elphin, Laur ...

in Sligo town and played rugby for the school team. He received his third level education in

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, studying commerce. While there, he played for the university rugby team.

Professional career

Connacht

O'Donnell was involved with

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

at under age level throughout his teenage years and joined the team's academy in 2014. During the 2014–15 season, O'Donnell played in the All-Ireland League for

at senior level, while also representing

in the Connacht Junior League. After one year in the academy, he was promoted to the academy ahead of the 2015–16 season, becoming the first player from the NUIG team to receive an academy contract. In O'Donnell's first season in the academy, injuries to first team players led to him making several appearances for the senior team. He made his debut against

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

in the

2015–16 Pro12 The 2015–16 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the fifteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the sixth with its current four-country format. i ...

on 3 October 2015. His European debut came on 14 November 2015, when he was part of the squad that traveled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

to face Enisei-STM in the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

. O'Donnell's first start for the team also came in the Challenge Cup, when the province faced

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

away in the pool stages. He made a total of eight appearances for the senior team in his first academy season, playing four times in the Pro12 and Challenge Cup. At the beginning of the 2017–18 season, his final year in the academy, O'Donnell joined

Buccaneers Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 unti ...

who had recently been promoted to Division 1A of the All- reland League. O'Donnell played with the Pirates when available, but also missed league matches to play with the Connacht Eagles. In January 2018, he made his return to the senior Connacht team when he featured from the bench against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

. In March 2018, it was announced that O'Donnell had signed a senior contract with Connacht for the following season.

Sunwolves

Upon the conclusion of Connacht's 2018–19 season in May 2019, O'Donnell left the province to join Japanese

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

Sunwolves The Sunwolves ( Japanese: ) – previously known as the HITO-Communications Sunwolves for sponsorship reasons – were a professional rugby union team and Japan's representative team in SANZAAR's international Super Rugby competition. The team w ...

for the remainder of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

New Zealand

After the conclusion of the 2019 Super Rugby season, O'Donnell moved to New Zealand to join

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

side Counties Manukau. He played for in a pre season friendly ahead of the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, the international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the third tournament in i ...

, before joining on an eight week contract as injury cover for

Jeff Thwaites Jeffrey Robert Thwaites (born 22 November 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays for the Highlanders since 2020 in the Super Rugby competition and for Bay of Plenty in the mitre10 cup competition. Jeff is married to Black ...

International

O'Donnell has represented Ireland internationally at under age level. He was part of the Ireland schools team in 2014, despite

not being a traditional rugby school. O'Donnell made five appearances for the schools team. He went on to play for the Ireland under-20s, featuring in all five of the team's games in the 2015 Under-20 Six Nations. O'Donnell was subsequently named in

Nigel Carolan Nigel Carolan (born 27 December 1974) is a rugby union coach from Ireland. He is currently the Assistant coach to Scottish United Rugby Championship side Glasgow Warriors. He was previously a Backs coach at Connacht. Before becoming a coach Caro ...

's squad for the 2015 Junior World Cup, and played in four of the side's five matches in the tournament as they finished seventh overall. O'Donnell was young enough to return to the under-20s for a second season and played in the 2016 Six Nations, again featuring in all the games. He missed out on the 2016 Junior World Cup through injury, however.

Discography

O'Donnell has appeared on multiple podcasts around the world. Most recently "The Petey Performance Podcast"

References

External links