Diarmuid O’Connor ready to write another Bronx tale

ON a spring day in 2014 Diarmuid O’Connor strode out onto Gaelic Park in The Bronx to make his championship debut for Mayo. He had won an All-Ireland minor title with Mayo the previous September and had completed his Leaving Cert in Davitt College a few months before that.

Life was good, great adventures awaited and the Ballintubber teenager was ready to grasp them all.

“It’s mad how quickly the years fly by. James Horan called me into the senior squad that year straight after the minor championship of ‘13. I never expected to make my championship debut in New York. I was just happy to be going, but a week or two before we flew out, James came to me and said he was thinking of starting me. It was great, I enjoyed every second of it and it's definitely one of the highlights of my career.

“The Mayo supporters are great and to see the green and red in one of the biggest cities in the world is fantastic. It gives you a different perspective. I’d be lying if I said playing New York was the same as any other championship game. It's a great experience, but ultimately it’s still a Connacht quarter final and you have to remain focused on the job in hand, but it's a great experience and one you have to enjoy,” O’Connor stated at the Connacht Championship launch in Bekan.

The man who seems tireless when on the pitch in the Mayo jersey is rehabbing an injury picked up in the opening minutes of the National League game against Tyrone in Omagh. He’s happy with the progress being made.

“It’s a hamstring injury that needed a bit of time. I felt it in the first few minutes of the game and then I tweaked it kicking the ball. It’s nothing that I haven’t done before but I’m taking a bit of extra time this time to get it right and I’m looking forward to getting back.

“Missing games is very frustrating. I want to be playing. I’d love to have played more in the league. It’s frustrating but it’s out of my control so I’m just trying to be ready for when I do get the chance to come back. Experience tells you to just concentrate on what you can control. I’ve been working with our physio team Martin McIntyre and Mark Gallagher and Jonathan Doherty so I’ve great people looking after me.

“This is the only injury I’ve had this year. I had a bit of a knock early on but it was nothing really.

“I’d love to play the next day, but I think New York might be just too soon for me,” he added.

The 2024 championship campaign will be the eleventh time O’Connor has set off in chase of the Nestor Cup and Sam Maguire. Does it still make the hair stand on the back of his neck?

“I’m as excited as ever. I can’t wait for it to come around and I can’t wait to get out playing. There’s nothing like championship and I’m really looking forward to this one.”

O’Connor has two National League medals in his collection and the general consensus this season was that Mayo had no heed on winning another title. The Ballintubber man blows that assumption out of the water.

“I’d love to have won the league this year. Lots of people have different opinions on it, but within the squad we want to win every game we play so I’m disappointed we’re not in the league final. Ideally there would be more of a gap between the end of the league and the start of the championship, which should be looked at. The league is a great competition and we love winning it.

“There are positives to be taken from our campaign in this year’s league. We played well in spells. We gave a lot of players debuts and built out the squad. That means there’s a lot of players ready to be thrown in when championship comes around. We lack a bit of consistency so we’ll be looking to improve on that from here on in,” he stated with great intent being asked how seriously a team can prepare for a game against a county who have played no National League football and have had no challenge matches.

“If you’re honest about trying to constantly improve and be the best you can be, the opposition is out of the equation. You’re just focused on your own prep. If you’re trying to find extra motivation you have to ask yourself questions about what you’re doing. I know it's cliche, but we treat every game the same and we just want to nail our prep and get our stuff right. It’s hard to get a read on New York so we just look at getting our own stuff right.

“Championship football is a serious business. There’s no hiding place and it's not a place to be trying new things. Hopefully we figured all that out in the league. Every game in championship is there to be won, so you go and play your best squad every time. The league is great to try things and give players opportunities. I think we used a lot of players in the league campaign, so when championship comes around we have a big group fighting for positions so we go out and give our best every time.”

On Sunday, O’Connor will be back in Gaelic Park for his third visit with the Mayo senior squad. He loves the atmosphere and the buzz and the football. He can hardly wait for the day to arrive.