Geelong star Mark O’Connor breaks down after leading local Irish club Dingle to glory

Geelong’s Irish star Mark O’Connor has helped his hometown club Dingle end a 77-year title drought in the Kerry Senior Football Championship on Sunday.

O’Connor, who returned home just three weeks after the Cats were beaten in the AFL grand final by Brisbane, was among his side’s best in the 2-13 to 1-12 victory over Austin Stacks at Austin Stack Park.

The 28-year-old was sent from the field for 10 minutes in the first half after copping a black card for an illegal tackle, but responded strongly in the second half as Dingle pulled off a famous comeback.

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Trailing 0-8 to 0-4 at half-time, Dingle captain Paul Geaney kicked 2-2 in the second half to lead his side to victory.

The Kerry SFC title was Dingle’s first since 1948 and came after three grand final losses since 2012.

It also helped O’Connor, who was a member of Geelong’s 2022 premiership team, recover from the loss to the Lions four weeks ago.

Speaking after the match, O’Connor said he “broke down” in tears after the win, which means everything for his small town.

“We did, finally. And it’s just extra special. We’re such a small town. Obviously, it’s been the same faces that have been in the crowd ever since I was under 10s,” he said.

“So giving a look up to the crowd before the game probably didn’t help me at all.

“It means everything. I kind of broke down. My voice is gone. I broke down. If I get into it now, I’ll probably start crying again. So I won’t do that on camera.

“But yeah, looking up, seeing my family in the stands. As I said, the same faces. It’s the parents of the lads that were playing out there today. And they raised us all the way through.

“So to see them, it’s very hard to keep a lid on things. And with our history, we’re not the biggest club, as I mentioned. So going back to 1948 was the last time.

“So trying to keep a lid on that is tough.”

O’Connor also touched on his black card, which was described by the commentator as an “AFL-style pulldown”.

“My emotions were probably a bit too high. But look, that happens, and I don’t care, really, what we got through,” he said.

“Yeah, obviously (can’t get away with that) here. And I was aware of that. I kind of got stood on it … I didn’t think about it, it just kind of happened, which is unfortunate, obviously.”