{"id":243202,"date":"2025-10-27T02:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/243202\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T02:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:21:10","slug":"geelong-star-mark-oconnor-breaks-down-after-leading-local-irish-club-dingle-to-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/243202\/","title":{"rendered":"Geelong star Mark O\u2019Connor breaks down after leading local Irish club Dingle to glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong\u2019s<\/a> Irish star Mark O\u2019Connor has helped his hometown club Dingle end a 77-year title drought in the Kerry Senior Football Championship on Sunday.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, who returned home just three weeks after the Cats were beaten in the AFL grand final by Brisbane, was among his side\u2019s best in the 2-13 to 1-12 victory over Austin Stacks at Austin Stack Park.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Kerry SFC title was Dingle\u2019s first since 1948 and came after three grand final losses since 2012.<\/p>\n

It also helped O\u2019Connor, who was a member of Geelong\u2019s 2022 premiership team, recover from the loss to the Lions four weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the match, O\u2019Connor said he \u201cbroke down\u201d in tears after the win, which means everything for his small town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did, finally. And it\u2019s just extra special. We\u2019re such a small town. Obviously, it\u2019s been the same faces that have been in the crowd ever since I was under 10s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo giving a look up to the crowd before the game probably didn\u2019t help me at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means everything. I kind of broke down. My voice is gone. I broke down. If I get into it now, I\u2019ll probably start crying again. So I won\u2019t do that on camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, looking up, seeing my family in the stands. As I said, the same faces. It\u2019s the parents of the lads that were playing out there today. And they raised us all the way through.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to see them, it\u2019s very hard to keep a lid on things. And with our history, we\u2019re not the biggest club, as I mentioned. So going back to 1948 was the last time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo trying to keep a lid on that is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor also touched on his black card, which was described by the commentator as an \u201cAFL-style pulldown\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy emotions were probably a bit too high. But look, that happens, and I don\u2019t care, really, what we got through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, obviously (can\u2019t get away with that) here. And I was aware of that. I kind of got stood on it … I didn\u2019t think about it, it just kind of happened, which is unfortunate, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Two Sydney veterans suddenly hit with full 360-moment<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Cats \u2018run in a swimming pool\u2019 to keep slim AFLW finals hopes alive<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

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