It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years for Barry O’Connor. Back in 2019, he headed off to Australia, signed up by the Sydney Swans with whom he stayed for three years. And although he acknowledges that his AFL career is in the past, he continues to enjoy life Down Under.
“I gave it a massive go and I’d have no regrets over it. I would have liked for it to work out a little bit differently. And I still play semi-professionally over there, but I wouldn’t be going out with the aim of trying to get back on a list. Obviously, if someone threw a contract at me, I’d probably go and take it, but it’s not something I’m really thinking of.”
On Sunday, his athleticism and ball-winning played a significant role in St Martin’s momentous win over All-Ireland champions Na Fianna. His goal on 50 minutes propelled his team back into the lead and laid the basis of a successful comeback.
It’s been a year since he came home and began to hurl again, playing for St Martin’s with a number of his extended family and winning a county title and running Sunday’s opponents close in the Leinster semi-final before returning to Australia.
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The son of George O’Connor, twice an All Star and a member of Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland winning team, he plays with his cousins Rory and Jack, whose father John was also a member of the 1996 side and is a selector with the club. Other cousins, Joe and Paddy, are also involved.
O’Connor came back again this year and is sticking around once more until the club’s interest is concluded, as well as for Jack’s wedding.
He has built on last year’s performances, prompting this comment from former Wexford hurler Barry Lambert on the Wexford Hurling podcast: “He was hurling well last year, but this year it’s gone to another level.”
He says that he was advised by his father to stay in touch with the game and that although he returned around the same time this year, he hadn’t played as much in the county championship, but had joined a club in Sydney.
“Last year’s championship helped me massively and then I tip around with the club [Craobh Pádraig or St Pat’s] in Sydney as well, so I got a few games under my belt.
“If anyone is moving to Australia, feel free to give them a message! Obviously, it’s a different level to be here, but hurling is a game that you need to be at all the time if you want to be serious about it. ‘It’s an art of a sport’, as my Dad says. You can’t just pick it up a couple of times a year, so I made a conscious effort to stay at it while I was away this year.”
Cousin Rory reckons that Martin’s are improving: “Five per cent better than last year, and I think that is probably the difference. We’re a little bit more conditioned, a lot fitter.”
The club have never been to a Leinster final and Wexford haven’t taken the title since Oulart The Ballagh, 10 years ago. Naas, who they beat last year, will provide the opposition in the semi-finals. Barry O’Connor traces the evolution.
“Last year, it was really big for us to win Wexford and we did give Leinster a massive crack but we were the unknown at that point and Na Fianna were a little bit more battle hardened than us.
“We were winning with around five minutes to go in that game last year and they clawed it back. The same thing happened this time and we managed to wrestle it back.
“You’d hope that the bit of experience and maybe the bit of self-belief that we have from last year, that these teams from other counties aren’t impossible to beat. They’re very, very hard to beat but they’re beatable.”
Before then, there is another engagement, as the club are intermediate football champions and have a provincial quarter-final against Tubberclair from Westmeath.
“Yeah, we do,” he says. “It’s quite important to us as well. We are a dual club and we got relegated a few years back. We found it very hard to get back up. We did it last week only. It’s a bit of a whirlwind at the moment. To be honest, we haven’t spoken about it. That’s how we’re sort of working it at the moment, week to week.”
