It may not be entirely accidental that Cillian O’Connor reminds us of his age more than a couple of times when assessing the start of another season with Mayo. As if Gaelic Games more than any other sport thinks of it as more than just a number.
There is a common perception that the intercounty player must be going into something of decline once they creep into their 30s, although at age 31, still four months shy of his next birthday, O’Connor doesn’t see it that way. Not yet anyway.
Sunday’s Allianz Football League opener against Galway marks the start of his 14th senior season, which began as a teenager in 2011, and whenever he retires his record as the all-time football championship scorer will still stand long in the books.
O’Connor has also missed a lot of football during that time, going a full 14 months without a Mayo appearance during the pandemic, before missing most of the 2021 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon. He also missed most of last year’s league with a hamstring injury. In some ways that’s all time regained.
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“That’s the way I try to look at any layoffs”, he says. “They are obviously not ideal, but I try and put a positive slant on it. You get an enforced break of nine or 10 months. I’m 31 now, it’s hard to say how long you play. To an extent, it’s kind of out of your hands. But you learn things in that time too, can work on other bits, and thankfully it’s all cleared up now, back training and it’s such a relief.”
There are plenty of reminders in professional sports that age is indeed just a number: Tom Brady was 43 when he won his last Super Bowl in 2021, with Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Lionel Messi was 35 when he won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022.
“That’s the first time I’ve been in the same sentence as Messi, so I’ll take that.” O’Connor says. “I do feel that year I missed, in 2021, is a year I have back. I didn’t have the slog of a full season that year, I didn’t have the banging and trouble on the joints, the running and all that.
“I still love training, I love the game, I love the matches. And I love the buzz in the squad and the plotting and scheming with my team-mates trying to figure stuff out and win matches. I’m feeling positive again about it all and as long as you’re getting asked to be there, asked to play, it’s brilliant.”
After making his championship debut at 19 back in 2011, later named Young Football of the Year, and again in 2012, O’Connor soon started setting records: in 2019, he overtook Colm Cooper as football’s all-time highest championship scorer, having scored in 50 of 51 games (the lone exception against London in 2013).
He’s since raised that to 31 goals and 354 points — his combined tally of 447 points is now significantly up on Cooper (352) and third-placed Dean Rock (331). In 2020, he also scored an individual championship match record of 4-9, against Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“If you start very early, if you come straight out of minor like I did, that probably makes it feel an ever longer road, I’ve seen it in other counties about guys playing into their 30s. And I know in pro sports you see the levels they go to look after themselves. Think about LeBron [James] or Tom Brady … Obviously, we don’t have millions to be dropping on the training plans like those guys so there is a reality to it too in an amateur sport.
“I think it comes back to enjoying it. If the environment is enjoyable and you’re in a good mood going to training and games there’s no reason why you shouldn’t keep going.”
Still, coming back from injury is never straightforward for any player (like when O’Connor ruptured his Achilles in Ennis, in a league promotional play-off against Clare in June 2021, in what was his 100th appearance for Mayo).
“I remember I was back-tracking and I thought the seam in the back of my boot had torn because I heard a rip. I looked down and my boot was perfect.
“I just thought, ‘Right, well, that’s not a good sign. I was hoping the boot was ripped. Not to be too philosophical, people have bigger crosses to bear than injury in sport.
“But personally, when you haven’t been fully training, you second guess yourself, or you delay for a split second, or think about a pass and the ball is knocked out of your hand if you’re chasing a corner back. So I’d say sharpness is how it manifests the most.”
What is certain is that Mayo won’t be approaching this year’s league any differently, despite winning last year, then losing their championship opener against Roscommon.
“To my knowledge, we’re going to be approaching every game to win, to be as competitive as we can. You hear different bits and pieces about pacing your run and stuff. As a player that’s certainly not on my radar.
“We’re competitive animals at the best of times, I’ve seen lads falling out with each other playing 25 in the team hotel the night before. So nobody wants to give an inch.”
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