Bernard O'Connor

Bernard O'Connor (born March 20, 1979) is a Gaelic footballer.

Biography

O'Connor was born on March 20, 1979 in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland. He is the youngest of five children born to Bernard and Mary O'Connor.

Football career

O'Connor played football for Kerry U16, Minor, and U21. He is the winner of one U16 Munster medal, two Minor Munster medals, two Munster U21 medals, and an U21 All-Ireland medal in 1998 along with numerous county medals with his football club, St.Mary's.

O'Connor moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the summer of 2003 to play with the Kerry Boston GAA Club. In his first summer, in a match against the Boston Cork Club, Bernard scored 2-4 of the team's 2-6 to lead his team to victory. The Cork side had previously been undefeated. He served as captain for two years and has since led the team to a Boston Intermediate Championship in 2007. The Kerry Club won both the Northeast Intermediate Championship and Northeast Junior Championship that year, which saw Kerry's Junior squad go all the way to the North American final with the likes of Carol O'Connell, Ger Barry, Mike Moriarty and Chris O'Connor, Bernard's brother-in-law, Leading the Way. The Intermediate side made it to the semi-final but were defeated in a tough competition.

2008 campaign

O'Connor along with the help of Ballylongford man Johnny Maroney led Kerry to an impressive start in the Senior Championship with wins over the Wolfetones, Cork, and Donegal and Bernard also played a massive role in the draw with the three time defending Northeast Champions, Aiden McAnespies, by scoring 0-6. His highest tally on the season, however, was the 0-9 of Kerry's 11 points in their win over Cork. The "Boston Kingdom" would go on to capture the North American Intermediate Championship.

Marriage

O'Connor was married on October 19, 2007 to Orla O'Connor and they have made a home together in Milton. Orla is currently working on her Master's degree in Education and is working as a teacher. Bernard and Orla returned to Ireland for vacation at the end of August 2008. Bernard's brother, Frank "The Tank" O'Connor was married on September 6th and Bernard was his best man. Bernard worked feverishly on his speech in attempt to match some of the illustrious speeches in the history of his wife's family. As a whole, the speech went over well.

Family

Bernard and his wife, Orla, welcomed their first child, Ellie Rita O'Connor into the world on June 3rd, 2009. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 inches long. All are in good health.

Career

O'Connor works as a carpenter for Daingean Design, based in Dorchester, Massachusetts as well as working for Karney Construction Design, Inc.