diego
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Posts: 1,099
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Post by diego on Sept 7, 2018 7:51:34 GMT
Big night in Melbourne for Mark and the Geelong Cats. After just making the top 8 in the regular season they play the Melbourne Demons today in 1st knockout round. Mark listed on the interchange bench. www.geelongcats.com.au/news-and-media/team-selectionHe played most of the year with the reserve side, but broke in to the 1st team squad for the last 2 games. Shows they must have faith in him to have him in there now for these crunch games. Match live on BT Sport 1 from 10.30am.
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Post by ballhopper34 on Sept 7, 2018 18:06:52 GMT
Final score: Melbourne 75 Geelong 46.
AFL.com.au player ranking had this on our man with a 7/10:
"Mark O'Connor – 7 Playing in just his seventh career game, the young Irishman stood up under intense pressure and played his role. Had just 12 disposals but was rarely beaten in one-on-one contests and even backed himself to take a bounce and send the ball forward in the third term. One of Geelong's best players."
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Post by hatchetman on Sept 7, 2018 18:52:07 GMT
Final score: Melbourne 75 Geelong 46. AFL.com.au player ranking had this on our man with a 7/10: "Mark O'Connor – 7 Playing in just his seventh career game, the young Irishman stood up under intense pressure and played his role. Had just 12 disposals but was rarely beaten in one-on-one contests and even backed himself to take a bounce and send the ball forward in the third term. One of Geelong's best players." Wow. I have no idea what a 'disposal' is but I think we could do with it in Gaelic football! In fact we could do with it on this site ... I can think of a few candidates.
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Fado
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Posts: 317
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Post by Fado on Sept 7, 2018 19:41:50 GMT
Final score: Melbourne 75 Geelong 46. AFL.com.au player ranking had this on our man with a 7/10: "Mark O'Connor – 7 Playing in just his seventh career game, the young Irishman stood up under intense pressure and played his role. Had just 12 disposals but was rarely beaten in one-on-one contests and even backed himself to take a bounce and send the ball forward in the third term. One of Geelong's best players." Wow. I have no idea what a 'disposal' is but I think we could do with it in Gaelic football! In fact we could do with it on this site ... I can think of a few candidates. Good to see you living up to your name :-)
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Post by buck02 on Sept 7, 2018 20:24:36 GMT
Great to see Marc doing well and getting good reviews.
On a kind of related note, I heard that Rian O Sullivan from Annascaul has packed in professional soccer with Brighton. He is the same age as David Clifford and I would have seen both play a lot of under 12 and 14. I rated O Sullivan every bit as good as Clifford back then, maybe he could be tempted back to play football again?
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Sept 7, 2018 20:31:04 GMT
There is another Annascaul lad, Seán Kennedy over in Sunderland.
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peanuts
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Posts: 1,857
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Post by peanuts on Sept 7, 2018 23:14:00 GMT
There is another Annascaul lad, Seán Kennedy over in Sunderland. He is actually a first cousin of Mark O’Connors and was an excellent GAA player underage. Went to Sunderland this year when he turned 16.
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Post by Walter Mitty on Sept 8, 2018 8:53:17 GMT
Left the mcg last night with mixed emotions. Delight at the mighty demons progression to the next round but obvious disappointment for the two Irish boys.
O Connor did well with what he had to do. Looks very athletic, composed and his skills continue to improve. Must have been an incredible experience playing finals footie in front of 92000 packed into the mcg under the Friday night lights
As an interesting side note Christian Petracca, one of the stars of the Melbourne demons side, is a former player of the tournament at the gaa Australian state games for the Victorian minor side- probably trained by Brian Stynes.
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fivenarow
Senior Member
If it aint broken, then dont fix it!
Posts: 924
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Post by fivenarow on Sept 8, 2018 9:28:48 GMT
Great to see Marc doing well and getting good reviews. On a kind of related note, I heard that Rian O Sullivan from Annascaul has packed in professional soccer with Brighton. He is the same age as David Clifford and I would have seen both play a lot of under 12 and 14. I rated O Sullivan every bit as good as Clifford back then, maybe he could be tempted back to play football again? A friend of mine told me that Rian is back at school doing his leaving Cert, he’s is a top soccer player & hopefully he’ll kickstart his career again in the future. On the flip side, when some deluded parents see one of the best soccer players in the county coming back home it might open their eyes to the kerry u15 & u17 soccer teams who are stopping players playing other sports while they play with them. I’ve no issue with soccer but IMO stopping a 14 yr old playing other sports is ridiculous as you never get your youth back. As most people know the majority of the time your best footballer is your best soccer, hurler. basketball player as well.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 8, 2018 10:19:36 GMT
Final score: Melbourne 75 Geelong 46. AFL.com.au player ranking had this on our man with a 7/10: "Mark O'Connor – 7 Playing in just his seventh career game, the young Irishman stood up under intense pressure and played his role. Had just 12 disposals but was rarely beaten in one-on-one contests and even backed himself to take a bounce and send the ball forward in the third term. One of Geelong's best players." excuse my ignorance but whats the difference between a "disposal" and "sending the ball forward" as he did in the third term
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Post by Attacking Wing Back on Sept 8, 2018 10:27:00 GMT
Final score: Melbourne 75 Geelong 46. AFL.com.au player ranking had this on our man with a 7/10: "Mark O'Connor – 7 Playing in just his seventh career game, the young Irishman stood up under intense pressure and played his role. Had just 12 disposals but was rarely beaten in one-on-one contests and even backed himself to take a bounce and send the ball forward in the third term. One of Geelong's best players." excuse my ignorance but whats the difference between a "disposal" and "sending the ball forward" as he did in the third term Disposal is hand pass. Sending ball forward prob a kick
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 8, 2018 11:17:25 GMT
Shows how different the game is that its a big deal that he kicked thd ball once.
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Post by Walter Mitty on Sept 8, 2018 11:26:49 GMT
Shows how different the game is that its a big deal that he kicked thd ball once. 12 disposals of which 6 were kicks. Took 2 marks and laid three tackles. But he defended well given the pressure put on the Geelong back 6.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 8, 2018 12:19:04 GMT
I am confused now.
What did he do in the third quarter that was remarkable....was that he took a bounce before kicking it?
Or was it that he took a bounce and punched it forward
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Post by Walter Mitty on Sept 8, 2018 12:32:23 GMT
I am confused now. What did he do in the third quarter that was remarkable....was that he took a bounce before kicking it? Or was it that he took a bounce and punched it forward Can't remember the incident. Assume he took it through traffic with a bounce and delivered into the forwards.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 8, 2018 12:37:07 GMT
Okay thanks Walter
How does it compare to the NK finals between Finuge and Emmets from 10 years ago?
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Post by Walter Mitty on Sept 8, 2018 12:50:43 GMT
Okay thanks Walter How does it compare to the NK finals between Finuge and Emmets from 10 years ago? I used to think the game was muck until I came over here. Took it up and have played "junior b" footy the past 4 years. Very enjoyable game to play. You d appreciate the game far more when you Ve played a bit. Big Irish crowd playing it at club level in Melbourne.in the afl the skills of the top players are phenomenal when you consider how little time you have on the ball.
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Post by Mickmack on Sept 8, 2018 13:44:00 GMT
Very good. Was having played gaelic football a big advantage
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2018 14:49:49 GMT
The season probably ended too early for him. A few injuries gave him a chance and he has begun to his feet out there. Next year, he has nail down a proper spot on the team.
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diego
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Posts: 1,099
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Post by diego on Sept 8, 2018 18:43:15 GMT
I am confused now. What did he do in the third quarter that was remarkable....was that he took a bounce before kicking it? Or was it that he took a bounce and punched it forward Can't remember the incident. Assume he took it through traffic with a bounce and delivered into the forwards. Got to see the game on BT. The impressive thing there I think was the turn of speed Mark showed when it looked like he was about to be caught for holding the ball (cardinal sin in the game!) but backed himself to beat the chasing player behind him for speed, which he did before sending a long ball in to the forward line. Just a cameo, but a glimpse of the serious athleticism Mark has. Wouldn't be known for his pace I think, but showed a nice turn of foot that time anyway. The job he's got is deep in his own half though, and most of his duties yesterday seemed to involve stopping his opponents winning clean possession which he did well, especially when it came to aerial contests. On a separate note, the Sydney Swans reserves, starring Tipp's Colin O'Riordan and coached by friend of the forum Tadhg Kennelly, reached their regional version of the Grand Final in the NEAFL thanks to the win they got over the weekend.
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Post by Kingdomson on Sept 9, 2018 9:37:06 GMT
I'm delighted things are looking so positive for Mark O'Connor and it seems his going from strength to strength over there. My own sense is it's unlikely now we will ever seem him back even though his still quite young and more power to him if he does stay and make the AFL a long term career. Still, it's sad to think we probably will never see a 'Mullins vs Jack O' like era with 'Fenton vs O'Connor', would be some duel to witness.
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Post by Ballyfireside on Sept 9, 2018 15:52:14 GMT
Well Christened, God bless the Mark, shame we lost him, he'd accelerate our oncoming Golden Era 3.0 as old order is restored.
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Post by Walter Mitty on Sept 9, 2018 22:55:28 GMT
Well Christened, God bless the Mark, shame we lost him, he'd accelerate our oncoming Golden Era 3.0 as old order is restored. Having seen him a couple of times in action this year it's hard to argue on that. Some talent but let's see how he develops next year. I was down in Geelong myself Saturday and afl there is clearly a religion. He can only but learn from playing with 3 of the modem greats of afl in Dangerfield Selwood and Ablett. Conor Nash is actually the first Irish player I can remember considered a scoring forward. Hanley tuohy Kennelly Joyce glass and now o Connor all thrown into a more defensive role due to that ability to mark/spoil and track a man.
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Post by onlykerry on Sept 24, 2018 8:37:37 GMT
AFL fans are going gaga over another import - thankfully this new star of AFL is from the USA and at 6ft 10 inches, the former college basketball player, is scoring marks for fun. He is in his fourth year with Collingwood and has helped them reach the Grand Final this year. He was spotted at a combine trial in LA and hopefully opens up the US market for recruiters (rather than the Irish market) - there is a limit to the number of foreigners allowed and the more markets they fish in the better for us. They have been recruiting in the US for some time but I think this guy is the first big success (in the mould of Stynes and Kennelly).
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Post by ciarrai78 on Sept 24, 2018 12:57:08 GMT
It's often forgotten that the first successful "foreigner" in the AFL was Sean Wight of Listowel Emmets who was plucked straight out of the Kerry minors in the early / mid 1980's and went on to have a long and successful career in Melbourne. I think it's great news that the AFL are ploughing other fields in their external recruitment.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Sept 24, 2018 18:12:30 GMT
It's often forgotten that the first successful "foreigner" in the AFL was Sean Wight of Listowel Emmets who was plucked straight out of the Kerry minors in the early / mid 1980's and went on to have a long and successful career in Melbourne. I think it's great news that the AFL are ploughing other fields in their external recruitment. His (RIP) highlights reel on YouTube is something else. An incredible athlete.
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Post by ballybunion on Sept 24, 2018 19:37:44 GMT
I wonder will Mark play at the weekend?
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Post by A.N. Other on Sept 24, 2018 21:10:18 GMT
I wonder will Mark play at the weekend? Not trying to joke and kid but I heard from someone in Dingle that he is to be home and playing. I don't know whether to believe it or not but that's what he heard over the weekend
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peanuts
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Post by peanuts on Sept 24, 2018 21:49:04 GMT
I wonder will Mark play at the weekend? Not trying to joke and kid but I heard from someone in Dingle that he is to be home and playing. I don't know whether to believe it or not but that's what he heard over the weekend I presume he is at home so you’d imagine he’ll at least be on the bench unless injured.
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Post by taibhse on Sept 25, 2018 16:53:54 GMT
Not trying to joke and kid but I heard from someone in Dingle that he is to be home and playing. I don't know whether to believe it or not but that's what he heard over the weekend I presume he is at home so you’d imagine he’ll at least be on the bench unless injured. You’re juggling a lot of ‘unknowns’ there.
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