Sean O'Connell
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Full forward | ||
| Born |
Garvagh, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
||
| Nickname | The Big Fellow | ||
| Occupation | School teacher / principal | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| 1953–1978 | Ballerin | ||
| Club titles | |||
| Derry titles | 2 | ||
| Ulster titles | 1 | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
| 1957–? | Derry | ?apps 11–118 (151) | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Ulster titles | 4 | ||
| All Stars | 1 | ||
Sean O'Connell was an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played for Derry in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to Dublin in the 1958 All-Ireland Championship – winning an Ulster Championship with the county that year, and three more in 1970, 1975 and 1976. For his performances in the 1967 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, O'Connell won a Cú Chulainn Award (the awards which ran between 1963 and 1967 were the forerunner to the modern day All Star Awards).
O'Connell played his club football for Ballerin Sarsfields. He was instrumental in helping Ballerin reach the 1976–77 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final, where they were defeated by Austin Stacks of Kerry. He also won two Derry Championships and an Ulster Senior Club Football Championship with the club.
He is regarded as a Derry legend, and an all-time great of the game. He was in particular known for scoring exploits – he is ninth in the all-time list of top Ulster scorers in Championship football with a tally of 11–118 (11 goals and 118 points—each goal equals 3 points; 11 × 3 + 118 = 151 points, see GAA scoring rules). In the centenary year of the Gaelic Athletic Association (1984), O'Connell was named in the Football Team of the Century comprising players who never won an All-Ireland. Former Derry County Board chairman Gerard O'Kane said of O'Connell "everyone growing up when Sean O'Connell was playing wanted to be Sean O'Connell".
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