Former Carrig and Cork player, Pat O’Connor was recently honoured to mark the 50th anniversary of his Munster senior hurling championship win with Cork in 1975.  Club chairperson, Conor Ahern presented Pat with a commemorative crystal vase at a medals presentation evening in the clubhouse on the 12th February.

Former teammate, Niall Barrett spoke about Pat, saying that they were selectors together with various Carrig teams, including the intermediate hurling team that reached the county final in 2002, only to be beaten in a replay.  Pat was a straight talker and he never let Carrig down.

On accepting his award, Pat spoke eloquently, saying to the players present that the most important thing they would get from playing would be friends and memories to last them a lifetime.  Of the memories, Pat said, “They’ll be yours personally, and maybe you’ll have some with your own friends.  Don’t mind the medals, they’re only tokens.  It’s the memories you’ll take with you.  Play it for as long as you can, because you’ll be spectators long enough.  I’d just like to thank the club again for giving me the occasion to mark fifty years hence.”

Pat grew up in Ahanesk.  He played underage hurling with Carrigtwohill and also lined out with a local Ahanesk team in the mid 1960s.  From 1967, Pat played 20 unbroken years of championship hurling with Carrig at intermediate and junior grade, without missing a match.  He was on the Carrigtwohill team that contested the 1971 intermediate final and replay against Nemo Rangers and also lined out against Mayfield in the junior A county final in 1978, having won an East Cork championship medal.  Pat was always a very fit and strong player, with midfield being his best position.  He was a wholehearted team player and great at fielding the ball.

In 1974, after impressing with a brilliant performance for Imokilly, Pat got his call-up to the Cork senior team.  He was the first Carrigtwohill man to win an Oireachtas Cup medal and played seven Sundays in a row, lining out for every match in the league.  Pat’s arrival to intercounty hurling coincided with the rule change outlawing the third man tackle.  It suited a very athletic player like Pat, with the emphasis now being on going after the ball.

The following year, Pat made the championship panel but had the misfortune of being attacked by a bull in the run-up to the Waterford game.  It meant he was a substitute for that game but he won his place at midfield for the Munster semi-final against Clare and the final against Limerick.

Cork won the final that July in the Gaelic Grounds comprehensively on a scoreline of 3-14 to 0-12, with Pat partnering Gerald McCarthy at midfield.  That team also included Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Ray Cummins and Seánie O’Leary too name but a few.  Pat was the first Carrigtwohill man to win a Munster senior championship medal since 1956.

More misfortune then struck, with Pat suffering brucellosis and glandular fever at the same time.  He missed the semi-final defeat to Galway.

It was a fantastic achievement for Pat to win that Munster medal, playing at midfield.  28 years would pass before another Carrig man would win a Munster senior hurling championship medal on the field of play.

It was a very proud day for Pat, his family and Carrig.

We wish Pat and his family the very best for the future.