Michael O'Connor (footballer, born 1998)

O'Connor started his career with his local club Rangers in Dundalk.[2] He moved to famous youth club St Kevin's Boys in Dublin in 2010.[3] He finished top goalscorer in his first two seasons which in 2012 saw him chosen for the league representative side of the Dublin & District Schoolboys League for their Kennedy Cup campaign where they became All-Ireland champions.[4] His performances at the Kennedy Cup earned him a move to Bristol City.[5] He returned to his hometown club Dundalk in September 2014, initially playing with their under 19 side in the League of Ireland U19 Division before gradually breaking into the first team squad.[6]

Dundalk first team manager Stephen Kenny offered O'Connor his first professional contract which he signed on the 22nd February 2015, aged just 16 years old.[7] O'Connor made his competitive debut in senior football on the 7th April 2015, starting alongside his brother Ciarán O'Connor in a 1–0 win over Shelbourne in the League Cup.[8] He went on to make two more first team appearances in the 2015 season, both in the Leinster Senior Cup, including starting the final which was a 3–1 over Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park.[9] As well as the Leinster Senior Cup, his first season in senior football saw the club win the President's Cup and a League of Ireland Premier Division and FAI Cup double.[10]

The first goals of O'Connor's senior career came on the 4th April 2016 in a 4–3 Leinster Senior Cup loss away to Bohemians, with O'Connor scoring twice.[11] He made his League of Ireland Premier Division debut against the same opposition, replacing David McMillan late on as his side left Dalymount Park victorious this time, winning 2–0.[12] On the 26th August 2016 he made his European debut, coming off the bench in a 1–1 draw with Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Champions League play-off round.[13] O'Connor scored his career first league goal in a 5–2 loss to St Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park on the 25th October 2016.[14] The season turned out to be a historic one for the club as they reached the UEFA Europa League Group Stage for the first time.[15] This run as well as good runs in the other cups resulted in Dundalk playing 55 games over the course of the season but O'Connor only managed to appear in 10 of those games (scoring 4 goals) and began to look elsewhere for playing time with his contract up at the end of the season.[16]

He signed for Dublin side Shamrock Rovers on the 7th January 2017.[17][18] O'Connor started off life at Rovers in the best possible way, scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win over Bohemians in the Dublin derby at Tallaght Stadium on the 3rd March 2017.[19] He made 2 appearances during Rovers UEFA Europa League Qualifying campaign against Stjarnan of Iceland but found most of his appearances coming from the bench as he made 21 league appearances over the season with just 3 starts,[20] he had to drop down to the club's under 19 side for game time on occasion throughout the season.[5] During the season O'Connor faced Burnley in a friendly and impressed manager Sean Dyche enough to be on the verge of signing him for the Premier League side.[21][22][23] Despite O'Connor training with Burnley's first team and doing well, the move broke down, with O'Connor later claiming this was as a result of Dyche being unimpressed with his off-field behaviour after doing background checks on him.[24]

A move to Rotherham United was on the cards for O'Connor and he trained with the EFL League One side and was expected to move to the club before the deal fell through on transfer deadline day, with Rotherham manager Paul Warne stating that he would be open to signing him in the future.[25] With O'Connor still in contract until the end of the season with Shamrock Rovers, they opted to send him on a 6 month loan to Finn Harps who were chasing promotion from the League of Ireland First Division, in order to find more playing time.[26] His debut came in the opening game of the season at home to Shelbourne, staring up front alongside his brother Ciáran O'Connor and scored his sides only goal in a 1–1 draw.[27] [28] By the end of his loan spell, he had played 15 league games (14 starts) and scored 3 goals.[29]

On the 19th July 2018, it was announced that O'Connor had signed a one year contract with NIFL Premiership club Linfield after scoring twice as a trialist for the club in a 2–1 win over Waterford in a friendly.[30] As he had done with Shamrock Rovers, O'Connor endeared himself to the fans early, by scoring a crucial goal in the derby when he equalised in the 86th minute away to Cliftonville to salvage a point for his 10 man Linfield side.[31] In October 2018 he was given a one year contract extension by manager David Healy.[32] O'Connor came off the bench as his side won the 2018–19 Northern Ireland Football League Cup by beating Ballymena United on the 16th February 2019.[33] O'Connor finished the season with 9 league goals in 29 league appearances despite just 12 of those being starts,[34] as his side became NIFL Premiership champions.[35] In July 2019 he was linked with a transfer away from Linfield, with Dundee among the clubs reportedly interested in his signature.[36]

O'Connor signed a loan deal with League of Ireland Premier Division side Waterford on the 13th July 2019 until the end of the 2019 season.[37][5][38] His first goal for the club came in a 1–1 draw with Derry City on the 30th August 2019.[39] He finished the season with 6 goals in 18 games as his side finished in 6th place.[40] In October 2019 he underwent a trial with Scottish club Hibernian,[41] and in January 2020 he was linked with a transfer to Glentoran.[42]

Despite the interest from abroad, he returned to the club on another loan deal ahead of the 2020 season, signing a 6 month loan deal.[43] He was named as club captain before the first game of the season against St Patrick's Athletic by manager Alan Reynolds.[44] O'Connor and his side were just 4 games into the season when it was halted in March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.[45] This saw his loan spell at the club end and he returned to parent club Linfield during the lockdown.[46] On the 29th July 2020, it was announced that O'Connor had signed a permanent contract to stay at Waterford until the end of the 2020 season, which was shortened from 36 games to just 18.[47][48] His first goal of the season came on the 18th August 2020, as he opened the scoring away to Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds.[49] On the 21st September 2020 he scored a consolation goal in a 6–1 loss away to his old club Shamrock Rovers in what turned out to be his last appearance for Waterford.[50]

O'Connor signed for Scottish Premiership side Ross County on a 2 year deal on the 26th September 2020.[51][52][53][54][55] O'Connor made his Ross County debut on the 10th November 2020, coming off the bench for Harry Paton in a 4–1 away win against Elgin City in the Scottish League Cup.[56][57] He left Ross County having ″resigned from his position to return to Ireland″ in December 2020,[58] having made just one appearance for the club.[59]

On 4 December 2020, he signed for recently relegated club Shelbourne ahead of their 2021 League of Ireland First Division campaign.[60]