Mayo’s O’Connor puts final ‘miscommunication’ behind him
O’Connor, who will be out of action until next April after undergoing surgery on his injured shoulder last month, was speaking publicly for the first time about the mix-up at the end of the All-Ireland decider which resulted in a number of Mayo players confronting McQuillan at the final whistle.
“The first thing I’d say is that Dublin deserve great credit for their win, and you can’t take that away from them,” said the 21-year-old All Star nominee.
“In relation to that last free, there was a miscommunication between me, the referee, and a few of our lads. Before I took the free I asked him [the referee] how long was left. He said there were 30 seconds to play. I didn’t know the clock was already rolling before I took the kick.
“Shortly before I took the free, Donie [Vaughan] and Barry [Moran] both asked him what was left too. He said ‘30 seconds’ again so I took that as, ‘OK it’s still 30 seconds so he hasn’t started the clock again yet’ and it would be 30 seconds from the restart. So it was a miscommunication.
“If I knew then what I know now, I’d have played it short and tried to work a goal. But look, Dublin had 13 bodies back on the line, it would’ve been very difficult. The game wasn’t lost there.”
Coincidentally, the length of time taken by O’Connor himself over a number of close-range frees in the closing stages was something highlighted on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game later that night.
“I’ve thought about it a bit since, and there are a few frees I could have taken quicker in hindsight,” admitted O’Connor. “I have a routine that I’ve used since I was 17 and I’ve stuck to it rigidly. You need to when you’re playing against the likes of Dublin in an All-Ireland final.
“You’re kicking frees into the Hill with 40,000 opposition fans there and I said, ‘nothing’s going to get to me’.
“Looking back, there are certain times you need to change your routine. I probably took longer over some of the frees than I would have liked.”
However, despite the disappointment of losing his second All-Ireland senior final in a row, allied to an injury-disrupted season, O’Connor, who is in line to win his third Young Footballer of the Year award, is focusing on the positives.
“Of course, losing both of them are massive disappointments but I’d rather have played in them than not have played in them. It’s a huge bank of experience to draw on in the future. On the positive side, there are a lot of things to be taken out of the year.
“I look at the progress we’ve made. While I can’t describe the disappointment felt in the final, when the dust settles I know we are a much better team now. And many teams would love to be in our position come January 2014.”
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