Joe O’Connor Interview: Putting players first

He might stay in the background, but when Joe O’Connor takes on a task, he puts everything into it. And while he has a modern approach to fitness, his ideas are also shaped by his past

From the outside, you’d hardly notice or hear a word from him.

When Joe O’Connor was with Clare, he might have been part of the most animated sideline in hurling but that was because your eyes and ears were drawn to Davy. When the pair of them also teamed up on Ireland’s Fittest Family, O’Connor just seems to be the guy with the blank face who blows the hooter. The same now that he’s with his native Limerick as part of TJ Ryan’s management team: from afar he is a quiet, unspeaking, almost unnoticed presence.