Full name Turlough O'Connor Playing position Team Apps | Place of birth Athlone, Ireland Years Team Position Forward | |
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Date of birth (1946-07-22) 22 July 1946 (age 70) | ||
Turlough O'Connor (born 22 July 1946 in Athlone) was an Irish association footballer during the 1960s and 1970s. He is a member of the Bohemians' Hall of Fame.
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His two brothers Padraig O'Connor and Michael O'Connor also played for Athlone Town.
Playing career
He has spells as player at Limerick F.C., where he made a scoring debut in a League of Ireland Shield game at Sligo on the 25 August 1963, Bohemians, Fulham, Bohemians again, Dundalk and Athlone Town. He made 191 league appearances (scoring 120 times) and 15 appearances in European competition for Bohs (scoring 1 goal) against Rangers F.C. in the European Champion Clubs' Cup [1]. He was top scorer in the League of Ireland in 1973/74 and 1977/78. O'Connor netted 24 times in 29 league appearances in that latter season. He was Bohemian's top scorer in 7 different seasons, his first being in 1964/65 when he scored 8 goals in just 7 games.
As of the end of the 2012 season, O'Connor is fourth in the all time League of Ireland goalscoring chart with 178 league goals.[2] - 120 with Bohemians, 54 with Dundalk, 4 with Athlone. He also netted 15 goals in the FAI Cup (14 with Bohs, 1 with Dundalk) and 2 goals for the Irish full international team. O'Connor was capped twice at youth level.
Managerial career
He was also a very successful manager and has managed Athlone Town, Dundalk and Bohemians. His best period as manager came during in his 5-year tenure at Athlone Town where the League Championship was won twice and the League Cup was won three times, with the Tyler All-Ireland Cup also making its way to St. Mels Park. O'Connor then took over Dundalk in time for the 1985/86 season. He picked up more silverware during his time at Dundalk winning 2 League Championships, an FAI Cup and 2 League Cups until he left Oriel Park in October 1993. He was not out of football long as he returned to his spiritual home at Dalymount Park on 14 December 1993 where he stayed until the summer of 1998. During this time he also managed the Republic of Ireland national under-17 football team in the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship held in Ireland in May 1994.