Ballincollig's Liam O'Connell makes AFL debut for St Kilda

Former Cork underage footballer Liam O’Connell made his Australian Football League debut on Sunday for St Kilda.

The Ballincollig native was informed earlier in the week of his place in the starting line-up, to allow time for his family to travel down under, before his selection was confirmed on Friday. 

The 22-year-old made his debut against Adelaide Crows in the first game of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership season. Played in front of a crowd of 42,895, it proved to be a challenging opening day for St Kilda as they lost 135-72 away from home.

O'Connell played 71% of the game but just had seven disposals, four of which were kicks. 

He joined St Kilda as a Category B rookie at the end of 2023 after being scouted by Nick Walsh, before Graeme Allan and Stephen Silvagni travelled to Ireland to recruit him. 

The Ballincollig man played 16 games for Sandringham in the VFL last season, but after a full pre-season for this campaign, he was one of the most improved players with St Kilda, starring against Carlton in a practice match last month.

Living and being familiar with AFL was nothing new for O’Connell when he made the move down under nearly two years ago. He lived in Western Australia for several years as a child, before returning to Ireland when he was 11 years of age.

So, it's no surprise that O'Connell has adapted to Aussie Rules quickly and impressed for St Kilda in that 69-58 win over Carlton a few weeks ago, scoring two goals. 

St Kilda will now hope to recover quickly from the heavy loss to Adelaide Crows. O’Connell’s first competitive game on home soil will be against Geelong Cats next Saturday.

While there was disappointment for the Ballincollig man on the opening weekend, on the opposition's team, Mitchelstown’s Mark Keane played the majority of the game for Adelaide Crows. He didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet in the big win, but did play a part in some scores for his teammates from defence. 

Last September, Keane signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the Adelaide Crows until at least the end of the 2028 AFL season.

The 24-year-old, who famously scored a last-gasp goal to help Cork defeat Kerry in the 2020 Munster SFC semi-final, has been with Adelaide Crows for two years and counting.