Gorey over Highbury: Ben O'Connor cancelled London trip for Cork big break

Back in the spring of 1999, Ben O’Connor had to forgo a trip to see a Premiership game in London in order to take his chance with Cork, but it worked out well for all concerned.

On Sunday, the Newtownshandrum man takes charge of Cork in the national league for the first time as Waterford visit SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and he can still recall how his call-up from Jimmy Barry-Murphy forced a change of plan.

“Yeah, I was going over to see Coventry and Arsenal at Highbury,” he says, “there was a neighbour of mine going and Jerry [his twin brother].

“I got a phone call, it [the soccer] was on the Saturday and Cork were playing Wexford in Gorey on the Sunday. It was Fred Sheedy who rang my ould fella on the phone at home – there were no mobiles so it was the landline he rang at home.

“He said, 'Would he be interested in going off to Gorey?' and the answer was, 'I'll ring you back in the morning, Fred', because I wasn't at home. My ould fella said to me, 'You won't be playing or anything but it's just a day out, go off for the drive.’

“So I cancelled the trip and the lads went off to Highbury; I went up to Gorey and I got 20 minutes, so it was well worth going that day. Things kicked off from thereafter.

“It just goes to show that if I didn't go that day, I might never have got a go again after. Fair play to Fred Sheedy, God rest his soul. He was the first man who got me going, and Jimmy, of course.

“All Jimmy said to me going on was, 'Go on, get on a few balls if you can'. That was the instruction going in, so it was great, nice and easy-going.”

A goal off the bench meant O’Connor had done enough to get more chances and, of course, that year would end with All-Ireland success.

In many way, though, it was a different world.

“The field is way up at the top of the town in Gorey, so we were walking down afterwards to the hotel,” O’Connor says.

“I was with Fred – he'd be Kilworth, north Cork and I'm north Cork – even though there's an hour between us, we're considered local!

“We were walking down the town together, we went into the hotel and we were down early. He said, 'We'll have a drink' and I was saying, 'What do I say here now?'

“So I said I'd have a pint bottle and Fred said, 'No bother at all'. It just shows the difference between the way things are now. A pint bottle of cider with one of the selectors after your first league game, it wouldn't happen these days but I suppose that's a sign of the times moving on.”