James O'Connor takes up coaching role with Killeagh hurlers

Killeagh have brought in Waterford U20 manager James O’Connor on board as coach of their senior hurlers for the 2026 season.

The Lismore native, better known as “Joxer” comes with plenty of coaching pedigree as he joins new Killeagh manager Ger Scully’s setup.

Scully, a key player from Killeagh’s 1995 Junior A championship winning team, takes over from the outgoing Bryan McCarthy, who has spent the last three seasons in charge of the east Cork outfit.

Scully’s selectors will be Bernard Rochford, Colin Fogarty and Kieran Lane, while Liam O’Reilly will oversee strength and conditioning.

Killeagh, who’ve shown great progress over the past few seasons, will have been very disappointed to see their 2025 season conclude with group stage elimination.

They had come into the championship campaign having secured promotion to Division 1 and kick-started the season with a win over Na Piarsaigh, but a shock defeat to Fermoy and final round trimming from Carrigtwohill left them dumped out at the bottom of Group 1.

With a strong young core to the team, the aim now will be to push back into contention for the 2026 season, and O’Connor’s should certainly help. O’Connor was the architect of Carrigtwohill’s Cork senior championship win in 2011, their first title in 93 years.

He subsequently led Fr O'Neills from intermediate to senior status, winning the 2019 Cork Premier Intermediate Championship and Munster intermediate title before narrowly losing the All-Ireland club final to Tullaroan.

That earned him the high-pressure job of succeeding Henry Shefflin at Ballyhale Shamrocks, where he delivered back-to-back Kilkenny titles and a Leinster crown before reaching the 2022 All-Ireland final, where they lost to Ballygunner.

After an unsuccessful stint with reigning county champions Midleton in the 2022 season, he took on the Waterford minor hurling gig for 2023 and 2024. During that period the Waterford minors won just one game, a 2024 clash with Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. That win was their final game of the 2024 season.

In 2025, Joxer would turn their fortunes around. They would win each of their Munster fixtures except the final and round robin meeting with Cork. In the All-Ireland series, they would bring down Limerick and Kilkenny on their way to victory over Clare, securing a first All-Ireland minor title since 2013 and a fourth overall.

Killeagh will meet Fermoy and Na Piarsaigh again in this season’s championship, after being drawn with them alongside recently relegated Erin’s Own for their group stage campaign.

Killeagh will commence their RedFM Division 1 Hurling League campaign on Sunday, March 8, when they host Douglas. They’ll then travel to face reigning champions Sarsfields on March 22, before hosting James O’Connor’s former side Midleton on April 2.

They’ll be without Cork U20s Ben and Barry Walsh for much of the league campaign, with the pair key players in Noel Furlong’s side.