| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Joseph O'Connor | ||
| Date of birth | 6 October 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Belfast, Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Scunthorpe United | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2009 | Crewe Alexandra | 77 | (3) |
| 2009 | → Lincoln City (loan) | 10 | (1) |
| 2009– | Scunthorpe United | 72 | (11) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007–2008 | Northern Ireland U21 | 3 | (2) |
| 2008– | Northern Ireland | 10 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:46, 1 October 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Michael O'Connor (born October 6, 1987, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays for Scunthorpe United and Northern Ireland.
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O'Connor was spotted by Crewe Alexandra scouts as a young teenager playing youth football in Northern Ireland. In 2004, shortly after he turned 16, he signed scholarship terms. He was a prominent member of the Alexandra youth team that reached the semi-final of the 2004 FA Youth Cup and he later captained the side.[1] In July 2005 he signed a three year professional contract.
On 25 February 2006, aged 18, he made his English League Championship debut when he came on as a late substitute for Gareth Taylor in a 2–1 win against Brighton. He made his second senior appearance for Alexandra in the club's final game of the 2005–06 season against Millwall on 30 April 2006. O'Connor replaced Lee Bell at half time and instantly made an impact, setting up two goals and hitting the post with his one shot.[2][3]
Crewe rejected a £1,000,000 offer from Derby County for O'Connor,[1] but he then fell out of favour at Crewe under manager Gudjon Thordarson.[1] After returning from his loan spell at Lincoln, O'Connor trained with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian.[1]
On 3 July 2009, Crewe accepted an undisclosed offer from Scunthorpe United.[4]
O'Connor joined Lincoln City on a one-month emergency loan on 6 March 2009, a day before a Lincolnshire derby against Grimsby, as a short-tem answer to the loss of Lee Frecklington. O'Connor was returned to Crewe on 18 April 2009 after he was suspended for picking up 10 yellow cards that season.
O'Connor, together with Tony Kane, Marc Wilson and Darron Gibson, was one of several Northern Irish footballers, involved in a dispute between the (Northern) Irish Football Association and the Football Association of (the Republic of) Ireland concerning international eligibility. Having initially represented Northern Ireland, O'Connor was persuaded to switch to the Republic of Ireland's U-21 squad for a brief period. However, he (and Kane) subsequently decided to revert permanently to Northern Ireland, to whom he, like Kane, is now irrevocably committed.[5][6]
O'Connor was a regular captain for Northern Ireland at every youth level up to under-20 and even scored six goals at under-17 level.[7] However he initially chose to represent the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level[8] before switching his allegiance back to Northern Ireland.[9] On November 16, 2007 he made his debut for the Northern Ireland U-21s, scoring in a 5–0 win against Luxembourg.[10] On November 20 he scored again for the U-21s in a 3–0 win against Moldova.[11] In between these two games he was involved in a sex video that was leaked to YouTube.[1]. On February 6, 2008 he also played against Israel.[12] All three of these games were qualifiers for the 2009 European Under-21 Championship. On March 26, 2008 O'Connor made his senior international debut for Northern Ireland in a 4–1 win against Georgia. During the friendly at Windsor Park, he came on as half-time substitute for Damien Johnson.[13]
In October 2006 O'Connor was called up to play for the Republic of Ireland U-21s for a friendly against Luxembourg. [14] However he subsequently had to withdraw from the squad.[15] In February 2007 he was also selected for the Republic U-21 squad to play in the Madeira Cup,[16] but he did not play in any of the three games involved.
| Club | Season | Domestic League |
FA Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Crewe Alexandra | 2007–08 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| 2006–07 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 1 | |
| 2005–06 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 06-Present | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 56 | 1 |
| Career Totals | 00-Present | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 56 | 1 |
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