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 The Corkman Noel Horgan | |||
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BEN O’Connor’s outstanding contribution to Newtown’s cause over the two games with Kilkenny’s O’Loughlin Gaels in the All-Ireland club hurling semi-final has earned him the 96/103 FM Cork GAA Sports Star of the Month award for February.
The ace forward, who rescued Newtown with a late score from a free in the drawn match, picked off 18 points in all, six from play, against the Leinster champions, unveiling his rich array of skills to the full in the process.
O’Connor was presented with the award at a luncheon in the Rochestown Park Hotel last Monday by Finbarr McCarthy of 96/103 FM, who revealed that the judging panel had a very easy task in selecting the February winner.
“Ben was absolutely fantastic at centre forward in both encounters with O’Loughlin Gaels, and he was an automatic choice for last month’s award,” said McCarthy, adding that it would be a huge boost to Newtown’s prospects of lifting the All-Ireland title should O’Connor perform to the peak of his powers in the final against Dunloy of Antrim on St Patrick’s Day.
A prodigious talent, O’Connor was just 17 when he starred in Newtown’s county intermediate hurling triumph in 1996.
He won an All-Ireland Vocational Schools medal with Mannix College, Charleville, in ‘97, and an All-Ireland under-21 medal with Cork the following year when he also picked up the first of three county under-21 medals with Newtown.
Graduation to the Cork senior team was nothing more than a natural progression for the gifted Newtown sticksman, who tasted All-Ireland glory in his first season operating in the top flight in 1999. Of course he has also turned in some stellar performances in the years since.
But it can be safely said that his most treasured possessions are the two county senior medals, and the Munster club medal won with his beloved Newtown since 2000.
Rochestown Park Hotel General Manager, Liam Lally, and Chairman of the Cork County GAA Board, Jim Forbes, were others to acknowledge the leading role played by Ben O’Connor during Newtownshandrum’s progress to the All-Ireland final at the presentation.
And they both wished the Newtown team well in their efforts to collect the top prize in club hurling at Croke Park next Wednesday.
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