Faithful follower.Well done OWEN great tribute to a great man what a great player he was unflappable under pressure and he played against some of the toughest Kerry and Dublin defenders when the rules at that time, to put it mildly didnt favour the skillful player. Met Matt many times and you had to be struck by his modesty. When he had his unfortunate accident in 1984, the way he accepted it and got on with his life is truly inspirational. One thing is for certain, we in Offaly will not see a player of his calibre for a long long time to come. {We were truly privileged from 1978-84 to witness such a great player & sportsman. Would Offaly have won the All Ireland Final in 1982 without him,? id say it would be next to impossible. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES MATT.
Quite Simply Matt Connor was the greatest player ever in the history of Gaelic football.. He had a skill and technique which was as good as any world class athlete.His movement and his grace with the ball in hand , his ability to finish chances and also to create scores from nothing .. he was a genius and `I count myself very lucky to have seen this man play a few times in Croke Park.
Matt will always be remembered as one of the all time greats. He is the real Offaly Rover respected by all. There should be a statue of Matt in O Conner park like Micko in Waterville. Hope Offaly Gaa are listening.
Lovely tribute to a fantastic footballer. Probably ahead of his time in footballing nous and skills. He had it all. Life can be so cruel and he was so unfortunate. Offaly has never seen his likes before or, since. Thanks for the wonderful memories of the great footballing skills of Matt Connor.
One of the most poignant and superbly made tributes I've seen . What an utterly brilliant player .I don't care what county you hail from this has got to hit you ...that point at the start is a thing of sheer beauty .what a crying shame it ended so soon for the man and for football in general .I remember my father welling up speaking of Matt conner. Such a mixture of pure admiration and devastation ..
brings back very very fond memories, I'm from Dublin but my dad was from Offaly and I had the pleasure of seeing Matt play a number of times as well as being at the 1982 final. I had never seen anybody play like him before, it was as if he saw everything in slow motion, very very special.
thanks for that. Incredible player. scored 2.9 against kerry in all ireland semi in 1980 and still lost! One of, if not the highest scored of all time, and finished playing so young. Such a sad loss.
My mum and his mum are first cousins but I was crap at football and from Leix lol I never realised we were related until years later long after he got tired beating us .
MarkBak76 He was even better than Maurice Fitzgerald. He had 3 All-Stars, and all that scoring done by the age of 24. He was probably best forward that ever played the game, as he was 2-footed & had all the skills, and big match temperament. The Darby goal caught Kerry out, as they were probably expecting it to be kicked into Matt’s corner?
Where is the ballad of matt connor? Some of the great gaa legends had songs or ballads about them and matt connor was the greatest without a doubt. Offaly will never see the likes of matt connor again.
Eamon Ryan .. what planet are you on??....in an era of no back door and the greatest team of all time..ie Kerry..to score what he scored...legend sits easy on his shoulders!
