In the Clan Bar, after Friday's game against Glasgow, we will be inducting Johnny O'Connor into the Connacht Clan Hall of Fame.
Johnny O'Connor retires at the end of this season, ending a fourteen year professional career, 10 years of which were spent at his native province Connacht. Earning his first contract for Connacht back in 2000, Johnny's hard-hitting tackles and omnipresence at the breakdown drew the attention of Laurence Dallaglio during a friendly against London Wasps in 2002. Dallaglio afterwards inquired about the "bloody No 7 who was a complete nuisance" and in 2003 Johnny joined London Wasps. During a four year spell there he was involved in winning two Heineken Cups, two Premiership titles and a Powergen Cup. Johnny also earned his first of twelve caps for Ireland around this period in 2004 and was part of the Triple Crown winning Irish side of 2006. He won numerous accolades along the way, including the 2005 Irish Rugby Union Players Associations (IRUPA) Players’ Player of the Year and a place in the Barbarians squad of that year. Johnny's illustrious career serves as an inspiration to the younger players currently coming through at Connacht.
Despite sustaining several serious injuries over the course of his career, most notably a severe neck injury received during the Powergen Cup final for Wasps in 2006, Johnny O'Connor has shown himself to be of the hardest-playing and most committed players ever to pull on a Connacht jersey. Nothing encapsulates this better than the game against Leinster in January 2012 where he played out most of the game with three fractures in his cheekbone, never taking a backwards step throughout. Afterwards, fellow flanker Eoghan Grace referred to him as "The Player Who Plays With A Broken Face". A bona-fida Connacht warrior, Johnny O'Connor's professionalism, dedication and bravery mark him out as a true Connacht legend.
So come along to the Clan Bar directly after the match on Friday, and help us thank him for all the blood, all the sweat, and all the broken bones he has given in the name of Connacht Rugby.