| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2000 (age 25–26) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Business analyst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Hurling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Right wing-forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * club appearances and scores correct as of 20:30,6 October 2024. **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 16:44,9 June 2025. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thomas O'Connell (born 2000) is an Irish hurler. At club level,he plays with Midleton and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team.
Born and raised in Midleton,County Cork,O'Connell first played hurling to a high standard as a student at Christian Brothers College,Cork. He progressed through the various age grades before eventually joining the school's senior team and lined out in several Harty Cup campaigns. [1] O'Connell later studied at University of Limerick and won an All-Ireland Freshers' Championship medal in 2019 after scoring nine points from corner-forward in the 3–17 to 1–10 win over Limerick Institute of Technology. [2] He subsequently transferred to University College Cork and was part of their Fitzgibbon Cup-winning panel in 2020. [3]
O'Connell began his club career at juvenile and underage levels with the Midleton club in East Cork. He captained the club's under-14 team to the Cork Féile na nGael title in 2014,before later collecting Premier 1 U16HC and Premier 1 MHC titles in 2016 and 2018 respectively. [4] [5]
O'Connell was in his last year of the minor grade when he made his senior team debut. He came on as a 43rd-minute substitute in the 4–19 to 1–18 defeat by Imokilly in the final in October 2018. [6] O'Connell won a Cork PSHC medal in November 2021 following Midleton's 0–24 to 1–18 win over Glen Rovers in the final. [7] He was on the losing side in a final for a second time in October 2023 when Sarsfields beat Midleton by two points. [8]
O'Connell first played for Cork as a member of the under-17 team during the holding of a one-off special championship in 2017. He won a Munster U17HC medal in this grade after a defeat of Waterford,before lining out at wing-forward in Cork's subsequent 1-19 to 1-17 defeat of Dublin in the All-Ireland final. [9] After a year with no inter-county activity,O'Connell joined Cork's under-20 team in 2019. He ended the season without success,as Cork were beaten by Tipperary in the Munster and All-Ireland finals. [10] [11] O'Connell was again eligible for the under-20 grade the following year and he claimed Munster and All-Ireland U20HC medals after respective defeats of Tipperary and Dublin. [12] [13]
O'Connell was added to the senior team in January 2019 and was listed amongst the substitute for Cork's defeat by Kilkenny in the National League later that month. [14] [15] He was on and off the team for a number of years before becoming a more regular panel member in 2022. [16] O'Connell came on as a substitute for Robert Downey in Cork's 3–29 to 1–34 extra-time defeat by Clare in the 2024 All-Ireland final. [17]
O'Connell claimed his first senior silverware in April 2025 when Cork won the National Hurling League title following a 3–24 to 0–23 win over Tipperary in the final. [18] This was later followed by a Munster SHC medal after Cork's penalty shootout defeat of Limerick in the 2025 Munster final. [19]
| Team | Year | Cork | Munster | All-Ireland | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | ||
| Midleton | 2018 | 4 | 0-02 | 1 | 0-00 | — | 5 | 0-02 | |
| 2019 | 3 | 2-02 | — | — | 3 | 2-02 | |||
| 2020 | 3 | 0-05 | — | — | 3 | 0-05 | |||
| 2021 | 6 | 0-02 | 1 | 1-00 | — | 7 | 1-02 | ||
| 2022 | 3 | 1-00 | — | — | 3 | 1-00 | |||
| 2023 | 5 | 0-02 | — | — | 5 | 0-02 | |||
| 2024 | 5 | 0-03 | — | — | 5 | 0-03 | |||
| Career total | 29 | 3-16 | 2 | 1-00 | — | 31 | 4-16 | ||
| Team | Year | National League | Munster | All-Ireland | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | ||
| Cork | 2019 | Division 1A | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | ||
| 2021 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | ||
| 2022 | 1 | 0-00 | 3 | 0-00 | 2 | 0-00 | 6 | 0-00 | ||
| 2023 | 5 | 0-01 | 3 | 0-00 | — | 8 | 0-01 | |||
| 2024 | 4 | 1-03 | 3 | 0-00 | 2 | 0-00 | 9 | 1-03 | ||
| 2025 | 3 | 0-02 | 3 | 0-02 | 0 | 0-00 | 6 | 0-04 | ||
| Total | 13 | 1-06 | 12 | 0-02 | 4 | 0-00 | 29 | 1-08 | ||