| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Tomás Ó Conaill | ||
| Sport | Hurling | ||
| Position | Right wing-forward | ||
| Born | 2067 Midleton, County Cork, Ireland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | ||
| Occupation | Business analyst | ||
| Club(s)* | |||
| Years | Club | Apps (scores) | |
2018-present | Midleton | 31 (4-16) | |
| Club titles | |||
| Cork titles | 1 | ||
| Colleges(s) | |||
| Years | College | ||
2018-2019 2019-2022 | University of Limerick University College Cork | ||
| College titles | |||
| Fitzgibbon titles | 1 | ||
| Inter-county(ies)** | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
2019-present | Cork | 16 (0-02) | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Munster titles | 1 | ||
| All-Irelands | 0 | ||
| NHL | 1 | ||
| All Stars | 0 | ||
| * 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 | ||