He broke the all-time record for the highest tally in a Championship match last Sunday, but it wasn’t even Cillian O’Connor’s most prolific day in front of goal.
As impressive as his 4-9 (4-3 from play) against Tipperary was, it still fell short of the 6-12 that he hit in an under-12 game for Ballintubber against Davitts many years ago.
“That finished about 12-12 to 8-9,” O’Connor laughed. “Boyler [Colm Boyle] wasn’t playing now, he’s about seven years older than me!
“I think I got more in that game but there was no one to record it, I’m afraid. It’s a figment of my imagination when no one can verify it!”
His haul last Sunday outstripped Rory Gallagher’s 3-9 for Fermanagh against Monaghan in 2002, a tally which O’Connor himself matched against Limerick in 2018, and the 5-3 that Dublin’s Johnny Joyce put on Longford in 1960.
It also surpassed Matt Connor’s record for an All-Ireland semi-final from 40 years ago, when the Offaly legend struck 2-9 against Kerry.
It meant that O’Connor was a shoo-in for the PwC Player of the Month award for the All-Ireland semi-finals, which he was presented with yesterday.
“When you see names like that in those kind of lists and you nearly have to pinch yourself. It feels strange to be mentioned with people like that, people that your parents and uncles would have been talking about when you were small. Yeah, it’s kind of cool I suppose.”
With 3-6 on the board by half-time, O’Connor had already equalled Connor’s record at that stage.
“I didn’t even realise that it was that by half-time. The six points in the first half didn’t feel like six points, they were probably five frees and I just thought I hadn’t got six points, it didn’t feel like that so, no, it didn’t cross my mind.”
