Stephen O'Brien (Kerry footballer)

Stephen O'Brien (born 27 February 1991) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays Gaelic football with his local club Kenmare Shamrocks and although being a staunch supporter of Mayo GAA, he has been a member of the Kerry senior inter-county team since 2014.[1] Stephen hopes to one day leverage this position for a spot on the Mayo bench.

Stephen O'Brien
Personal information
Irish name Stiofáin Ó Bríain
Sport Gaelic football
Position Right Half Forward
Born (1991-02-27) 27 February 1991
Kenmare, Ireland
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Occupation Chemical engineer
Club(s)
Years Club
2009-
 Kenmare Shamrocks
Colleges(s)
Years College
 UCC
College titles
Sigerson titles 1
Inter-county(ies)
Years County Apps (scores)
2014-
 Kerry 19 (4-25)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles 6
All-Irelands 1
NFL 1
All Stars 0

He is the son of Noel, who died at home in 2014 from an illness.[2] Mary, O'Brien's mother, runs a bed and breakfast in Kenmare.[3] He used play as a back in his younger days.[2]

Underage and junior

O'Brien never played with the Kerry minor team. He joined the counties Under 21 team in 2011. Kerry suffered a 22-point loss to Cork in the Munster final. He was still underage in 2012 and for the second year in a row he was on the losing side in a Munster final to Cork after extra time. In 2012 he also lined out for the Kerry Junior team in a Munster semi-final win over Cork.

Senior

He made his debut for Kerry in the 2014 Munster Senior Football Championship semi-final against Clare and scored two points.[2]He lined out in a first Munster Senior Football Championship when they faced Cork, he scored a point in a 0-24 to 0-12 win and a first Munster title. He missed out on Kerry's win over Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final. He was back in the starting line up for the semi final with Mayo scoring a point in a 1-16 each draw. An injury while out racing on his quad caused him to miss the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final replay win over Mayo.[2] However, he started the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final at right half forward.[4] He was brought off at half-time as Kerry won out 2-09 to 0-12.[2]

Retirements brought new opportunities for O'Brien in 2019.[2] He scored Kerry's first goal against Dublin in five games during a 2019 National Football League fixture in Tralee.[2] In the 56th minute of the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final against Tyrone, O'Brien scored his fifth championship goal after intercepting a pass from Kieran McGeary, distributing the ball and running the length of the field.[2]

Honours
Kerry
Kenmare Shamrocks
Kenmare District Team
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References
  1. "Profile". Kerry GAA. 14 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  2. Kissane, Sinéad (31 August 2019). "The making of Stephen O'Brien". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 31 August 2019. "The making of Stephen O'Brien" was the title in the print edition.
  3. O'Riordan, Ian (13 September 2019). "Patrons of Ireland's highest pub travel to see Kerry back on top". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 September 2019. In Kenmare the dozen or so pubs that are still open (beginning with The Horseshoe) are almost all decorated with a picture of the four Templenoe players plus the two of their own, Seán O'Shea and Stephen O'Brien... O'Shea's parents run the dry cleaning and photography centre on Main Street; O'Brien's mother Mary runs the Hawthorn House B&B around the corner on Shelbourne Street; [Tadhg] Morley is back teaching here after a few years in Dublin, and even if this isn't exactly rural Kerry there's no denying football still lies at the heart of it.
  4. Foley, Cliona (19 September 2014). "O'Se recalled as Donaghy handed No 14 jersey for final". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
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