#17 Heads Up - Interview with Johnny O'Connor

Episode 17: Ed Daly,  speaks to the former professional Connacht, Wasps and Irish back row, and now Strength and Conditioning coach for Connacht's Senior team; Johnny O'Connor.

O'Connor spent most of his career with Irish provincial side Connacht, making over 100 appearances across two stints with the team. He also spent four seasons with English Premiership side Wasps in between. He also played amateur club rugby for Galwegians and Galway Corinthians.

O'Connor played for Ireland at the full international level. Making his debut in 2004 against South Africa. Johnny has made 12 appearances for Ireland, and was part of the 2006 team that won the Triple Crown, and was named 2005 Irish Rugby Union Players' Association player of the year.

In this episode, Johnny openly shares his views and encounters with concussion injuries and the injury that ended his career.

About the podcast:
The Heads-Up Podcast are a series of interviews with ex-professional male rugby players, elite female players and coaches about concussion in the sport. The podcasts discuss their early careers and very open commentary about the realities of professional rugby. Heads-Up discusses insights into injury (specifically concussion), how they managed then and how they continue to manage with life after a professional career. The players offer insights into the culture around the game, their concussion experiences and their observations on player welfare, protective equipment and law changes to the game.  

About Ed Daly:
Ed Daly has over thirteen years of experience in sports coach education and more than five years of lecturing experience in third-level institutes. Ed is currently a PhD researcher focused on investigating concussion identification, concussion management and concussion reduction strategies.

Ed is an active PhD research scientist (Oxford Brookes University) specializing in concussion education, managing athlete workload, objective concussion diagnosis and post-concussion management. Currently developing research for the Irish Concussion Research Centre (ICRC) based in GMIT.

Ed is a lecture in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in the area of Sport & Exercise Science within the School of Science & Computing. Programme coordinator for MSc (strength & conditioning).

Before moving to a career in lecturing, Ed worked in professional sports and spent over ten years as a coach with Munster Rugby, coaching age-grade players on the professional player development pathway and in injury incidence reduction via workload management (specializing in the area of strength & conditioning).

Contact Details:
Ed Daly
Email: Ed.Daly@gmit.ie

Published by: Emma.Finnegan
Email: Emma.Finnegan@gmit.ie