Paul O'Connell

Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is a retired Irish rugby union player. He is Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the joint-twelfth most-capped international player in rugby union history. O'Connell has captained Munster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.

Early life

O'Connell was born in Limerick, Ireland to Mick and Sheila O'Connell. He attended the Model School and Ardscoil Rís, Limerick where he initially excelled at swimming and only started playing rugby at the age of 16, playing for the school in the Munster Schools Senior Cup and representing Irish Schools in 1997–98 along with international teammate Gordon D'Arcy. He also played five consecutive games with the Ireland U21s with Donncha O'Callaghan as his second row partner. O'Connell completed 3 out of 4 years of a Computer Engineering degree at the University of Limerick, before deferring the remainder of the degree to concentrate on rugby.

Playing career

2001–03

O'Connell made his debut for Munster on 17 August 2001, in a Celtic League fixture against Edinburgh. His Heineken Cup debut for the club came in a home fixture against Castres Olympique which Munster won 28-23. He started for Munster in their 2002 Heineken Cup Final defeat to Leicester Tigers on 25 May 2002.

Paul O'Connell (motorsports)

Paul O'Connell (born 23 October 1979) is an Irish hillclimb driver and three time winner of the Irish Hillclimb and Sprint Championship.

Career

O'Connell started competing in motorsport in go-karts in 1994 with his friend Denis Hogan. After a few races in an old kart, he sold it and later purchased his own saloon car. He bought a scrapped 1990 Honda Civic 1.6 si and converted it into a hillclimb car in 1999 in order to compete on the Irish Hillclimb circuit. His first event was the Limerick Hillclimb in Newcastlewest, run by Limerick Motor Club, in which he drove an Historic Hillman Avenger Tiger with Denis Hogan Jnr. He won best Novice on his first day and 3rd in class on the next. He competed in the non-championship Lyre Hillclimb run by the Killarney and District Motor club at the end of the year and met Senan O'Connor and Simon McKinley whom he would go on to compete against during the next ten years.

2002

After selling his Honda Civic Hillclimb car he bought a Delta t79 single seater. This single seater had been competing in Ireland since 1980, on racing tracks and in hillclimbs, and had been lying idle for a number of years following the death of its owner. Powered by a 2.0 litre Ford SOHC engine, in it he learned how to drive single seaters at Irish Hillclimb venues. At his first outing in the car at the Carlow Car Club sprint in Tynagh, he won the event outright. Despite still being in college and working, he managed to compete in the national championship every year even though he had very limited funds.

List of minor planets: 4001–5000

O'Connell

O'Connell may refer to:

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Leo O'Connell

Leo Anthony O'Connell (August 31, 1883 – August 15, 1934) was an American amateur football player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

In 1904 he was a member of the St. Rose Parish team, which won the bronze medal in the football tournament. He played in three of the four matches.

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