Raith Rovers: Incredible story about how a 50 euro petrol claim led to star's dream Leicester City move
Raith Rovers defender Darragh O’Connor – on loan from York City until the end of the season – has recounted the bizarre circumstances of his move from League of Ireland first division minnows Wexford to English giants Leicester City in 2019.
The switch seven years ago saw centre-back O’Connor, now 26, go from the humble surroundings of his home country’s second tier to sign for Brendan Rodgers’ line-up of multi-millionaires, with Leicester having been crowned top flight champions under Claudio Ranieri just three years previously when star performers included goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defender Robert Huth, midfielder Ngolo Kante and strikers Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.
And O’Connor told the Fife Free Press: “That move to Leicester came about due to the fact that I had asked for 50 euros of petrol money to go up and down the country because I was working as an electrician.
"And the club said no because the budget was tight at the time. They couldn't afford to give me 50 euros, so I asked somebody to look at clubs based closer to where I was living at the time.
"And then somehow, Sean St Ledger, who was in the Irish under-15s coaching set-up at the time, got in contact with my agent and got somebody to have a look at me playing against Galway.
"I couldn't believe it, to be honest. I remember getting the phone call - driving home from a week of work - from my agent at the time, saying that I wasn't playing against the league leaders.
"I remember initially feeling angry that I wasn't playing but then my agent said it was because I was going on trial for Leicester City, and they'd only recently won the Premier League.
"So obviously, when I heard that it was a yes from me.
"After that I was over on trial for Leicester – that's how it came about.
"We had two trial games, one against Sheffield Wednesday behind closed doors at the training ground and the other against Radcliffe in front of spectators (including his parents Bridget and Eddie) in Manchester.
"I knew I had done okay, because the Sheffield Wednesday coaches came up to me after the game, asked who my agent was and offered me a trial as well.
"But I then signed for Leicester off the back of that.”
At the time, O’Connor’s parent club Wexford were bossed by Brian O'Sullivan, who O’Connor played 20 games under. The centre-back praised O’Sullivan for being “excellent” in allowing him to go over to England for his trial and he still keeps in touch with him to this day.
Due to a long wait to receive international clearance, O’Connor was restricted to training with the Leicester first team for weeks.
As a result, when the Foxes’ under-23s went to play matches, he was the only player left behind.
O’Connor – who said Schmeichel, Vardy, James Maddison and Ben Chilwell were the loudest characters in the senior Leicester squad – received great advice from their Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans.
After not playing a first team game, O’Connor moved north to sign for Motherwell in July 2021.