OUR PEOPLE THE GENERATIONS: MEET THE O'CONNELLS FROM CORK

GRI

Meet the O'Connells, County Cork 

When Gaytime Nemo raced into the annals of English Derby history in 2023, it was an historic win for his owners the O’Connell’s, who have been lifelong supporters of the sport and have had many top-class performers along way.

Their story starts back in the 1940’s with Mother Stephanie whose earliest memories included heading to the bus station on a pony and trap (with the entire family and greyhound) to catch the bus to the old Cork Track. Back then they raced under the family prefix of Parchments and this started what was to become a lifelong interest in the sport. Parchments Wonder is the standout memory from that time – winning every round of the Irish Laurels, only to be beaten (due to missed break) on the final night.

When she married Teddy O’Connell in the 1960’s, Stephanie brought her love of greyhound racing with her to her new home in Tower and raised many litters of pups alongside rearing her family of Deirdre, Brendan & Ken. As Stephanie says, “Teddy was originally not interested in greyhound racing, but when we married it became part of the family farm and soon, he was bitten by the bug!” 

After consultation with the neighbours, they settled on the prefix Gaytime and a new chapter in the story was born! Weekends were spent racing at Cork, Youghal, Tralee & Clonmel and they all fondly recall the highlights through the years; Gaytime Judy brought the family to a Laurels Final in 1977, Gaytime Blonde broke the track record in Youghal and went on to win the TV Trophy, Gaytime Conrad won the 1998 Guinness Trophy, more recently Gaytime Hawk brought them to an Irish Greyhound Derby Final after winning 4 consecutive rounds, Gaytime Milo reached the English Derby Semi-Final in 2021 and Gaytime Hugo (who is a half-brother to Gaytime Nemo) was a finalist in the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial.

As son Brendan says with a smile, “Stephanie is still very much in charge!”  It is evident as they chat that their love of the sport has brought them immense joy as a family over the years, however they all agree nothing will beat winning the English Greyhound Derby in 2023. They still watch the video clips regularly just to confirm they did it! Brother Ken watched it from the Wayside Inn in Cloghroe, where the whole community turned out to cheer on their champion. Unfortunately, one person missing from the celebrations is Dad Teddy who sadly passed away in 2019. One can imagine he must be watching on with pride as the Gaytime story continues!

The O'Connells are featured as part of Greyhound Racing Ireland's Our People, The Generations Series which profiles some of the many generations of families across Ireland united by their love of greyhounds and our great sport of Greyhound Racing. You can view more on grireland.ie/OurPeopleTheGenerations 

The hundreds of years of tradition that forms our sport.
The generations of families brought together
by their love of the dogs.
We stand for all that is good about our sport
and we are its future.

Because
THIS RUNS DEEP