Irish athletics golden girl Kate O'Connor shares photo with footballer boyfriend
Ireland's gold-medal winning athlete Kate O'Connor has shared an adorable picture of her with boyfriend, Irish striker Georgie Kelly, as the couple enjoy some downtime on holidays in Portugal.
The pair who have each been celebrating significant wins in their respective fields are pictured in the snap that Kate captioned: 'A few days of R&R & celebrating the Harkins'.
Kate poses for the selfie in yellow dress while Georgie grins in the background.
She is on a well-deserved break after a series of stunning victories.
Just last Thursday, the 24-year-old added a gold to her glittering CV at the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
Kate and Georgie on holidays
News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, July 29
Dominating the heptathlon to smash her Irish record with 6487 points, she declared: 'I've been going for that (record) for a long time.
'I'm in the shape of my life at the moment and to go out and do that here, at a world stage, I'm really happy with that.'
It had already been a massive year for O'Connor, a master's student in communication and PR at Ulster University, who twice smashed the Irish pentathlon record indoors.
She won bronze at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands before winning World Indoor silver in Nanjing, China – the first ever medals Ireland had won in the multi-events at that level.
She had previously won heptathlon silver at the European U-20 Championships and at the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland.
'Now I've finally got a gold,' she said. 'It's a great way to start my outdoor season. I'd quite a few highs there but also quite a few lows, so I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks, trying to improve some things and really have them right going into [the World Championships in] Tokyo.'
For Carlisle United's Irish striker Georgie, he has come through what Mark Hughes described as a 'torrid' time with injury to deliver a recent win that gives the club some hope in their relegation battle.
In March, after girlfriend Kate took home a bronze medal from the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in the Netherlands, he hailed her as a 'killer'.
'She's well versed in dealing with different pressures to me. We are different, Kate is ruthless, a real competitor, win at all costs,' Kelly told the Irish Independent at the time.
'Her ability to produce under pressure last weekend, that was unreal, the pressure she was under, seeing girls perform well just before her and knowing she has to hit a certain mark or she's gone, that's the bit of my sports psyche that I'd lack.
'She's a killer and I admire so much about what she does – I probably don't tell her enough.'
He's spent his teenage and adult years focused on a football career in Ireland with UCD, Derry City, Dundalk, St Patrick's Athletic and Bohemians and then cross-channel with Rotherham United and current side Carlisle.
But it's his time spent with Kate that has opened Kelly's eyes to the levels needed and achievements made.
'That was the first ever medal for an Irish athlete, male or female, in a multi-event. She was the first Irish Olympian in the heptathlon so it's all new, her and her coaches are figuring it out as they go along. So to get to that level is just incredible,' he says.
'Even the fact that the pentathlon is indoor and the heptathlon is outdoor, she's always been a much better heptathlete because of the javelin, she has a monster jav, that's where she gets her points. It's some leap she's made even in six months and it's so exciting to think what we can do, there is no ceiling for Kate.'
However, as Kelly is in Carlisle and O'Connor is based in Ireland, he revealed how finding time together is not easy.
'Kate's off to China for the World Championships next week, then her indoor season finishes and she might get some time off. Hopefully she will get over to me in England for a bit, before she ramps up again for the outdoor season which peaks in August.
'She can't just up and move to a base elsewhere, that's the hardest thing about being away on your own. It's only for a few years, we'll get there, we'll make it work.
'It's not like I work in an accountancy firm that's nine-to-five and I know she has weekends off, if I had a day or two off, there's no guarantee she will be off so it's a tough balance. It's not easy.'
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