An up-and-coming soccer player in the GAA heartlands of Corofin has proved he’s a dab hand at dribbling in the Beautiful Game!

Twelve-year-old Conor O’Malley, who is comfortable with both feet, set four new world records for dribbling skills at an event in Cork this month.

Conor, who turns 13 in January, smashed the record set by his coach, who gives him one-to-one training, Loughrea-based Adrian Walsh (89).

Adrian – dubbed Mr Ball Control – set four records for dribbling in January 2019, an achievement that was submitted to Guinness World Records.

But Conor smashed his mentor’s record by shaving seconds off his dribbling times.

According to his father, Pat O’Malley, the records involved dribbling two footballs at the same time, one on each foot using the inside and outside of the feet.

The records Conor broke included: dribbling with both footballs simultaneously over 120 yards, over 60 yards and over 30 yards; and dribbling two footballs around the periphery of a full-sized pitch.

In the latter event, Conor was said to have recorded a time of 1:52:97, which was over a minute faster than Adrian’s record. He shaved several seconds off the other three times, too.

Adrian Walsh, who has a mission to help soccer players become tow-footed, has rubbed shoulders with some of the game’s greats including Pele, Bobby Charlton, Jurgen Klinsman, Bill Foulkes, David Beckham, Alex Ferguson and Billy Bingham as well as Irish legends Ray Houghton, Mick McCarthy, and Steve Staunton.

Conor plays soccer with Corofin United and is on the Galway United underage development squad.

The sixth class pupil also plays soccer and Gaelic football for St Colman’s National School, and Corofin GAA.

His father, Pat O’Malley, was more of a Gaelic footballer, who won an U16 county title with Corofin in 1987.

Conor’s mother is Caroline and he has three siblings, Aoife, Eoin and Aaron.

A supporter of Manchester City, Conor is modest about his soccer success so far.

“He is not one bit fazed by it and doesn’t really want any big deal to be made about it,” Pat O’Malley said of his son.