Stephen O'Brien (Kerry Gaelic footballer)

{{Infobox Gaelic Athletic Association player

| image =

| name = Stephen O'Brien

| irish = Stiofáin Ó Bríain

| occupation = Chemical Engineer

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1991|2|27|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kenmare, Ireland

| height = {{convert|1.82|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}}

| sport = Gaelic football

| code = Football

| county = Kerry

| province = Munster

| club = Kenmare Shamrocks

| clyears = 2009 – Present

| clposition = Centre forward

| clapps(points) =

| clcounty =

| clprovince =

| clallireland =

| colleges = UCC

| sig = 1

| counties = Kerry

| icyears = 2014 – Present

| icposition = Right half forward

| icapps(points) = 42 (6-48)

| icprovince = 8

| icallireland = 2

| nfl = 4

| clupdate =

| icupdate =

}}

Stephen O'Brien (born 27 February 1991) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for the Kenmare Shamrocks club and at senior level for the Kerry county team since 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.kerrygaa.ie/news.php?item=1686&full=y|title=Profile|date=14 September 2014|work=Kerry GAA|access-date=18 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006073858/http://www.kerrygaa.ie/news.php?item=1686&full=y|archive-date=6 October 2014}}

Underage and junior

He joined the county's under-21 team in 2011. Kerry sustained a 22-point loss to Cork in the Munster final. He was still underage in 2012 and for the second year in a row he was on the losing side in a Munster final to Cork after extra time.

Senior

He made his debut for Kerry in the 2014 Munster Senior Football Championship semi-final against Clare and scored two points. He lined out in a first Munster Senior Football Championship when they faced Cork, he scored a point in a 0-24 to 0-12 win and a first Munster title. He missed out on Kerry's win over Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final. He was back in the starting line up for the semi-final with Mayo scoring a point in a 1-16 each draw. An injury while out racing on his quad caused him to miss the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final replay win over Mayo. However, he started the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final at right half forward.{{cite news|first=Cliona|last=Foley|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/ose-recalled-as-donaghy-handed-no-14-jersey-for-final-30598914.html|title=O'Se recalled as Donaghy handed No 14 jersey for final|newspaper=Irish Independent|publisher=Independent News & Media|date=19 September 2014|accessdate=19 September 2014}}

Retirements brought new opportunities for O'Brien in 2019. He scored Kerry's first goal against Dublin in five games during a 2019 National Football League fixture in Tralee. In the 56th minute of the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final against Tyrone, O'Brien scored his fifth championship goal after intercepting a pass from Kieran McGeary, distributing the ball and running the length of the field.{{cite news|first=Sinéad|last=Kissane|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/sinad-kissane-how-stephen-obrien-found-his-true-metier-and-became-kerrys-lodestar-38452769.html|title=The making of Stephen O'Brien|newspaper=Irish Independent|publisher=Independent News & Media|date=31 August 2019|accessdate=31 August 2019}} "The making of Stephen O'Brien" was the title in the print edition.