Stephen Gerard O'Donnell (born 11 May 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

and the

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

. He has previously played for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, Luton Town and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, and was capped once by the Scotland under-21 team in 2013.

Club career

Early career

A pupil at

St Aidan's High School St Aidan's High School (simply referred to as St Aidan's) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, secondary school in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Motherwell. It was rated 'good' by Education ...

in Wishaw, O'Donnell began his career as a youth player with Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers and captained the Aberdeen under-17 team. He then joined

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, where he was part of the team that won the Scottish Youth Cup and under-19 league title in 2010–11.

Partick Thistle

O'Donnell was released by Celtic in 2011 and on 23 August 2011 signed for

on a one-year contract after impressing on trial. He went on to make his debut on 17 September as a substitute in a 4–0 win at home to Ayr United. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, O'Donnell played in 38 matches as Partick Thistle won promotion to the Scottish Premiership and reached the final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,PFA Scotland First Division Team of the Year as a result of his performances. SOD vs Limassol

On 27 January 2015, Championship club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

upped an initial offer of £50,000 for O'Donnell to £125,000. This offer was accepted by Partick Thistle, however, O'Donnell rejected the personal terms on offer at Blackpool in favour of seeing the remaining six months of his contract. He left Partick Thistle upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the 2014–15 season, having made 139 appearances for the club.

Luton Town

On 22 June 2015, O'Donnell signed a two-year contract with League Two club Luton Town. He made his Luton debut in a 3–1 win at home to newly promoted Championship club Bristol City in the League Cup on 11 August. O'Donnell's first goal for the club was a 90th-minute winner in a 2–1 win at home to Leyton Orient in the Football League Trophy on 1 September. He finished the 2015–16 season with 33 appearances and one goal. O'Donnell netted his second Luton goal in 2016–17 from a 25-yard shot in a 1–1 draw at home to Yeovil Town on 13 August 2016. However, a loss of form saw O'Donnell lose his place in the team to academy graduate

James Justin James Michael Justin (born 23 February 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Leicester City and the England national team. Club career Luton Town Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, Justin joined Luton Town i ...

after a 2–0 defeat away to Crawley Town on 17 September. He regained his place in the team to make his first league start in five matches after Justin suffered a calf injury in the warm up before Luton's 2–1 win away to Leyton Orient on 15 October. O'Donnell lost his place once more when Justin returned from injury for Luton's 3–1 win away to Exeter City in the FA Cup on 5 November, but a half-time substitute appearance in the next round at home to National League club

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

on 3 December saw him score twice as Luton overturned a 2–0 deficit to win 6–2. He was then recalled to the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...

by manager Nathan Jones for the subsequent league match at home to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, which resulted in a 1–1 draw. O'Donnell was released when his contract expired at the end of 2016–17.

Kilmarnock

O'Donnell signed a three-year contract with Scottish Premiership club

on 4 July 2017. O'Donnell performed well following the appointment of Steve Clarke as Kilmarnock manager, and he was selected for the Scotland squad in May 2018. Kilmarnock offered O'Donnell a new three-year contract in August 2019, but he opted to evaluate his contract situation at the end of the season. During January 2020 Oxford United made an offer for O'Donnell, but a deal was not completed before the closure of the transfer window. He rejected a new contract with Kilmarnock at the end of the 2019–20 season.

Motherwell

On 13 August 2020,

announced the signing of O'Donnell on a contract until the next transfer window. On 1 February 2021, he agreed a new contract with Motherwell until the end of the season. On 13 April 2021, O'Donnell signed a new two-year contract with Motherwell, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2023.

International career

O'Donnell made one appearance for the Scotland under-21 team in February 2013. He received his first call-up to the

in May 2018, for

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

matches against Peru and Mexico. O'Donnell made his full Scotland debut on 29 May 2018, in a 2–0 defeat to Peru. He retained his place in the squad for the matches in September 2018, and "excelled" in the 2–0 win against Albania on 10 September. O'Donnell was selected in the Scotland squad for UEFA Euro 2020 and played in all three of their matches at the tournament. His performance in the opening game against the Czech Republic was criticised, but was then praised after the goalless draw against England in the second match. In September 2021 he gained his 23rd cap overall and 12th as a Motherwell player in a 1–0 away win over Austria during

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

; as well as being praised for aspects of his performance against the highly regarded David Alaba, he also equalled a long-standing Motherwell club caps record set by George Stevenson in the 1930s.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Partick Thistle * Scottish First Division:

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Individual *

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foot ...

2012–13 Scottish First Division The 2012–13 Scottish Football League First Division, also known as the 2012–13 Irn Bru Scottish Football League First Division for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th season of the Scottish Football League First Division and the 107th season of a ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Stephen 1992 births Living people Footballers from Bellshill Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland international footballers Association football fullbacks Association football utility players Aberdeen F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players