Eoghan O'Connell (born 13 August 1995) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for club

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. He began his youth playing career in the Republic of Ireland, joined the academy of Scottish club

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 Foot ...

in 2011 and made his first-team debut three years later. While at the club he was loaned to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. In 2017, he signed with English third-tier club Bury and after two seasons with The Shakers, he moved in the summer of 2019 to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

before moving to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in 2022. On 31 January 2023, Deadline Day, he moved to

. O'Connell is a cousin of former Irish rugby captain

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. When he retired, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union history. Duri ...

and has been capped at youth international level.

Club career

Celtic

O'Connell played for the

College Corinthians College Corinthians A.F.C. is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Douglas, Cork. Their senior men's team play in the Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division. They also ...

and Avondale United Irish academy teams, before switching to the Celtic Academy in 2011. On 9 January 2014, he made his first-team debut in a 3–1 victory over Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

in the Turkish Airlines Antalya Cup. In March, he made his competitive debut against Ross County in a 1–1 draw in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

. Speaking in April 2015 about his debut, he said, "Making my debut at the end of last season was a good thing as it gave me a good platform coming into the next season and show what I could do". O'Connell started the 2014–15 season by scoring an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

in a 1–0 league defeat against

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

. After making four appearances for the club in the season and captaining the youth team in a friendly against

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

, on 2 February 2015 he signed a contract extension that would keep him at Celtic until mid-2017. Commenting about the new contract, he said, "I'm delighted and just happy to get it done". At the end of the season, he was named as the club's Academy Player of the Year. Irish newspaper '' TheJournal.ie'' included Connell in their list of "10 most promising young Irish footballers". O'Connell played his first match of the 2015–16 season, a 3–1 victory over

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

, in August. He moved to English League One club

on a six-month loan deal on 1 September. Five days later, he made his first-team debut, playing the entirety of a 2–1 victory over

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. He was injured after featuring in another match for Oldham, and returned to his parent club in November. In February 2016, O'Connell went on-loan to his home-town club,

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

side

. Manager John Caulfield said O'Connell's signing "injects extra competition into the squad". He made his debut on 27 February, playing the whole match, in which Cork defeated

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

2–0 in the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

. He played five times for Cork, scoring once in a 2–2 draw with

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

, before being recalled to Celtic at the end of April 2016 after sustaining a groin injury. On 27 July 2016, O'Connell made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut, playing the whole ninety minutes of a 1–1 draw against Kazakh club

FC Astana Astana Football Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,000-seat As ...

in the qualifiers. Speaking about his debut, manager

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed until h ...

said O'Connell was "outstanding" and added; "For a young player, he has been on the fringes for a few years, coming into that environment, under pressure, he had very few mistakes in the game". He featured for the club in the return leg and again earned the praise of Rodgers. After playing six matches for Celtic during the 2016–17 season, on 12 January 2017, O'Connell was loaned to English League One club

for the rest of the season. He debuted in a 4–1 victory over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

; Walsall manager Jon Whitney said O'Connell "grew into the game and showed why we brought him in." On 21 January, he scored his first goal in a 3–1 victory over

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. He made 17 appearances for the club.

Bury

O'Connell signed a three-year contract with English League One club Bury on 8 June 2017. He said about his move; "I have come to the stage in my career where I just want to play football all the time. The manager made it clear that he had a big interest in me and wanted me to come to the club." He added that he was happy with the move and he wanted to start playing. O'Connell was injured during the pre-season and was ruled out of play for up to ten weeks. In October he made his first-team debut in a 1–0 victory over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

. Wearing the number six shirt, he has become a first team regular in 2018–19 under manager Ryan Lowe.

Rochdale

On 4 July 2019, O'Connell signed a two-year contract with

. On 22 June 2021, O'Connell signed a new one-year contract.

Charlton Athletic

On 20 June 2022, O'Connell signed a three-year contract with

on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract at Rochdale.

Wrexham

On 31 January 2023, O'Connell signed for

. He started Wrexham's 3-1 win over Boreham Wood on 22 April 2023, which secured the club's return to the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

after 15 years in the National League.

International career

O'Connell made his Republic of Ireland under-19 debut against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in August 2013. In September 2016, he was called to the

Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team is a representative team of Irish football players. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland and represents them at Under-21 level against the national teams of other national ...

by manager

Noel King Noel King (born 13 September 1956) is a former professional footballer and manager. For 10 years from 2000 until 2010 he was manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. He was appointed interim men's national team senior manager ...

for

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by UEFA for ...

qualifiers against Slovenia and Serbia. On 2 September, he made his under-21 international debut in a 2–0 win against Slovenia.

Style of play

O'Connell plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. During his time with Celtic, the ''

Herald Scotland ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' described him as "an assured ball-playing centre-half with an air of calmness around him which has belied his lack of experience." His manager at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers, said O'Connell had an "in-built brain for the game."

Personal life

O'Connell hails from

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and is a supporter of local side

. He is a cousin of former Irish rugby captain

. Both his father Damo O'Connell and brother Andy O'Connell have played for Cork City.

Career statistics

Honours

Cork City *

President of Ireland's Cup The President of Ireland's Cup, also known simply as the President's Cup, is an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland football league system. It is a one-off match between the winners of the previous season's ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Bury * League Two runner-up: 2018–19 Wrexham *

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

runner-up: 2023–24 *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2024–25 Individual * Rochdale Player of the Season: 2019–20, 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Eoghan 1995 births Living people Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Association footballers from County Cork Celtic F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers College Corinthians A.F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Walsall F.C. players Bury F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players 21st-century Irish sportsmen