Last night we welcomed commanding central defender Eoghan O’Connell to the Racecourse Ground, for an undisclosed fee from Charlton Athletic.
Born into a sporting family, Irish born O’Connell, like his father Damo and his brother Andy all signed for hometown club Cork City.
However, his cousin Paul, took a different route, enjoying a richly successful Rugby Union career Captaining Ireland.
After signing for Charlton Athletic in the summer, he makes the move to North Wales with 22 appearances for the Addicks under his belt.
However, O’Connell’s professional football journey began in Scotland back in 2011, when he joined the prolific Celtic academy.
The centre back spent three years learning his craft in the youth setup, before making his first-team debut in 2014 against Ross County.
O’Connell was in good company at the heart of the Greens defence during that game, lining up next to now Liverpool defender and Champions League winner Virgil Van Dijk.
Following his debut season, he went from strength to strength, winning the Academy Player of the Year and was named in Irish publication, ‘The Journal.ie’s top ten promising Irish footballers.
Unfortunately for the young prospect, his loan spells with Oldham Athletic and Cork City were cut short due to injury, in between making his Champions League debut in 2016 under Brendan Rodgers.
In 2016/17, he enjoyed a successful loan spell at Walsall, which ultimately secured him a move to then fellow EFL side Bury.
In his first full season at Gigg Lane, he suffered relegation to League Two but under Ryan Lowe, they immediately bounced back finishing second, earning promotion to League One.
After he achieved promotion with the Shakers, he joined fellow Greater Manchester side Rochdale.
During his time at the Dale, he played on 115 occasions, was made Captain in 2020/21 and earned the Club Player of the Season award the following campaign.
His success at the Crown Oil Arena, earned him a move to Charlton in the summer, and after catching the eye of Phil Parkinson, now joins the Red Dragons for an undisclosed fee.