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Fullname: Eoghan O’Connell
aka: –
Born: 13 Aug 1995
Birthplace: Cork, Ireland
Signed: 1 July 2013
Left: 8 June 2017 (free to Bury)
Position: Defender, Centre-half
Debut: Celtic 1-1 Ross County, League, 29 Mar 2014
Squad No.: 34
Internationals: ? [which international team played for]
International Caps: ? [complete at end of career]
International Goals: ? [complete at end of career]
Biog
Young Irishman Eoghan O’Connell won his debut in March 2014 against Ross County to get him off the ground. A promising player, he was awarded the Celtic Youth Academy Player of the Year.
Just as he won his debut it was a proud time as his cousin Paul O’Connell was captain of the Irish national Rugby side. Ireland had just won the Rugby Six Nations Championships to seal the end of the career of their legendary player Brian O’Driscoll.
Eoghan had the honour of wearing the captain’s armband in a friendly, a 3-2 defeat to Sparta Prague in the Gran Canaries in 2015, which was a nice touch for someone who was still very much a rookie player. It also showed some confidence in his long-term future at the club.
Not all easy, he scored an unfortunate own goal in 1-0 defeat to Inv Caley, but the whole team was poor that day. Despite that low moment, new manager Ronnie Deila had faith in his ability, and rewarded Eoghan with a further contract in January 2015 to extend his stay to 2017. Despite any errors in his game, he was showing signs of progress and his ability was rated highly. Just needed experience.
Celtic were having a very mixed time under Deila, and Eoghan was loaned out to Oldham & Cork City (a club his father & brother have also played for), but in total only played a handful of games at those clubs which didn’t bode well.
He managed to score his first goal for Celtic in a friendly v Leicester City in a ‘Battle of Britain’ match (as Leicester were the surprise EPL champions), a cracking goal well placed from outside the box which got him the attention and applause he deserved. Sadly Celtic lost the match 6-5 on penalties after the 1-1 draw, but Eoghan had pulled Celtic close to a win, and was a high-mark for him.
Brendan Rodgers commented well on O’Connell:
“Eoghan O’Connell has a brain for football, he understands the game very well for a young player.”
He was then loaned out again, this time to Wallsall, and already it seemed that despite the earlier positive notes, his career was expected to be away from Celtic.
His last notable matches were in European competition, and was deemed culpable for a conceded goal at home in a the knock-out matches v Astana in the Champions League, but the error was partly due to his lack of experience. Celtic still made it through to the group stages but he was to play no little further part for Celtic. He helped Celtic over the two legs, and got to play v Barcelona away albeit coming on as a sub on 68 minutes with Celtic losing the match 7-0 to what was an excellent side.
An added note on that appearance v Barcelona, it was surprisingly to be the last time an Irishman was to play in the Champions League group stages until November 2020, a sad blip in the otherwise great line of footballing talent from Ireland from over the years.
He left Celtic to sign permanently for Bury in June 2017 as opportunities were expected to be limited with at least 3-4 players ahead of him in the queue for the centre-half roles at Celtic. He only got to play a small part in the incredible domestic treble season under Brendan Rodgers in 2016/17.
We wished him the best.
Post-Celtic
He went on to become a regular at Bury, and then a long-term regular starter for Rochdale, Charlton & Wrexham.
[…]
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2013-14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014-15 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015-16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016-17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 7 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
Pictures
Articles
Eoghan O’Connell signs for Bury
http://www.celticfc.net/news/12766
By: Newsroom Staff on 08 Jun, 2017 17:11
CELTIC can confirm that Eoghan O’Connell has left the club and signed for League One side Bury on a three-year contract. The Irishman joined the Celtic Youth Academy as a 16-year-old and quickly pushed his way into the Development Squad.
He made his competitive first-team debut towards the end of the 2013/14 season in a 1-1 draw at home to Ross County. At the end of the following season, the Cork-born youngster was named Celtic Youth Academy Player of the Year.
The defender has gone on to make 13 first-team appearances for the Bhoys, three of them from the bench, and he made a contribution in helping Brendan Rodgers’ side reach the UEFA Champions League group stages at the start of the season.
Everyone at Celtic wishes Eoghan well at Bury and every success in his future career.