Watch: Ryan Reynolds struggles to pronounce Cork defender Eoghan O’Connell’s name as he moves to Wrexham
Rochdale's Eoghan O'Connell and Charlton Athletic's Jayden Stockley battle for the ball during the Sky Bet League One match at Crown Oil Arena, Rochdale.
THE long history between Cork and Wrexham will continue with Eoghan O’Connell the latest player from Leeside to join the third-oldest football club in the world.
The defender moves to the National League side on a long-term deal for an undisclosed fee from League One side Charlton Athletic.
The signing was hinted at with a video featuring the club’s owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, learning to pronounce the defender's name.
The 30-second clip sees the star teaching his business partner how Eoghan works and that Irish names are easy to say.
Hmmm 🇮🇪 ⚔️🏴 pic.twitter.com/JyBlMuGojd
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 31, 2023
O’Connell will move to Wales after spending the last six months with Charlton, who are currently 15th in League One and nine points above the relegation places.
Wrexham are battling for promotion to the Football League and they currently sit in second place in the National League, three points behind leaders Notts County with two games in hand. They nearly pulled off a major upset in the FA Cup last weekend at home to in-form Sheffield United only for Cork's John Egan to peg them back with a last-gasp leveller in a 3-3 thriller.
The winner of Wrexham's replay with the Blades will host Tottenham Hotspur.
Eoghan knows that the club are pushing for promotion and he wants to be a part of that story.
“It’s a club on the up. It’s an exciting part of the season to come in, and the lads have done well to get us to this point,” he told the club’s media team.
“The ambition of the club, with the manager and players here, is obviously promotion so I’ll throw myself in and see how I can contribute to it.”
O’Connell brings a wealth of experience to Wrexham as he previously played for Celtic, Cork City, Bury, and Rochdale.
Wrexham AFC manager Phil Parkinson cited this as a big reason for signing the defender.
“He has a lot of experience at a high level and he will bring a lot of quality to the team,” he said.
“The last two days have been long searching for the player we felt could make the difference for us and I’d like to thank the co-chairmen for their support in bringing in Eoghan to the club."
This transfer continues a long tradition of players from Cork lining out for Wrexham, a linage that rose to prominence through Brian Carey. He was loaned out to the Welsh club from Manchester United and that started a long relationship between him and the Red Dragons.
Fiacre Kelleher picked up the baton in 2020 when he joined from Macclesfield Town and he spent one season in north Wales. The defender made 42 appearances in the National League and he scored one goal, against Dover Athletic in January 2021.
