Eoghan O’Connell's Hollywood adventure continues as Wrexham achieve another promotion

EIGHAN O’Connell is celebrating under the Hollywood lights after Wrexham clinched promotion to EFL League One with a 6-0 victory over Forest Green Rovers at the Racecourse Ground.

The defender played the full 90 minutes on Saturday and he helped the team, who are owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, achieve back-to-back promotions.

O’Connell, who once lined out for Avondale United and College Corinthians, has called Wrexham home since January 2023 and he played a key role in the side finally getting out of the Conference last year.

The Red Dragons were locked in a bumper-to-bumper title race with Notts County, and the defender’s experience was used to win the league after fifteen years in the fifth tier of the English football pyramid.

A place in the EFL was their reward and O’Connell helped Wrexham adapt before they went on to secure promotion at the first time of asking.

The defender made 28 appearances in League Two for the club, and he got one assist, during their promotion-clinching 6-0 win over Forest Green Rovers.

O’Connell’s presence in the squad is obvious when looking at the results over the season. Wrexham’s worst run was a five-game losing streak over Christmas and O’Connell was absent for that run. The defender was brought back into the side for a trip to Newport County, and he helped the Red Dragons snap their streak with a 1-0 victory.

That result changed their season, as Wrexham went undefeated between January and April and this allowed the team to get into the play-offs before moving into the automatic promotion places.

In fact, O’Connell never missed a game that Wrexham lost at this point of the season with 44 games played in League Two.

This is another chapter in a storied career that took off at Celtic, the club that brought the defender over from Ireland.

O’Connell spent two seasons around the first team at Parkhead, and he was sent on loan to Cork City at the start of the 2016 season. The defender marked his debut for his home town club by helping them defeat Dundalk 2-0 in the President’s Cup final, and that won John Caulfield his first trophy as manager.

The defender moved to England in 2017 and enjoyed spells with Bury and Rochdale before signing with Wrexham.

O’Connell's presence at the Showgrounds continues a long relationship between Cork and the Welsh club.

This started when Brian Carey was sent to Wrexham on loan from Manchester United, and he ended up spending the majority of his career at the Racecourse Ground. Fiacre Kelleher was the next player from Cork to line out for Wrexham, and O’Connell picked up the baton in 2023.