Wrexham have many an unsung hero to thank for their promotion from League One. Perhaps none more so than Eoghan O’Connell.
Eoghan O’Connell missed the last three games of the season after picking up an injury in Wrexham’s 1-1 draw against Bristol Rovers back in April.
Phil Parkinson later explained that O’Connell had a knee injury but was fit enough to start on the bench, just not fit enough to start or seemingly play a role.
In the end the 29-year-old Irishman racked up 39 League One appearances across the 2024/25 season, playing a key role in Wrexham’s promotion to the Championship; their third-straight promotion under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
But O’Connell is one of the several Wrexham players out of contract in 2025. There’s been little talk about his future nor about any of the others out of a contract this summer.
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Wrexham simply must hand Eoghan O’Connell a new contract
Former Celtic man O’Connell may have never played in the Championship. But he’s racked up 294 career appearances so far and so he brings experience to the side. He’s even played one game in the Champions League with Celtic back in the 2016/17 campaign.
And he showed in 2024/25 that he’s a player with bags of quality. He lead the team for accurate passes-per-game, accurate long balls-per-game, and also clearances-per-game too. Thankfully, Parkinson hailed his replacement for O’Connell, Dan Scarr, who shone in the final games.
Nonetheless, with promotion, Wrexham need all the quality and depth they can get and handing O’Connell a new deal seems like a no-brainer. He’d surely accept too, to stay a part of this crazy journey.
| Stat (league) | O’Connell in 24/25 |
| Passes P/G | 36.6 (1st) |
| Long balls P/G | 4.5 (1st) |
| Clearances P/G | 7.8 (1st) |
Humphrey Ker says Eoghan O’Connell is his Wrexham Player of the Season
One person who knows just how good O’Connell is is community director Humphrey Ker. Speaking shortly before the end of the season, Ker said O’Connell is his Wrexham Payer of the Season, too.
Ker said: “I think Eoghan O’Connell is potentially my Player of the Season, because I think he’s just been so, so strong in the centre of that back-three.
“I think there’s been a couple of games where he’s had rickets, he’s dropped a clanger or two, those have tended to be the game that we’ve lost. And what that says is that when Eoghan plays well, Wrexham play well, Wrexham win.”
Fans will agree that O’Connell simply makes the team better. He’s so assured at the back, so strong and aerially dominant on the ground and in the air.
At 29 years old he’s in his prime years as well, so handing him a few years more at the Racecourse could see Wrexham have a quality centre-back foe some more years to come.