Wrexham rounded off their League Two season with a terrific comeback against title winners Stockport County, with one player in particular starring.
A lot of the talk heading into the game was about Wrexham getting revenge on Stockport for their comments a few years ago.
County were disrespectful towards the Reds after pipping them to promotion in 2022 and when they opened the scoring through Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, it looked as though they’d get one over on Phil Parkinson‘s men once more.
Fortunately, the hosts kickstarted a comeback just after half-time as Eoghan O’Connell‘s wonderful searching ball found Ollie Palmer, who brought it down superbly and slid past Ben Hinchcliffe.
Wrexham were in the ascendancy for most of the second half and would find a winner through Andy Cannon two minutes from time to send the Racecourse Ground into pandemonium.
Eoghan O’Connell was brilliant against Stockport County
Eoghan O’Connell is one of the more underrated members of the Wrexham promotion-winning team.
The likes of Elliot Lee, Paul Mullin, Cannon and Arthur Okonkwo have stolen the show, but O’Connell has quietly gone about his business and acted as a rock in the heart of their defence.
The towering centre-back continued demonstrating his presence defensively this afternoon, though it was his distribution that stood out the most.
With Palmer leading the line alongside Mullin, Wrexham had the option to go long and O’Connell found his teammate on numerous occasions, including for his equalising goal.
That brilliant searching pass was one of 11 that he placed accurately against Stockport while also achieving a 72% pass completion.
Parkinson has found a settled back three of Max Cleworth, Tom O’Connor and O’Connell has helped him win promotion.
Eoghan O’Connell can step up to League One
With Ben Tozer, Aaron Hayden and Jordan Tunnicliffe likely to depart this summer, the 28-year-old’s importance will increase even further.
Of course, Parkinson will have to strengthen defensively but there is no reason why his current defensive trio won’t work in League One.
Once lauded as “outstanding” by Brendan Rodgers, O’Connell is vastly experienced in the third tier and before joining Wrexham, he turned out in the division above 120 times, with the former Celtic defender starring at Charlton Athletic and Rochdale.
Having players like O’Connell at their disposal have given people confidence that the Reds can challenge towards the top end of the third tier.
It won’t be easy as improvements to their squad will be needed however, the Republic of Ireland titan will no doubt play his part.
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