It’s been quite the week for Eoghan O’Connell.
The 20-year-old defender from Cork scored against the Premier League champions Leicester City last Saturday, made a highly impressive European debut mid-week, as Celtic recorded a valuable 1-1 draw away to Astana, and lined-up against Lionel Messi today.
Not bad for a player who was on-loan in the League of Ireland Premier Division earlier this year.
O’Connell’s manager was impressed with his display against Barcelona at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening in the International Champions Cup game.
Brendan Rodgers’ estimation of the player hints at a bright future for Paul O’Connell’s cousin.
“I thought he was excellent,” Rodgers said following the 3-1 loss, in which O’Connell played the first-half.
“He’s come in against Leicester, against a really fast team, and a good team, and he’s done very well. He played in a game under big pressure on Wednesday night, and came through it well. He has a couple of areas that he will improve on, but he’s only young. And I thought tonight he coped very well, he’s very calm.”
The former Liverpool manager also complimented O’Connell’s game intelligence which, combined with his physicality, gives him a real chance of forging a successful career at the Hoops.
“The thing I love about Eoghan is he knows the game. He’s got a great understanding of football, and physicality he can go and win headers, he can dominate. He’s calm in possession, he doesn’t just rid of the ball, he passes it, and I thought he was excellent tonight. From what I’ve seen of Eoghan so far is he’s doing very well.”
